Ok, i mounted my windows drive using this command: mount -t ntfs /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows

It all mounted successfully, but, i cannot open it due to not having permission. I am root, how do i get access?

Post your fstab file. Just cut n paste it here. Should be a minor change or two and it can mount automatically when you boot.

Check back later.

ok the fstab file would be where?

it's in the /etc directory.

Thanks, here it is:
/dev/hda2 / ext2 defaults 1 1
none /dev/pts devpts mode=0620 0 0
none /mnt/cdrom supermount dev=/dev/scd0,fs=auto,ro,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0
none /mnt/cdrom2 supermount dev=/dev/hdc,fs=auto,ro,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0
none /mnt/floppy supermount dev=/dev/fd0,fs=auto,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,sync,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0
/dev/hda1 /mnt/windows 23 sync,defaults 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda3 swap swap defaults 0 0

any help is greatly appriciated
thanks for helpin this

If no one disaggrees you may want to replace the line:
/dev/hda1 /mnt/windows 23 sync,defaults 0 0
with
/dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0

This is how mine is setup and it mounts during the boot process. See if anyone disagrees first. Someone may see something I don't.

Anyone see something wrong with this change?

i do, i use NTFS file system, not FAT

If you know what should be there just replace vfat with the proper file type. I think it is NTFS, not sure though. My windows drive is just a back up data drive anyway. It sees it the same way regardless.
I also think you need to reboot after you make the change. There may be a command that you can run but I don't know what it is.

Also note: You should not try to write to a NTFS partition. Mandrake usually adds the partitions automatically. It may not have done this because it can't write to it. This can really hose your NTFS if you mess with it. I usually recommend a small partition that is fat32 or something that both Linux can read/write and your XP can read/write to swap data. A small partition will usually be OK. I saw where one person had a 500MB partition and another had a 1GB one.

I hope that Mandrake 9.2 will be better able to handle NTFS. A lot of people dual boot XP and need the support.

Be carefull.

Tried replacing that line, but i dont have write privelages to that either

Go to Control Center, like start in windoze, then Applications/File tools/File Manager- superuser. It will ask for your root password. Then goto the file click on it and it should open with Kwrite. Location bar should show File:/etc/fstab. You can edit the file and save the changes.

There are a lot of files that you will have to access this way. This is why Linux/Unix is more secure than windoze. You basically have to tell the system it is you each time, not many viruses, trojans etc can get past that.

Do be carefull. It may have not mounted this automatically for a good reason. You can really damage your XP by doing the wrong thing here.

Good luck.

you have to be root. type "su" then your root password, then edit the file.

I see people say that all the time. Here's my question: Where do you put the 'su' command? I know how to do that in the command line. No problem there, but I have never seen where to put it in a GUI. I'm not a complete newbie, maybe I just missed it or maybe it's not in Mandrake 9.1 for some reason.

??????

put it in the command line, then open a gui editor from the command line as root (gedit&, kwrite&, etc.).

Well, i can open the windows folder now, but, i get the "mount: fs type 23 not supported by kernel" error msg, is this the end of my wish for my windows files? Also, I thought about the FAT file system small partition to just transfer the files from one OS to the other, BUT, i opened the mandrake control center, go to boot, open drakboot or whatever, add windows and make it default but it does not appear in the linux bootloader, now what? is my computer just all out of whack or what? (I'm thinkin its the windows user, lol)

Are you saying that it does not give the option to boot windows in your bootloader? You should have this:

Linux
Linux non-fb
Windows (almost spelled it windoze. he he he)
Failsafe
Floppy

If you are missing the windoze part that is a whole different problem.

Let me know if that is the problem. I have not ever done it and booted but I just went and added my data drive to test. Wasn't a problem on mine. I'll try to walk you through it.