XP can only see Linux files in FAT32 - Dual Boot Problem.
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XP can only see Linux files in FAT32 - Dual Boot Problem.
PLEASE HELP
Ok - I'm not sure where to post this, so I am putting it in here since I am a complete n00b to Linux.
I have FC4 and Windows XP running on the same machine. I am dual booting between them using GRUB, pretty much default when I set up FC4.
I have set it up so Windows and Linux are on different partitions, but so that all the "My Documents" files from Windows are in the same FAT32 partition that FC4 is on, so that I can access the same files no matter which OS I am using.
FC4 is on hda5 - for later reference.
I have gotten competent at mounting hda5 into the /mnt/Win directory I created, and even have it working automatically with the fstab file.
Thats all well and good.
However, the problem comes when I boot into Windows XP.
When I click on E:/ (which is the FAT32 - hda5 partition which has linux in it, and also has 'My Documents' which I mounted while in Linux) - it shows me all of the folders under linux - bin, boot, dev, etc, home, lib ...and so on...
There is no trace of 'My Documents' or the Windows files that I've put in E: unless I boot into Linux and mount the files.
-- also a minor problem, but one I am not worried about because it would get fixed once I got my Windows files back in Windows, is that I can't write to any of the bin, boot, home, etc folders or anything like that... if that helps you
I'm a bit confused, since you referred to being able to mount the files in /mnt/Win. This seems to imply that it's not on the same partition as the rest of your Linux files. If that's the case the files should be in whichever partition it is on that your mounting. I could be wrong about this but I think that even if you mount it in Fedora, once you boot into windows there's not going to be a mnt/Win on E: Do you have any other partitions that you could look at to see if the files are there instead.
I started off with everything on my C: drive because the computer came with Windows on it.
I then split it up and now have a Partition for linux and a fat32 drive in which I put all my documents in - so I can share between them.
In windows this shows up as E:/ and I put all my windows files into it.
I'm not sure what has happened, but somehow all the linux files are all that show up in here....
Maybe I mounted it incorrectly at the start and ended up mounting all of linux into hda5?
But why can I still see all of my Windows files when I'm in Linux.
It makes me think that the E: drive in Windows is showing me something else, rather than the "My Douments" folder etc...
When I first made the partition, the first and only files I put in it was a copy of the "My Documents" folder - nothing else has been placed in it either from Windows or from Linux since...
to mount the Windows files in Linux, I am doing this:
$ mount vfat /dev/hda5 /mnt/Win
Win is just a directory in my mnt folder which I created (while following various tutorials)
It has nothing in it, until I mount hda5 into it, and then "My Documents" shows up in it
hda5 in Windows is meant to be my E: drive, but it seems to be showing me the partition where the rest of linux is. I'm not sure if that is entirely correct as to what it is doing, but thats what it looks like it is doing.
I started off with everything on my C: drive because the computer came with Windows on it.
I then split it up and now have a Partition for linux and a fat32 drive in which I put all my documents in - so I can share between them.
This means you have 3 partitions now right? 1 for linux 1 for windows and 1 for your documents.
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In windows this shows up as E:/ and I put all my windows files into it.
I don't get this...
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I'm not sure what has happened, but somehow all the linux files are all that show up in here....
If you mean the linux filesystem with 'linux files', that should mean that you formatted your linux-partition as fat (I don't know HOW you did it, but you did it ) , which is very unusual. It's not normal you can see your linuxfilesystem in windows...
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When I click on E:/ (which is the FAT32 - hda5 partition which has linux in it, and also has 'My Documents' which I mounted while in Linux) - it shows me all of the folders under linux - bin, boot, dev, etc, home, lib ...and so on...
When I read this I think your problem is indead that you formatted your linuxpartition as vfat, and put your documents somewhere in it. That's not the way you wanted it I guess...
I think that you wanted this:
hdaX: formatted vfat or ntfs with windows on it (C
hdaX+1: formatted ext3 with your linuxfilesystem
hdaX+2: formatted vfat with your documents on it (E: in win, /mnt/documents in lin)
Hmmm I if you really want it like you did it, off course you're free to do so, and then it's not strange you see your linuxfiles in windows. just browse trough it like you normally did when you were in linux and you'll find your documents... You put them there yourself in the beginning as you mentioned...
Nope - I'm not sure if thats what is happening at all..
"If you mean the linux filesystem with 'linux files', that should mean that you formatted your linux-partition as fat (I don't know HOW you did it, but you did it ) , which is very unusual. It's not normal you can see your linuxfilesystem in windows..."
I don't think I have reformatted the Linux partition at all.
I think - if it were possible - that somehow a copy has been made of all the linux files maybe and been mounted onto the fat32 partition which I created for E: - for sharing My Documents between OS's.
When I read this I think your problem is indead that you formatted your linuxpartition as vfat, and put your documents somewhere in it. That's not the way you wanted it I guess...
I think that you wanted this:
hdaX: formatted vfat or ntfs with windows on it (C
hdaX+1: formatted ext3 with your linuxfilesystem
hdaX+2: formatted vfat with your documents on it (E: in win, /mnt/documents in lin)
Yes - this is what I wanted....
hda5 is E:
But for some reason, E: is showing either the original Linux files - or a copy of all of them.
Maybe I could test this by creating a new file in linux and see if it turns up.
Either which way - originally before I got mounting the drives in Linux, I could See "My Documents" in E: drive, and now all that shows up is Linux files.
But still when I mount hda5 into /mnt/Win it shows me "My Documents" - so they are not deleted, they're still somewhere on my system... I just need to point the E: drive of windows to it.....
hehehe you are confusing me now... How do you know that hda5 and E are the same partition ? When you mount hda5 in linux you see your documents, and when you mount E in windows it shows you 'a' linux filesystem... That proves that hda5 en E are not representing 'the same' partition. Take a look at your partition table (fdisk /dev/hda and then 'p') how does it look? Can you post it here? Are C and E the only partitions you can see in windows?
When you installed fedora, which filesystem did you specify? In your openingpost you wrote:
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all the "My Documents" files from Windows are in the same FAT32 partition that FC4 is on
which implies you specified FAT32 -which is unusual- and your documents are in there. But then you tell that your documents are in a seperate fat32 drive:
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I then split it up and now have a Partition for linux and a fat32 drive in which I put all my documents in - so I can share between them.
How many drives do you have? Please be a bit more clear because your problem can't be solved when we don't know your problem...
When you're new to filesystems and partitioning I suggest reading the 'partition howto' and the 'filesystem howto' (a googlesearch will bring you to it)
Let's clear this up properly. Could you please post the output of these two commands run from linux with all the partitions mounted? Then we'll all know exactly what we're looking at and might even be able to come up with a straight answer for you
Looks to me like XP is mounting the extended partition (hda3) instead of hda5, or possibly all three one after the other or just the last entry in your case the linux partition.
What you may need to do is move your linux partitions into there own primary partitions leaving only hda5 in the extended bit then all should work as you expect. Haystack or cs-cam might have better ideas
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