can't mount fat32 partition

warpengi · 09-16-2004, 08:37 PM

Hi, just installed slackware on my brand new laptop. During install I created a fat32 partition as hda5.

When I try to mount it I get a message "fs type fat32 not supported by kernel. I checked /etc/rc.d/rc/modules and commented out the line /sbin/modprobe fat but that was no help.

Do I need a kernel specifically compiled with fat32 support? If so how do I do that?

michaelk · 09-16-2004, 08:48 PM

The filesystem type for FAT32 is vfat not fat32.

warpengi · 09-17-2004, 01:32 PM

Well, you are right. (says so in the man page, sheesh)

following advice in another thread I tried
fdisk -l /dev/hda5

The last line,
Disk /dev/hda5 doesn't contain a valid partition table

That might be my problem, eh? So I run cfdisk. Many times I run it and many times I reboot to reset the partition table but I can't seem to install a valid fat32 partition.

Could this be because I am installing it at the end of a 30GB harddrive?
Is there a utility that I can use to set both partitions and mount points?

mel82 · 09-17-2004, 01:56 PM

No, I don't think so.
It does not depend on the size or on where it's placed.

Tell him in cfdisk that you want that partition (/dev/hda5) to be fat32. Don't reboot, It's not needed (or at least I think it's not).

Then run the linux equivalent of "format d:"

mkdosfs -F 32 /dev/hda5.
Now you can mount it as you want, where you want.
mount -t vfat /dev/hda5 /anywhere/you/want/it/mounted

nitin_batta · 09-17-2004, 02:29 PM

You can simply mount the partition using :

#mount -t vfat /dev/hda5 /MY/DIRECTORY

Quote:

The last line,
Disk /dev/hda5 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Were you using the fat 32 partition earlier or you have just created it.

In case you have just created it you can format it and ust it

warpengi · 09-17-2004, 03:47 PM

thanx guys,

My mistake was thinking that cfdisk writing the partition table was also formatting the partition. I know the mount command and cfdisk seems pretty straight forward.

mkfs is a new one to me. Nevertheless it seems to work fine;~)

Anyhoo, I now have a mounted fat32 partition8~)

mel82 · 09-17-2004, 03:56 PM

Rally Oh!