cannot write to usb - need root permission

[tadcan]

I have been doing some research, but i don't know enough to solve the issue. If I mount a usb drive with a name, then the name appears in places but will not open. Then usb0 appears below it, which I can open but not write to.

Looking up the forums I found a request to post cat
/etc/mtab


/dev/sda5 / ext4 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 0
proc /proc proc rw 0 0
none /sys sysfs rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev 0 0
none /sys/fs/fuse/connections fusectl rw 0 0
none /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw 0 0
none /sys/kernel/security securityfs rw 0 0
none /dev devtmpfs rw,mode=0755 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev 0 0
none /var/run tmpfs rw,nosuid,mode=0755 0 0
none /var/lock tmpfs rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev 0 0
none /lib/init/rw tmpfs rw,nosuid,mode=0755 0 0
binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc binfmt_misc rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev 0 0
gvfs-fuse-daemon /home/tadcan/.gvfs fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon rw,nosuid,nodev,user=tadcan 0 0
/dev/mmcblk0p1 /media/702A-9012 vfat rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks,uid=1000,gid=1000,s hortname=mixed,dmask=0077,utf8=1,flush 0 0
/dev/sdb /media/usb0 vfat rw,noexec,nodev,sync,noatime,nodiratime 0 0

I found this as a fix, but I presume the syntax is different

/dev/hda2 /media/documents vfat user,auto 0 0

I tried playing around with it, but no luck.

tadcan@tads-lappy:~$ /media/documents vfat user,auto 0 0
bash: /media/documents: No such file or directory
tadcan@tads-lappy:~$ cd /media/usb0 vfat user,auto 0 0
tadcan@tads-lappy:/media/usb0$ vfat user,auto 0 0
No command 'vfat' found, did you mean:
Command 'vcat' from package 'atfs' (universe)
vfat: command not found

Any advice

[-humanaut-]

When the usb drive shows up right-click on it and go to properties and see what the permissions are. Another thing it could be Locked up if it was unmounted improperly If you pulled it from a Windows machine without properly "ejecting" the drive it will lock it up until you unmount it properly.

[tadcan]

The permissions of "usb0" could not be determined

[-humanaut-]

My guess would be it was improperly unmounted. You could always reformat the drive I had a similar problem to yours and a quick format to Fat32 (vfat) seemed to Solve the problem. ((( It was a usb drive that was given to me so I don't know why it was locked )))

[tadcan]

I rebooted into windows and unmounted the drive, it didn't work. I ejected usb key from another windows machine and its permissions were listed as root(usb1). When I try to unmount usb1 I'm told umount: /media/usb1 is not in the fstab(and you are not root)

It is an issue with any usb drive. I am running 10.04 since beta 1, would it be worth it to reinstall?

[dagdeniz]

i don't know if this will work but...
type
gksudo nautilus in the terminal so that you can navigate with root permissions and unmount it that way. you should also be able to change the permissions that way.

[tadcan]

I got the same message about not be able to unmount, but it did after I pressed ok. Then by clicking on the name of the drive I had full read/write access.

Is there a permanent fix?

[dagdeniz]

can you post your /etc/fstab?

[tadcan]

hm, when I use ls fstab is listed, but when I try to go there I'm told its not a folder.


