Hey everyone! Does anyone know how I can access my Windows XP Home Edition partition from Suse Linux 9.1 Personal Edition so I can run windows programs and access my files i have saved on my windows partition? In other words, what commands do I need to type to access the Windows partition?

mount /dev/hd?? /mntpoint

where ?? is the windows partition and /mntpoint is the place you want your windows partition to appear under. Your XP may be running NTFS and therefore may not be writable from your linux system.

Usually SUSE mounts available Windows partitions automatically. Have a look in the folder /windows. Otherwise you could use YaST -> System -> Partitioner to mount those drives. And certainly you can use the above suggested command, but this in not permanent and needs to be repeated every reboot.

Good point. Naturally fstab has to be modified for the mount to be persistent across reboots.

assuming that my XP is running NTFS, how would i make it writeable from the Linux Partition? Also what do i need to put in the fstab file to make the mount permanent?

You cannot make NTFS writable with Linux tools only. There is a driver called captive-ntfs, which uses the original Windows driver. But NTFS-write access is not recommended.

Either use YaST to modify fstab, as I suggested above, or add something like this:

Oh ok, so you do not recommend NTFS write access? how come? Also how would I use Yast to be able to have read/execute access for my NTFS partition? When I tried to use Yast it just give me tools for creating/deleting a partition. I did not see anything relating to actually being able to access another partition.

Here is what the suse support site says about the issue -

http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/0...a_91_ntfs.html

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Write Access To NTFS Partitions

Applies to: SUSE LINUX 9.1
Symptom
You have read access to the NTFS partition of a Windows NT/2000/XP operating system. However, when you try to write on this partition, you get an error message.
Cause
Microsoft keeps the specifications and structures of the NTFS file system as a company secret, thus making it very difficult to provide support for this file system.

Fortunately, read access to NTFS partitions is very stable. On the other hand, write access might damage the whole NTFS file system of the corresponding partition. For this reason and in order to protect you from data loss, only read access is activated by default in SUSE LINUX.
Recommended Solution
Create a partition with the file system FAT32 and use it for accessing a shared data pool from Linux and Windows and for exchanging data.
Non-Recommended Solution

Recompile the kernel after having activated write access to NTFS file systems in the kernel configuration. Then change the variable "ro" (readonly) to "rw" (readwrite) in the options section of the respective partition in the configuration file /etc/fstab.

We discourage you from doing so because of the above-mentioned reason. Furthermore, on performing these steps, you will no longer be entitled to free-of-charge installation support. SUSE shall not be made liable for any damages arising from the activation of write access!

When you enter the YaST partitioner, you should see a list of recognised partitions and HDD's. One column (Mount) shows the mountpoint of the respective partition. If there is a mountpoint for your drive present, try to access the folder and see it may be mounted already. If there is no mountpoint, highlight the partition and select 'Edit'. Now choose a mountpoint (that may need to be created with the mkdir command first) and confirm changes. This should create the fstab entry and mount the drive.

thanks!

Why is that I can't have the same mount point for 2 or more drives. For instance /mnt disappears from the list as soon as I attach it to one partition

Let me also ask: in Mandrake the Wndows partitions would be under the /mnt directory. Where can I find them in SuSE?

Yeah NTFS writing is very dangerous to the stability of your NTFS file system.

I'd suggest having a 3rd+ partition that is Fat32. Fat32 supports writing and reading in both XP and Suse. This would allow you transfer files back and forth between XP and Suse with ease.

Just a little tip that I've noticed (and figured out the hard way).

If you are transfering files between the 2, make sure you dont use hibernate in XP otherwise XP go through and wipes out what you told Suse to put on the partition and then if you go back into Suse you'll see a file called "Found.000" and its all your files but they're half garbage now. Sucks.

Anyway, just be careful and dont use hibernate on XP if you're trying to transfer files between the 2.

with mandrake i had no problems writing to my xp partition. why is it different in suse?

Why is it in 9.2 when I have mounted the windows partitions I can access them as root but not as a normal user?