Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

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Gibbo

Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by Gibbo »

Hi everybody cheers from Rome, :D

I've installed Mint 18.2 Mate on a clean Ssd in an Ext4 partition (got other partitions on this hd),
during installation as usual, i set the /home directory to my previous Hd with data (/dev/sda3 750Gb Hd which got the /home before),
set it to Ext4 and with the Formatting flag, Unchecked. (could be the fact of setting it again in Ext4? one could not do any else in that option)
all went fine but when the Os opened my Desktop and so the Home partition, were not writeable, so R.O.
(this problem is just in SDA3 not in the other

So the DE is just showing the desktop file, all just Read Only, actually i can't open them, and so the files in Home Directory.
The DE can't configure some of its files in the Home and so on.
I got not the Desktop bar too, so it's difficult to open app, i'm writing from another Pc so i cant post easily results from input code.
How this could have happened? And why?

I can access to the Recovery Menu from Grub, what's the command to set me (dario it's the username) as owner of sda3 file-system?
Thanks Guys :wink:
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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austin.texas
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Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by austin.texas »

Did you use the same user name in the new installation as in the previous installation?
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Gibbo

Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by Gibbo »

Hi,
Yes i used the same username and the same pc name.
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Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by catweazel »

Gibbo wrote:Home partition, were not writeable, so R.O.
You're going to need to drop to a terminal. Post the contents of /etc/fstab, and the output of this command:

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sudo blkid
Your fstab contains a command that sets the file system read only if there is an error. We need to see what's in fstab and what partitions you have.
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
Gibbo

Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by Gibbo »

Ok, thanks, it's not easy to post attaches, the DE is not usable, and i cant use browsers too.
So i have to take photos...

btw luckily i can use terminal

It's me or the RO fs is in sdc? that's the ssd with Mint, but the /home it's on sda3 :?
Other thing i noticed is that the Pc name i think i changed the first letter with the same btw Capital, could e that? (btw i'm not sure it changed)


.
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Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by catweazel »

It looks like a reinstall where you have existing files on sda3. Do you have important files there?

I think it's a permissions issue so you need to chown the mount point:

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sudo chown <user> /media/<user>/home
As you've noted, you'll have to do it through the recovery entry in GRUB.
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
Gibbo

Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by Gibbo »

Yes on SDA3 i got the old /home, so i didn’t format it when i installed,(there is no a way to leave the FS extension as the old previuos one?)
got hundreds of GB of important Data there.
Does Chown change the owner of the entire FS?

Btw the command dont work:
"impossible to access. directory or media doesn't exist"
Last edited by Gibbo on Sun Aug 13, 2017 7:05 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by catweazel »

No, in the command I've given you, chown will only change the owner of the mount folder.
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
Gibbo

Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by Gibbo »

So why don't change the entire FS permissions?
(btw i've Edited the post, that directory seems doesn't exist)
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Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by austin.texas »

Boot in normal mode (not Recovery).
Press Ctrl+Alt+F2
login in as dario
Enter these commands:

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sudo umount /dev/sda3

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sudo mount /dev/sda3 /home

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sudo chown dario:dario /home/dario
Start recording your terminal output to a text file named "terminal.txt" using the script program.
All terminal output, and keyboard input, will be recorded in the text file. Try to avoid the Backspace and DEL keys, because those are recorded also, and will make the text file messy and harder to read. (Type carefully.)

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script terminal.txt

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ls -la /home

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ls -la /home/dario
After running your commands, press ctrl-d to end the script function.
Install pastebinit:

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sudo apt-get install pastebinit
Post the contents of terminal.txt to the pastebin with the command:

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pastebinit terminal.txt
Post the resulting url link here to the forum.
Then shutdown:

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sudo shutdown -h now
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Gibbo

Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by Gibbo »

At first command says

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Target is busy
And then (but also before the command, i think is the RO problem with Home) a lot of lines continuing to add:
all are like these with different sectors

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blk_update_request : I/O error, dev sda, sector *********
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Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by austin.texas »

An I/O error could be a hardware problem. Check the cable connections to the hard drive. Replace the SATA cable, if possible.
Also, boot to Recovery mode and chose
fsck "Check all file systems"
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Gibbo

Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by Gibbo »

Cable replaced, Sata port changed.
Fsck done, all seems clean, (it did on Sda and Sdc)

I think the i/o errors are due to the RO FS,
imo the "Target is busy" it's for the same issue


These are some of the error in terminal without X (ctrl+alt+f2)
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Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by austin.texas »

Gibbo wrote:I think the i/o errors are due to the RO FS,
What makes you think it is RO ?
Does the command mount report RO ?
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Gibbo

Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by Gibbo »

i'm not sure, i'm stuck at first command You kindly gave,
so what can i do now? try those in recovery mode?
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Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by austin.texas »

I don't really think it is a RO or ownership problem. I think it is a hardware or damaged filesystem problem.
Boot your live Mint DVD or USB.
You can install and run smartmontools:

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sudo apt-get install smartmontools
Run the test:

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sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda
To perform a short test:

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smartctl -t short /dev/sda
then:

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smartctl -l selftest /dev/sda
for the results.
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Gibbo

Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by Gibbo »

Thanks, i appreciate!
Done the short one, may i do the normal? btw:

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Short offline test .    Status: completed without error     Lifetime: 5600 hours
And Smart was fine before ad now...
Gibbo

Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by Gibbo »

i did the Complete Test on Sda and Sda3, all fine with No Errors

Austin, may i try to do that procedure umounting the Sda? (instead of Sda3).
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Re: Read Only Home Partition (file system permission) - after installation of 18.2

Post by austin.texas »

Gibbo wrote:may i try to do that procedure umounting the Sda? (instead of Sda3).
sda is not a partition, therefore it is not mounted.
I don't know why you are getting those errors when trying to mount sda3. The only suggestion I can make is to save off all your data to a backup location, and rebuild the partitions on sda - starting with a new partition table. Someone else might have a better idea...
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EDIT

Post by Gibbo »

Gibbo wrote:At first command says

Code: Select all

Target is busy
i had to write this well, the complete raw was: "/home target is busy" , so it's due to the /home directory mounted that it can't unmount?
must we umount /home first and then Sda3?
However sometimes the I/O errors on the disk when Terminal (F2) is open, don't occur, so i reached to write all the commands.

btw i tried your procedure, the second command gets:

Code: Select all

 /dev/sda3 is already mounted on /home
the third command went fine but seems there is No effect on the file-system and the Home got the same problems.

The script was ok, here is the link: https://pastebin.com/dYQH6LA4

I think we are near to the solution!
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