tadcan@tads-lappy:~$ cd /etc
tadcan@tads-lappy:/etc$ ls
acpi gshadow perl
adduser.conf gshadow- pm
akonadi gtk-2.0 pmount.allow
alternatives hal pnm2ppa.conf
anacrontab hdparm.conf polkit-1
apm host.conf popularity-contest.conf
apparmor hostname ppp
apparmor.d hosts printcap
apport hosts.allow profile
apt hosts.deny profile.d
at.deny hp protocols
avahi ifplugd pulse
bash.bashrc init python
bash_completion init.d python2.6
bash_completion.d initramfs-tools rc0.d
bindresvport.blacklist inputrc rc1.d
blkid.conf insserv rc2.d
blkid.tab insserv.conf rc3.d
bluetooth insserv.conf.d rc4.d
bogofilter.cf iproute2 rc5.d
bonobo-activation issue rc6.d
brlapi.key issue.net rc.local
brltty kbd rcS.d
byobu kernel rearj.cfg
ca-certificates kernel-img.conf resolvconf
ca-certificates.conf kerneloops.conf resolv.conf
calendar ksysguarddrc rmt
chatscripts ldap rpc
checkbox.d ld.so.cache rsyslog.conf
compizconfig ld.so.conf rsyslog.d
computer-janitor.d ld.so.conf.d samba
ConsoleKit legal sane.d
console-setup lftp.conf screenrc
couchdb libao.conf securetty
cron.d libpaper.d security
cron.daily locale.alias sensors3.conf
cron.hourly localtime sensors.d
cron.monthly logcheck services
crontab login.defs sgml
cron.weekly logrotate.conf shadow
crypttab logrotate.d shadow-
cups lsb-base shells
dbus-1 lsb-base-logging.sh skel
debconf.conf lsb-release sound
debian_version ltrace.conf speech-dispatcher
default magic ssh
defoma magic.mime ssl
deluser.conf mailcap sudoers
depmod.d mailcap.order sudoers.d
dhcp3 manpath.config sysctl.conf
dictionaries-common mime.types sysctl.d
doc-base mke2fs.conf terminfo
dpkg modprobe.d timezone
emacs modules timidity
environment mono ts.conf
esound motd ucf.conf
firefox mtab udev
firefox-3.0 mtab.fuselock ufw
fonts mtools.conf updatedb.conf
foomatic mysql update-manager
fstab nanorc update-motd.d
fuse.conf netscsid.conf update-notifier
gai.conf network usbmount
gamin NetworkManager vim
gconf networks vlc
gdb nsswitch.conf w3m
gdm obex-data-server wgetrc
gimp openal wildmidi
gnome openoffice wodim.conf
gnome-app-install opt wpa_supplicant
gnome-system-tools PackageKit X11
gnome-vfs-2.0 pam.conf xdg
gnome-vfs-mime-magic pam.d xml
gre.d pango xul-ext
groff papersize xulrunner-1.9.1
group passwd xulrunner-1.9.2
group- passwd- zsh_command_not_found
grub.d pcmcia
tadcan@tads-lappy:/etc$ cd fstab
bash: cd: fstab: Not a directory
tadcan@tads-lappy:/etc$ cd /fstab
bash: cd: /fstab: No such file or directory

[dagdeniz]

i thought you would navigate to /etc/fstab ;)
ok then, if you want terminal:

sudo nano /etc/fstab
:P

[tadcan]

ah, its a file not a folder. I mostly use the GUI, I'm a faker when it comes to the internals


# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=d73153ed-1e54-467b-b2a3-2890fb586918 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=064f7c03-0b76-4028-a594-8c50d27e04b0 none swap sw 0 0

[dagdeniz]

i see. i think it was the wrong place where you tried to put the partition mounting parameters. here is what you have to put in fstab:
1. partition name (is your usb disk /dev/hda ?)
2. where you want to mount it (generally /media/bla bla bla)
3. the format of the partition (vfat in this case)
4. preferences ("user,auto" or if you want to mount it manually, "user,noauto")
5. 0 (it's always zero, i don't know what it is)
6. password requirement (0 is no, i think)

so, if that code you've written is correct considering the above parameters, after unmounting the flashdisk, include it in the fstab (again, by sudo nano /etc/fstab) and that should solve it i think.

[tadcan]

Where would I see the partition name.

In /media I just see usb0

Is there another place to give that info.

Is there an example somewhere of what the fstab should look like?

[dagdeniz]

sudo fdisk -lis where you can see the partition numbers.

sorry, didn't see the last part of your question. your fstab entry will look like:



# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
#the hdd entry
#the swap entry
/dev/sdb /media/usb0 vfat user,auto 0 0

[tadcan]

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00028137

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 50100 402428218+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 50101 60801 85955782+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 50101 60360 82413418+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 60361 60801 3542301 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 3963 MB, 3963617280 bytes
128 heads, 63 sectors/track, 960 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 8064 * 512 = 4128768 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/mmcblk0p1 2 960 3866624 b W95 FAT32

Disk /dev/sdb: 256 MB, 256900608 bytes
16 heads, 32 sectors/track, 979 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 512 * 512 = 262144 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000ce01c

