Cannot automount other partitions in 9.3
I helped a friend install 9.3 (off the 9.3 DVD) yesterday. It's his first excursion into Linux. He was really happy right up until he tried to access his FAT32 and NTFS partitions (by clicking on the links in My Computer). Every time we tried to access the FAT32 and NTFS partitions we would get an error that the devices were not found in /etc/fstab and /etc/mtab. I didn't have a lot of time to try and debug the problem, so I just edited the fstab and created entries for the 2 FAT32 partitions (and added mount points in /media). Any CD or DVD we put into his CD drive or DVD drive is not automounted (and Konqeror is not automatically opened nor is there any popup asking what to do) but clicking on the link in My Computer will mount the CD/DVD (and directories based on the CD/DVD label are created in /media as expected). So, my question is... why would a clean default install of 9.3 have this problem connecting to FAT32/NTFS partitions? What is causing the problem? What can I do to make this work like every other 9.3 install I've ever done? Relevant hardware details: CPU - P3-600 256 MB RAM 2x WD 80 GB hard drives (brand new installed on the weekend) partitions hda1 = 33 GB NTFS hda2 = 10 GB FAT32 hda6 = 1 GB Linux swap hda7 = 32 GB Reiser hdb1 = 33 GB NTFS hdb2 = 10 GB FAT32 hdb5 = 33 GB currently unpartitioned space C.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Monday 2005-08-22 at 08:55 +0200, Clayton wrote:
Every time we tried to access the FAT32 and NTFS partitions we would get an error that the devices were not found in /etc/fstab and /etc/mtab. I didn't have a lot of time to try and debug the problem, so I just edited the fstab and created entries for the 2 FAT32 partitions (and added mount points in /media).
Funny. But can you mount those partitions now?
Any CD or DVD we put into his CD drive or DVD drive is not automounted (and Konqeror is not automatically opened nor is there any popup asking what to do) but clicking on the link in My Computer will mount the CD/DVD (and directories based on the CD/DVD label are created in /media as expected).
I think they are not automounted till you try to access them. But an icon might apear on the desktop for the CD as you put one. - -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFDCcHTtTMYHG2NR9URAs91AJ985lQr3qcE8EOl5znvdxRwxFRl1gCdHAkj e9wrQW4ejTWg3q0WyR2PY9E= =GHOE -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Every time we tried to access the FAT32 and NTFS partitions we would get an error that the devices were not found in /etc/fstab and /etc/mtab.
Funny. But can you mount those partitions now?
I can mount them manually as root. For example: mount /dev/hda2 /media/temp_mount I can also mount them if I manually add the entries to the fstab. For example, I add a line something like this: /dev/hda2 /media/temp_mount vfat noauto,users 0 0 When I do this, then clicking on the icon in "My Computer" will work - ie no errors and we can browse the partition with Konq. This works, but it's less than optimal - 9.3 should work better than this... especially with a clean install with all of the YOU updates (done during the install). I forgot to try plugging in the external/USB hard drive to see if it was automounted....
Any CD or DVD we put into his CD drive or DVD drive is not automounted (and
I think they are not automounted till you try to access them. But an icon might apear on the desktop for the CD as you put one.
On my computer when I first popped a DVD into the drive (on a clean install of 9.3), a window popped open asking me if I wanted to show the contents of the disk and asking if I wanted to save the choice. I selected No on my machine (cuz that's how I prefer it) but on my friend's machine nothing came up after the fresh install... that said, going to "My Computer" and clicking on the DVD icon (labeled correctly) opens Konq and I can browse the DVD. No icon should show up on the desktop in a default 9.3 install (with KDE)... only in "My Computer". It might be worth noting that the icons in "My Computer" representing each drive partition are labeled correctly - ie the icon names match the partition names. C.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Monday 2005-08-22 at 14:45 +0200, Clayton wrote:
I can also mount them if I manually add the entries to the fstab. For example, I add a line something like this: /dev/hda2 /media/temp_mount vfat noauto,users 0 0 When I do this, then clicking on the icon in "My Computer" will work - ie no errors and we can browse the partition with Konq.
This works, but it's less than optimal - 9.3 should work better than this... especially with a clean install with all of the YOU updates (done during the install).
