USB drive mounts but user can't write to drive

[keithpeter]

Hello All

I've got a bare bones Ubuntu 10.04 set up (xorg, openbox, usbmount). My (vfat32) stick drive mounts, and I can see what is in the one directory on the drive, but I can't write to the drive unless I use sudo. I tried the obvious step of attempting to change permissions on the drive..

keith@quiet:~$ sudo chmod -R 777 /media/usb0
[sudo] password for keith: 
keith@quiet:~$ ls /media/usb0
stuff
keith@quiet:~$ touch /media/usb0/readme.txt
touch: cannot touch `/media/usb0/readme.txt': Permission denied

I've seen these posts and they seem to relate to different situations...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...ve+permissions

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...issions&page=2

Any ideas?

PS do we need a prefix for command line type systems?

[nothingspecial]

Try

sudo chown -R keith:keith /media/usb0

[Morbius1]

You can't chmod or chown a FAT32 or NTFS formatted partition. That's for linux filetypes.

The real question is why is your USB stick mounting with owner = root. It should automount with owner = keith unless Ubuntu reset the defaults again in 10.04.

Do you have an entry in fstab for this device. If so post the contents:

cat /etc/fstab

You also might want to post the output of sudo blkid

[keithpeter]

Try

sudo chown -R keith:keith /media/usb0

Thanks for reply, but...

chown: changing ownership of `/media/usb0/stuff/dttls': Operation not permitted
chown: changing ownership of `/media/usb0/stuff': Operation not permitted
chown: changing ownership of `/media/usb0': Operation not permitted

fdisk -l gives...

Disk /dev/sdd: 2057 MB, 2057306112 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 250 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: 0x000336de

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdd1   *           1         250     2008093+   b  W95 FAT32

cat /etc/fstab gives just the root, home and swap partitions, no entry for USB as I was sort of expecting there not to be. Would adding an fstab entry help?

[keithpeter]

You can't chmod or chown a FAT32 or NTFS formatted partition. That's for linux filetypes.

Do you have an entry in fstab for this device. If so post the contents:

cat /etc/fstab

You also might want to post the output of sudo blkid

Thanks Morbius1, I've just seen your post. As mentioned above, no fstab for the USB stick. sudo blkid gives

/dev/sda1: UUID="87601e96-9320-42a5-bb2b-97ecb57ebf54" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda5: TYPE="swap" 
/dev/sda6: UUID="ba78a906-a012-4f20-8cda-8d7332ec4b14" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sdd1: UUID="3C52-C8C5" TYPE="vfat"

I've been searching forums and there appear to be reports of defaults changing. System was installed and updated last night.

[Morbius1]

You can add an entry but for the life of me I don't understand why it's necessary. Some developer somewhere didn't dot an "i" or cross a "t".

Anyway, to add an entry into fstab it would go something like this:

Open Terminal
Type sudo mkdir /media/usbstick
Type gksu gedit /etc/fstab

Add an entry that looks like this:

 UUID=3C52-C8C5 /media/usbstick vfat user,umask=000,utf8,flush,noauto 0 0

The "user" and "noauto" will allow the user to mount the device automatically when inserted.

The "umask=000" will allow read / write access to everyone.

When you're done, save fstab, exit gedit, and back in the Terminal type:
sudo mount -a

Then insert the stick and find out if I'm full of hooey

[keithpeter]

Then insert the stick and find out if I'm full of hooey

You are right out of hooey. Thanks very much.

keith@quiet:~$ touch /media/usbstick/stuff/great.txt
keith@quiet:~$ ls /media/usbstick/stuff
dttls  great.txt

Now, do I have to do this for each different drive that I use, so each one has a different UUID?

Before I mark this as 'solved' has anyone got any ideas as to a 'general' solution that will get me back to where I am on another box with usbmount ('just works' with all permissions)?

Thanks all

[Morbius1]

Now, do I have to do this for each different drive that I use, so each one has a different UUID?

Yes. I mean you could have done it this way:

 /dev/sdd1 /media/usbstick vfat user,umask=000,utf8,flush,noauto 0 0

And if you only have one usb storage device this might work. But if you have many and they're formatted in NTFS, ext3, .... then you start getting into problems.

But as you stated above this is a workaround not a solution. Something's not right here.

[keithpeter]

But as you stated above this is a workaround not a solution. Something's not right here.

I'll do a bit more searching and then post about it on the Lucid development forum and search launchpad later on. I'm hoping its a short term beta release issue and that the behaviour will return to normal for Lucid release.

The 'workaround' is helping me back up work for now, so I'm marking this as solved.

[Scotus]

This issue cropped up in 9.10 after the last update too