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 979 250574+ 6 FAT16

Disk /dev/sdc: 4007 MB, 4007624704 bytes
32 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3882 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2016 * 512 = 1032192 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x20b54209

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 3882 3913024+ b W95 FAT32

Disk /dev/sdd: 16.1 GB, 16064184320 bytes
95 heads, 16 sectors/track, 20641 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1520 * 512 = 778240 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 * 1 20642 15687671+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Disk /dev/sde: 8198 MB, 8198815744 bytes
253 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1020 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15686 * 512 = 8031232 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6f20736b

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sde1 ? 49608 122380 570754815+ 72 Unknown
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(357, 116, 40) logical=(49607, 8, 11)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(357, 32, 45) logical=(122379, 137, 51)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sde2 ? 10755 134179 968014120 65 Novell Netware 386
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(288, 115, 43) logical=(10754, 36, 47)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(367, 114, 50) logical=(134178, 26, 42)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sde3 ? 119208 242631 968014096 79 Unknown
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(366, 32, 33) logical=(119207, 7, 30)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(357, 32, 43) logical=(242630, 249, 39)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sde4 ? 183966 183969 27749+ d Unknown
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(372, 97, 50) logical=(183965, 99, 25)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(0, 10, 0) logical=(183968, 235, 33)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order

[dagdeniz]

from here i can't guess which is the flashdisk (sdb1, sdc1, sdd1?) you can guess from its size. simply add a line like this :


/dev/sd?1 /media/usb0 vfat user,auto 0 0

replacing question mark with the appropriate letter.

[tadcan]

Does the text you provided replace what is already in fstab?

I added a 1 to sdb1 since that is the first one listed in the usb drives.

Do I need any more into before making the change


# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
#the hdd entry
#the swap entry
/dev/sdb1 /media/usb0 vfat user,auto 0 0

[dagdeniz]

no, it will not replace anything; i've written the first three lines only to represent what's in the fstab, so, you'll omit them. just add the last line to the end of fstab without deleting anything, (more detailed:1. sudo nano /etc/fstab 2. write it 3. save with ctrl+O and enter 4. exit with ctrl+x) and let's see if it'll work.

[tadcan]

opps i missed your reply

I had three usb devices in so I guess these.
/dev/sdb1
/dev/sdc1
/dev/sdd1

This was at the head of allot of text so not sure what it refers to.
/dev/sde1

I do have four usb ports, so it may refer to that.

Do I need to have an entry for every port?

[dagdeniz]

i don't think so, because normally it can mounted and unmounted by user. this can be, as -humanaut- stated, an ocassional situation specific to that drive. so, adding that drive to fstab will be enough, i think.

[tadcan]

When I restarted I get this message

The disk for media/usb0 is not ready or is not yet present

continue to wait; or press S to skip mounting or M for manual recovery


putting in a usb restarts booting
Still not change to the permissions

Here is what the fstab looks like now with the extra line. Have I made a mistake.

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=d73153ed-1e54-467b-b2a3-2890fb586918 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=064f7c03-0b76-4028-a594-8c50d27e04b0 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /media/usb0 vfat user,auto 0 0

[dagdeniz]

i can't guess what's wrong...
now, it was mounting and your problem was that it was not writable by user, right?
then can this gui method be a solution:
delete the line you've written, unplug and plug it, if it's mounted automatically, navigate to that drive with root privileges (gksudo nautilus), right click when in that partition, change privileges from the third tab: if the owner and group are root, change them to tadcan, change folder accessibility to read and write.

i started to feel stupid, this should't be hard.

[tadcan]

I did all that and was told that the owner could not be changed. My problem was with writing to the usb drive, mounting is not a problem.

I think i will just reinstall in the morning. It worked up to a few days ago

[chappajar]

The 'user' option doesn't work for FAT or NTFS, only ext* (that's why you couldn't write).
You need to use 'uid=' or 'gid=' and/or 'umask=' on FAT/NTFS.
I use 'uid=1000' and 'umask=022' --> user 1000 sets the owner of the disk to the first user on the system, umask 022 gives 755 permissions to the whole disk.