Well, I don't know why they were not detected during install. Perhaps Yast/hardware or roundabouts can add them now. But I wouldn't bother, I would simply define them in fstab, like: /dev/hda2 /windows/C vfat noauto,users 0 0 and forget about it. Then, pointing konkeror to "/windows/C" should work, I think. You can define it as "auto", of course: then they would be always available. Perhaps the issue is mentioned in the SDB, I dunno. The thing is, I don't use automount myself, but I'm interested in knowing.
I forgot to try plugging in the external/USB hard drive to see if it was automounted....
That's more important, IMO :-)
Any CD or DVD we put into his CD drive or DVD drive is not automounted (and
I think they are not automounted till you try to access them. But an icon might apear on the desktop for the CD as you put one.
On my computer when I first popped a DVD into the drive (on a clean install of 9.3), a window popped open asking me if I wanted to show the contents of the disk and asking if I wanted to save the choice. I selected No on my machine (cuz that's how I prefer it) but on my friend's machine nothing came up after the fresh install... that said, going to "My Computer" and clicking on the DVD icon (labeled correctly) opens Konq and I can browse the DVD.
No icon should show up on the desktop in a default 9.3 install (with KDE)... only in "My Computer".
I don't know: I use gnome normally, and I disabled automount. Still, the icon appears when I manually mount a CD, so I thought KDE acted similarly.
It might be worth noting that the icons in "My Computer" representing each drive partition are labeled correctly - ie the icon names match the partition names.
Funny. - -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFDCdz2tTMYHG2NR9URAk7RAKCMKrqVlAMIeS74upe/PUEFkf1r+ACdELqw TarFK4nGmG39ggBQ6zgOPbo= =/QYA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Carlos E. R. wrote:
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The Monday 2005-08-22 at 14:45 +0200, Clayton wrote:
I can also mount them if I manually add the entries to the fstab. For example, I add a line something like this: /dev/hda2 /media/temp_mount vfat noauto,users 0 0 When I do this, then clicking on the icon in "My Computer" will work - ie no errors and we can browse the partition with Konq.
This works, but it's less than optimal - 9.3 should work better than this... especially with a clean install with all of the YOU updates (done during the install).
Well, I don't know why they were not detected during install. Perhaps Yast/hardware or roundabouts can add them now. But I wouldn't bother, I would simply define them in fstab, like:
/dev/hda2 /windows/C vfat noauto,users 0 0
and forget about it. Then, pointing konkeror to "/windows/C" should work, I think. You can define it as "auto", of course: then they would be always available.
Perhaps the issue is mentioned in the SDB, I dunno. The thing is, I don't use automount myself, but I'm interested in knowing.
I forgot to try plugging in the external/USB hard drive to see if it was automounted....
That's more important, IMO :-)
Just one point about this (from experience): do not leave the external drive plugged in when you reboot the system because if you do SuSE will put its details into fstab on boot; if you then remove the HD and try and reboot the system will not reboot but you will get a msg stating that there is problem with the file system(s). If this happens logon as root at the command prompt, type mount -o remount,ro /dev/hdx (where x is the partition where SuSE is installed - in my case it's hda10) start mc (midnight commander) and edit the fstab file in /etc by removing the entry/ies for the external HD - should be /sda1-x where x depends on how many partitions there are on the external drive, save the new fstab and when back at the command prompt type mount -o remount,rw /dev/hdax and reboot with CTRL-D. The system should now boot correctly. [Rest pruned] Cheers -- The first myth of management is that it exists.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Tuesday 2005-08-23 at 20:00 +1000, Basil Chupin wrote:
Just one point about this (from experience): do not leave the external drive plugged in when you reboot the system because if you do SuSE will put its details into fstab on boot;
Interesting.
if you then remove the HD and try and reboot the system will not reboot but you will get a msg stating that there is problem with the file system(s).
And the message, at least in previous versions, is confusing, leading to think it is the root filesystem which is at fault. - -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFDCwCLtTMYHG2NR9URAiT6AJ90IRUtLnBn7dOOekvvrCxQb4Z7qACeIyjg NL3kAVyoumqV0B14ADkHUME= =Nkjl -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Carlos E. R. wrote:
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The Tuesday 2005-08-23 at 20:00 +1000, Basil Chupin wrote:
Just one point about this (from experience): do not leave the external drive plugged in when you reboot the system because if you do SuSE will put its details into fstab on boot;
Interesting.
if you then remove the HD and try and reboot the system will not reboot but you will get a msg stating that there is problem with the file system(s).
