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Old 07-29-2005, 04:22 PM   #1
junger
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Registered: Jul 2005
Distribution: FC3
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unable to write to msdos drive


I am working with fedora core 3, linux kernel 2.6.9-1.667 on a Pentium 2 500mhz computer, with a S3 Savage4 AGP card, Soundblaster AWE 32, 352MB ram, 13GB HDD (Linux) dualbooting with 4GB HDD (Windows 98), 2 cdroms (both non-writers).
I am unable to write to my MSDos half of my installation. I can read it fine, but any changes I try to make, I end up getting an error message. For instance, I tried to edit my msdos.sys file using gedit, and when I try to save, i get this error: "Could not save the file 'msdos/msdos.sys'"
In my etc/fstab file, I inserted a line saying "/dev/hdb1 /msdos msdos defaults 1 1" Is there something wrong that I'm doing???
 
Old 07-29-2005, 04:40 PM   #2
junger
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update:
using XDosEmu, I have no problem writing.
...weird.
 
Old 07-29-2005, 04:49 PM   #3
junger
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another update...
it seems something is weird with gedit.
using any other editor, I can edit files (ie msdos.sys), but gedit displays that message.
But another problem I am having is that say I want to make changes to the perms, in groups or others, when I check the write box (read and exec are already checked) the check appears, then disappears. same when I try to click read and exec under the same headings. What is going on here?
 
Old 07-30-2005, 12:58 AM   #4
junger
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Ugh... I am dissappointed. I had to go to another site to figure it out. But then again, you can't know everything. Anywho... for those who want it... here's the fix.
in /etc/fstab, insert this line...
"/dev/DRV /mnt/POINT vfat users,owner,rw,umask=000 0 0"
where drv is your hdd, usually hda1 (or 2) or hdb1 (or 2) depending how your system's set up. Point is a folder you created to hold the symbolic link to create the mount point. Here caps counts!!!
you can change "rw" to "ro" if you want all users to access the disk read-only. when rw is specified, umask is a user access mask (hence the name) but inverted. a value of 000 means write access to all, 004 means write access to all except others outside of root and groups, and 044 means only root can write. (you can do 444, but that is redundant of using ro instead of rw.)
Thanks guys.
 
Old 07-30-2005, 01:01 AM   #5
junger
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one thing to add... this works for my FAT32 drive, and it should work for a FAT16 drive as well, but I don't have a FAT16, so I was unable to test it.
Also, if you don't want to do a reboot, run "mount -a" under terminal, after either su-ing, or logging in as Root.
 
  


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