This may or may not be helpful in the future but if something refuses to mount you can force mount it:
sudo mount /dev/(yourdevice) /media/(yourMntPoint) -o force

[Handssolow]

I'm looking for a solution too with this problem, I need to be be root to do much with my USB flash memory sticks. My current solution is gksudo nautilus. This problem seems to have happened after upgrading to 10.04 (lucid)

Under gksudo nautilus I'm not able to change permissions because I'm not the owner of USB0.

/usr/share/doc/usbmount/README.gz yields the following information-

The vfat filesystem is one of the most commonly used filesystems in pen
drives. Unfortunately, due to its age, it is very poor regarding
features and, in particular, it doesn't feature the most basic access
control present in Unix systems, namely: permissions on files.

Linux works around this by creating "virtual" permissions and
restrictions based on who mounted the filesystem. As usbmount is used,
the user assigned to the vfat filesystem is, by default, root.

[cloyd]

I've been told that this should not be necessary, but I've had trouble with some pen drives, my mp3 player, and a seagate external hard drive. This works.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Mount/USB

go down the page and look under manually mounting.

If it works for you, write a script file, so you don't have to key in the long line.
There may be another solution, but it worked for me when nothing else would.

[Handssolow]

The current situation here is when I plug for example a USB 1Gb flash drive it mounts, USB0 appears on my desktop but a right mouse click shows that permissions are held by root.

Next I go into terminal for a gksudo nautilus then to Places to right click on USB0 to select unmount. The USB0 icon disappears from my desktop but the light on my USB stick is still glowing.

Next Places then shows I've got a 1.0Gb Filesystem and soon a different icon appears on my Desktop showing this 1Gb Filesystem (my USB stick). A right click on this icon shows shows "The permission of 4917-164C could not be determined".

A left click opens the flash memory's contents which permissions show I own and that I can add and remove files.

My problem sorted but surely this needs sorting out in the bigger picture.

[cloyd]

Needs sorting in the bigger picture. I agree. I've had trouble with USB drives from the start of my short Ubuntu experience. The problems have been tolerable, but only solved as work arounds, not by finding the real problem. As yet, I do not know why some usb drives will mount, some will not, or why the solution I suggested from the Ubuntu community documentation helped me.

However, it is a problem I can live with. It is much easier to tolerate than some of my experience with that other OS.

[Handssolow]

more information on this thread-
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=9283130#post9283130

[pregiopomo]

I've been having the same problem for a while, and I went for the solution posted here (modyfing the etc/fstub) then I finally went to test it with the laptop of a friend that recently installed Ubuntu 10.04, and on his computer everything worked fine.

So I checked out the Synaptic packages he had installed by default, and I realized that I had some more that probably were creating some conflicts/problems.

Now it works again!!

Here is what i did:

- start the "synaptic package manager"
- insert "usb" in the quick search
- compare your installed packages with the following list (these are the one installed by default):
:arrow:
usbmuxd
usbutils
libusbmuxd1
libusb-0.1-4
libusb-1.0-0
xserver-xorg-video-sisusb
libmtp8
usb-creator-gtk
usb-creator-common
libmobiledevice0
libgphoto2-port0
libgphoto2-2
media-player-info
libhpmud0
hpijs
hplip
:arrow:
- remove those packages that have been added by you or that may cause conflicts, in my case I had all the previous ones and I removed the following that I added months ago messing up with my laptop:

:arrow:
usbmount (yep it sound weird, but now is working properly in my laptop!)
pyton usb
usb creator
gnome pilot
:arrow:

I hope this example might help some people as I did receive help reading this forum, this is not "THE WAY" you "HAVE TO" follow to solve this problem, but this is just a way that worked for me, and I think is worth to be shared :wink:

[Handssolow]

Currently removing pmount, a power down then a reinstall of pmount seems to have solved this problem for me, thanks go to timgood.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1469499&page=2

[tadcan]

the pmount solution did not work for me.

Removing usbmount solved the issue for me

[Handssolow]

the pmount solution did not work for me.

Removing usbmount solved the issue for me

I noticed today that this problem had recurred. Rather than remove and reinstall pmount as the solution that I had used before, this time I removed usb mount as suggested by tadcan. I can now plug in and use a usb stick or Micro SD without the problem of me needing root permission.

[woodyg]

Thanks for this. Removing USBmount worked for me as well.