I convinced my wife to try Linux but she's been having trouble. When she downloads a file from her webmail, it downloads as a 0 KB file. I've narrowed the problem down to the fact that she's downloading to an NTFS partition. She still boots into windows sometimes (dual-boot) so I need a partition that's readable by both OS's. The problem with fat32 is I had trouble using Unison (syncronization software) with fat32. It refused to work because it wasn't able to set the proper permissions for the files that were being syncronized.

Here's the specs: Kubuntu Edgy Eft. One hard drive with four partitions: windows (NTFS), linux (ext3), swap, and personal files (NTFS - that's where she's trying to save her document). Files backed up every day using Unison. So, I can wipe her personal files partition and re-format using fat32, but then I'd have to copy several gigs of files over the wireless network, so I'd rather not do that unless I know it will work.

Here's the troubleshooting I've already tried: I tried different webmail programs: Yahoo, Hotmail, and UCSF webmail (Outlook webmail) and they all had the problem. I tried different web browsers: Firefox and Opera, both had the problem. If I download to her home directory (linux partition - ext3) it will download successfully, and she can copy the file to her personal files directory. But a two-step solution seems ridiculous in this case. Her personal files partition does mount correctly, and she does have read-write permission. It seems that this problem only comes up when she's trying to save a file from her web browser straight to the NTFS partition.

If I can't make this work, my wife will give up and switch back to windows. I don't want that to happen. Please help!

Thanks in advance!

I think the problem is that by default writing to NTFS is disabled since it's still considered beta quality. You need to install some software to enable it. http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:E...d_write_access

Thanks for your reply!

I don't think that's the problem because I can write to the drive. I have already installed ntfs-3g and set up everything properly. I can download the file to an ext3 partition and then copy it to the NTFS partition. So, Konqueror can write to the ntfs drive, but for some reason my web browsers can't.

Any ideas?

double-check that you mounted the partition with the correct options, so you can write to it as user. Try:

ntfs-3g /dev/whatever mount/point -o rw,uid=1000

replace 1000 with your uid (default user should be 1000).

actually I'm not so sure if that's a good idea, but you must know

Do you use a stable release of ntfs-3g (version 1.0 or 1.328)? I remember a similar browser problem with some older beta which went away with the stable releases.

Thanks for your feedback guys. My wife took her laptop to Costa Rica for a couple weeks but I'll let you know when she gets back.

Trash the NTFS partitions and use Linux. For Windows, use VMware. With VMware setup a virtual network like NAT.

With FAT32, use the archive attribute. This should help to sync the files correctly.

Make a lot of scripts to automate a lot of processes, so your wife does not freak out. webmin is a possibility.

I once used ntfsmount with fuse to copy an ISO image to NTFS partition. The image still works to this day. I use daemon tools to create a virtual CD in Windows. The image is "The Sims 2" game disc. The game is not complaining. I created the image with dd_rescue or was it ddrescue. Though I would not use ntfsmount with fuse on a daily basis.

Mac OS X is similar to Linux. Fink can be used to help compile Linux programs for the Mac.

Electro had it right. Apparently Firefox just doesn't like saving files to an NTFS drive.

When I set up Linux I always use four partitions: for Linux, Windows, personal files, and swap. That way when I need to reinstall an OS the personal files aren't harmed. When I started using Linux I made the personal files partition either FAT32 or NTFS because I wanted to be able to access them from both Windows & Linux. Now that I'm 99% Linux, that's causing more problems than it's solving. Turns out you can get ext3 support in Windows: http://www.fs-driver.org/

I know it sucks to have a third-party add-on just to access your personal files, although the truth is that's what ntfs-3g is anyway. And this add-on has worked well on both of my computers, on the rare occasions I've had to do anything in Windows. Setup is easy, use is transparent (It Just Works). It ought to work for her too.

Thanks for all your help, guys! Now I have to backup and copy 9 gigs of files . . . AGAIN . . . <sigh>