can't find FAT32 partition
 

Hi, I'm a complete newbie to Linux, obviously. I installed Fedora Core 2 a couple days ago and my friend said that it would automatically recognize my FAT32 partition from Windows XP that has all my music and movies on it, but it doesn't. I was hoping I could get some help getting Fedora to recognize that partition.

Brian.

Well,the system can't just automatically mount the vfat partition.You've got to do the following:
edit the file /etc/fstab by adding these lines at the end:

/dev/hdx /mnt/win vfat defaults 0 0

where the hdx is the fat partition on your system.You can identify it by the command fdisk -a.It will most probably be hda1 or hda5.
Now make directory win in the /mnt folder.Now type mount /dev/hdx at the console.Now you can access your fat partition by going to /mnt/win.

Okay. I couldn't get fdisk -a to work, but I used the disk manager and it said the partition was hdb5... so I did all that but when I typed "mount /dev/hdb5" into the console it told me "mount: can't find /dev/hdb5 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab" . So I tried typing in "mount /dev/hdb5/mnt/win" and it told me "mount: mount point vfat does not exist". When I'm doing this, does it matter whether I'm currently in /mnt or /mnt/win when I try to mount it to that location?

Brian.

Certainly not.You can execute the command from anywhere.And the sysntax that you are using is incorrect.You can't type mount /dev/hdb5/mnt/win.
Did you make the appropriate changes to the fstab file?make sure that you edited the fstab right. You must specify each option under the correct heading.What exactly did you do?

And sorry for the wrong fdisk command.It's "fdisk -ls".It lists the device name and the partition.
And the fstab needs to be in this order:
where you list your options in the order:

/dev/hdb5 /mnt/win vfat defaults 0 0

This should do it alright.

You need to create a directory to use as a mount point
mkdir /mnt/win

For read / write for all the /etc/fstab entry should be:

/dev/hdb5 /mnt/win vfat user,umask=000 0 0

Thanks guys. I finally get it to work. I was trying to change fstab in gedit because I didn't realize that Linux came with Vim. I decided to try seeing if it was the editor I was using and if Linux cane with Vim, and sure enough, that's what it was and Linux does. I edited it in Vim and saved it then tried mounting it and it worked. Once again, thank you guys. Your help is very much appreciated.

Brian.

Okay, I have the same problem, but i aim using FC3, XFce WM. I tried doing what you said in the begining, but when i open /ect/fstab with gEdit, nothgin is there. what do i do?