And the message, at least in previous versions, is confusing, leading to think it is the root filesystem which is at fault.
Exactly! Took me a while to figure out where the problem lay because the first reaction is to think that the root filesystem is the problem area and doing fsck which returns the msg that there is nothing wrong with the filesystem. Cheers. -- The first myth of management is that it exists.
Basil, On Tuesday 23 August 2005 03:00, Basil Chupin wrote:
...
Just one point about this (from experience): do not leave the external drive plugged in when you reboot the system because if you do SuSE will put its details into fstab on boot; if you then remove the HD and try and reboot the system will not reboot but you will get a msg stating that there is problem with the file system(s). If this happens logon as root at the command prompt, type
This does not make sense. The fstab file is not read and acted upon until the system is booted and beginning its start-up processing. The inaccessibility of a drive listed in /etc/fstab may prevent normal system function in various ways, but unless the missing device holds the root file system volume / partition (specified elsewhere, of course), it will not prevent the system from booting.
...
[Rest pruned]
Cheers
Randall Schulz
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Tuesday 2005-08-23 at 07:01 -0700, Randall R Schulz wrote:
This does not make sense. The fstab file is not read and acted upon until the system is booted and beginning its start-up processing. The inaccessibility of a drive listed in /etc/fstab may prevent normal system function in various ways, but unless the missing device holds the root file system volume / partition (specified elsewhere, of course), it will not prevent the system from booting.
But it does... I have seen it. The problem appears when the boot.rootfsck or boot.localfs tries to fsck a drive that is not connected. I don't know which versions of SuSE are affected, or if it happens in all cases (it doesn't make much sense for a usb drive, for instance). And the automount routines can modify fstab... - -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFDCzwitTMYHG2NR9URAq8oAJ0Vxi2qneQ9CX6CmIGw/vQMLWk6kwCaA9yU rEuQarbI8uCAdKs8nC8Y4ds= =F4yg -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Carlos E. R. wrote:
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The Tuesday 2005-08-23 at 07:01 -0700, Randall R Schulz wrote:
This does not make sense. The fstab file is not read and acted upon until the system is booted and beginning its start-up processing. The inaccessibility of a drive listed in /etc/fstab may prevent normal system function in various ways, but unless the missing device holds the root file system volume / partition (specified elsewhere, of course), it will not prevent the system from booting.
But it does... I have seen it. The problem appears when the boot.rootfsck or boot.localfs tries to fsck a drive that is not connected. I don't know which versions of SuSE are affected, or if it happens in all cases (it doesn't make much sense for a usb drive, for instance).
And the automount routines can modify fstab...
I think that it is necessary here to ensure that we understand the terminology being used in this discussion. You mention "usb drive" - and by this I think you mean a flashdisk, one of those USB small thingies which now range up to 2GB in storage. The situation I was describing and giving a warning about is an external HD which is connected via a USB port. My HD I was describing is partitoned into 3 parts (logical drives)- 1x NTFS, 1x FAT32, and 1X Resierfs. These partitions were inserted into fstab as SDA5, SDA6 and SDA7. Sda1 was taken up by a USB flashdisk which was aslo plugged in at the time but this disappeared when I unplugged the flashdisk. Cheers. -- The first myth of management is that it exists.
Randall R Schulz wrote:
Basil,
On Tuesday 23 August 2005 03:00, Basil Chupin wrote:
...
Just one point about this (from experience): do not leave the external drive plugged in when you reboot the system because if you do SuSE will put its details into fstab on boot; if you then remove the HD and try and reboot the system will not reboot but you will get a msg stating that there is problem with the file system(s). If this happens logon as root at the command prompt, type
This does not make sense. The fstab file is not read and acted upon until the system is booted and beginning its start-up processing. The inaccessibility of a drive listed in /etc/fstab may prevent normal system function in various ways, but unless the missing device holds the root file system volume / partition (specified elsewhere, of course), it will not prevent the system from booting.
Since when has it been a condtion for computers to operate in a sensible manner? :-) Try it yourself and see what result you obtain. BTW, this happened with SuSE v 9.3, mileage on other versions may vary of course. Cheers. -- The first myth of management is that it exists.
participants (4)
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Basil Chupin
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Carlos E. R.
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Clayton
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Randall R Schulz