Due to the incomaptibility with linux and windows, i have managed to free up some space which is now formatted as a FAT32 partition. Only problem is I dont seem to be able to give the right permissions to it so it allows programs (azureus) to create folders in the partition. I have read a few of the threads regarding changing fstab but it doesnt seem to work fully , i managed to mount the partition as a normal user and azureus is able to write files to the main partition but kicks up a fuss when asked to make directory structures. I'm assuming I havent got the command correct, can someone help? here's my fstab:

# This file is edited by fstab-sync - see 'man fstab-sync' for details
/dev/hda5 / ext3 defaults 1 1
/dev/hda7 /home ext3 defaults 1 2
/dev/hdb /mnt/cdrom auto umask=0022,user,iocharset=iso8859-15,codepage=850,noauto,ro,exec,users 0 0
/dev/hdc /mnt/cdrom2 auto umask=0022,user,iocharset=iso8859-15,codepage=850,noauto,ro,exec,users 0 0
none /mnt/floppy supermount dev=/dev/fd0,fs=ext2:vfat,--,umask=0022,iocharset=iso8859-15,sync,codepage=850 0 0
/dev/hda1 /mnt/win_c ntfs umask=0022,nls=iso8859-15,ro 0 0
/dev/hda2 /mnt/win_e ntfs umask=0022,nls=iso8859-15,ro 0 0


/dev/hda8 /mnt/windows vfat rw,users,umask=0 0 0 <<<<<< the partition i need to give full access to



none /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda6 swap swap defaults 0 0





Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

From what I can see - you need to add two more zeros to that line so that the line looks like this:

/dev/hda8 /mnt/windows vfat rw,users,umask=000 0 0

I THINK that will work. If not, I can give you the line from my fstab when I get back in front of my computer later this evening or tomorrow.

Have tried to add 000 0 0 to the end but azureus still tells me operations arent permitted.

Just a few small checks, is it meant to be "users" or "user" ?

Also, do the first three 0's need to be together?

This is what I have for mine, I don't use the "user" command (that is only required if you mount after boot up, as it allows users to mount the drive):

/dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat umask=000 0 0

Those 5 0's need to be in that arrangement. The first 3 zeros tell the computer who can access the drive, and the second two have something to do with how the computer performs checks on the drives at mount time. (I'm not exactly sure what they do, but I know that "0 0" is what I have always been told to use...)

Hmmm, the problem still exists.

Azureus complains of "a disk read error ... permission denied"

How do I change the permission of the whole partition? When i click on properties on the partition in the .mnt, it says that only the owner is allowed all view and modify (which is owned by root) and group and others can only view

Thanks for the help though.

You have to change the permissions of the directory where your FAT32 partition is mounted. Probably the easyest way is to launch a file manager (konqueror) as root. In my menu it is under Applications\File tools\File manager - super user mode. Your menu could be different but it should be in it.
Once you've started the file manager navigate to /mnt/windows then right click choose properties and then you can change the permissions.