can't see files on fat32

I've managed to set up my system as a newbie pretty good but now I'am stuck.I can see my common directory(on a separate HD visible to all OS on system)as root but not logged on as user.Please can anybody point me in the right direction.If you need to see my edited fstab or mtab then reply

Posting your /etc/fstab would help greatly.

You may need to add the user option, this allows normal users to mount and un-mount the partition.

thanks for the help.
/etc/fstab: filesystem table.
#
# filesystem mountpoint type options dump pass
/dev/hde1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hdc1 none swap sw 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /floppy vfat defaults,user,noauto,showexec,umask=022 0 0
/dev/cdrom /cdrom iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noexec,noauto 0 0
# partitions found by Knoppix
#/dev/hde1 /mnt/hde1 auto noauto,users,exec 0 0
#/dev/hde2 /mnt/hde2 vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppix 0 0
/dev/hdc2 /mnt/hdc2 auto noauto,users,showexec,umask=022,uid=andrew,gid=andrew 0 0
/dev/scd0 /cdrom auto ro,noauto,user,exec 0 0
/dev/scd1 /cdrecorder auto ro,noauto,user,exec 0 0


/dev/hde1 / ext3 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/dev/root.old /initrd ext2 rw 0 0
none /proc proc rw 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,gid=5,mode=620 0 0
/dev/cdrom /cdrom iso9660 ro,noexec,nosuid,nodev,user=andrew 0 0
/dev/scd1 /cdrecorder iso9660 ro,nosuid,nodev,user=andrew 0 0
/dev/hdc2 /common vfat rw,nosuid,nodev,user=andrew 0 0

check the permissions for /common. It could be that non-root users are not allowed to enter it. If so, change the permissions (you have to be root to do this).

Had the same problem solved like this:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...threadid=85773

I've tried to change the permissions for common using chown as root,get operation not permitted going to look for another way to change permission.
read previous thread helped me to mount common but don't understand some of the last bits will reread and repost.
thanks for all your help time for bed

the command is chmod. As root, you'd do
chmod a+x /common
but more to the point, were the permission messed up?

Using chmod on a mounted vfat filesystem will not work.
To set permissions for a non-Linux filesystem, use the umask option.
user=andrew is an incorrect syntax.

If you want to allow all normal users to mount, un-mount and access a vfat partition.

/dev/hdc2 /common vfat rw,nosuid,nodev,user,umask=000 0 0

To set file ownership to one user (andrew) with write permission.

/dev/hdc2 /common vfat rw,nosuid,nodev,user,uid=andrew,gid=andrew,umask=022 0 0

I once had a mount point /blah which for some reason only root was allowed to enter. When I mounted a filesystem on /blah, regardless what it said in fstab, a normal user could not see what's there. I thought that something similar might be happening.

quick recap checked permissions every thing seemed OK till I had a flash of inspiration and went back and checked the groups I'am in,using KUser.What an idiot I had forgotten to tick any boxes.everything now visible,apologies for wasting everyones time.
great forum...creep....creep.