reading ntfs files on fedora 3

I just installed Fedora Core 3 on my computer and I like it so far, but I can't read any of my files from Windows XP SP2.

I searched for it at google and i keep reading about if the kernel supports ntfs or editing fstab or something like that and to be honest, it's driving me nuts! How, in very newbie terms, can I read my XP files under Fedora 3? I'm afraid if I edit the fstab or recompiling the kernel will crash the system thus reinstalling it again. Also does anyone know if the Fedora Core 3 kernel supports NTFS by default? And if so, how do I check it?

Okay,

Don't panic!

can you display the output of these commands (as root)?

fdisk -l
cat /etc/fstab

Then we get an idea of your system.

It's pretty easy to read the NTFS file system, but you can't write to it (much).

I'm not a Fedora person (boo hiss red hat)
But most distros include NTFS read support - it's certainly in any modern kernel.

If it's not in your kernel then you may have to load the module. But that's not too hard either.

okay?

Have always a look at Fedora-Faq. This page is really good:
Fedora-Faq

And this is what you need:

How to get that running: http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/rpm/instructions.html
Download-Page: Fedora-Faq-NTFS
Download the NTFS-RPM-Packages, NOT the kernel-modules

It's really easy. In absolutely short install procedure: (if you have the actual kernel)

[admin@server /]# su -

[root@server /]# uname -r
2.6.10-1.766_FC3

[root@server /]# wget http://mesh.dl.sourceforge.net/sourc...r.4.3.i686.rpm
[root@server /]# rpm -i -v ./kernel-module-ntfs-2.6.10-1.766_FC3-2.1.22-0.rr.4.3.i686.rpm
[root@server /]# mkdir /mnt/windows
[root@server /]# fdisk -l
.....
Gerät Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1        3920    31487368+   7  HPFS/NTFS    <--------
/dev/hda2            3921        3933      104422+  83  Linux
.....
[root@server /]# mount -t ntfs /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows

Note that you can NTFS just read only with this drivers. (Writing isn't recommended anyway.)
greets, coder22

what is fdisk? seems when i try to run it, it says command not found...

fdisk accesses the partition tables of the drive. If trying to use this as a user it will not be found because /sbin is not in your. Also a user cannot use fdisk unless you change permission or add by sudoers. You need to be root to use it. Follow whaqt coder22 talks about.

ah, thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it!