Hi all

Here is a beginners question, I've loaded Debian, and the /etc/fstab only contains the linux partitions. It works and looks great.

I have a FAT32 partition that I'd like to add to the fstab file. I can cat the fstab file and see it whilst logged into a root terminal.

The question is what commands do I use to open the file up for editing, add the requisite line and then close the edit and save the file.

Guess this is such a simple question but having searched all the other threads they start with
"I've added a line to fstab and now.."

Where as I haven't even got as far as adding a line yet.

Thanking you all for your replies.

Mad Malc

I am not sure what editor you have but here is an example.......
"nano -w /etc/fstab" ...........no quotes.

Try searching for "edit fstab" -- I'm sure there'll be some responses.

You can use any command-line editor (nano, pico, vi, vim, mcedit, the list goes on and on), and though each is completely different, they all fulfill the same function

if you do
# mount -a /dev/hda1 /mnt/Windoze -t vfat -o rw,umask=0,users,owner,fscontext=system_u:object_r:mnt_t

then it should add it to the fstab without you having to edit it manually.
You'll need to replace the hda1 above with the correct partition name... #fdisk -l to see a list. You can mount it anywhere as long as the directory already exists. I mount mine in /media/WinXP (I run FC4) so that it shows up in the file browser under Computer:///
The other options may not be entirely necessary depending on your purpose. If you intend to share the drive over a network then you need the fscontext part, and possibly the users,owner.

If you're only using it locally, then -o rw,umask=0 should be enough.

Follow these directions:

http://ubuntuguide.org/#automountfat

but just substitute su for sudo.

I think you'll find the mount cmd adds to /etc/mtab ie a list of what's currently mounted... To survive a system reboot, it'll have to be added to /etc/fstab via eg vi/vim.

I like

pico <filename>

for editing