Accessing Windows from Fedora5
 

Hi, I am new to Linux and have been experimenting with various distros over recent weeks. Ubuntu was my top preference until Fedora 5 was installed and, as the office are now using Red hat as the server it makes some sense to me to use Fedora (part of Red hat??).

OK, i had issues with wireless access but rsolved this by installing the Intel driver (brave of me, but it worked!). But, I cannot seem to get access to my Windows partition from Fedora 5 at all unlike Ubuntu and one or two others I tried. This - now - is the only stumbling block for me as there are a large number of files (and fonts!!!!) I would like to be able to 'drag' over.

If anyone can help/advise here I would be very grateful. My email address is pgiffo@talk21.com

Now I can get Skype on Fedora 5, can synch up my Palm Tungsten, can use GnuCash (instead of Microsoft Money) the great majority of my 'needs' are met in a non Billy Gates environment.

As I said, the only downside at the moment that I cannot see a way round is accessing my Windows partition to drag files over.

I am using Gnome as the desktop from preference, Is there a KDE file manager that does the job or am I being super thick here?

Best regards and thanks!!!!

Peter Gifford

It sounds like your Windows partition is NFTS, which Red Hat does not support out of the box. Many have found that by visiting http://www.linux-ntfs.org/ they can have read access to the NTFS partitions.

While Fedora Core is part of the Red Hat family, it might make a bit more sense to use something like CentOS 3/4 (a freely downloadable "clone" of RHEL) instead. The same bit about the NTFS partitions does apply.

I do not think giving your email is appropriate. See LQ rules.

You may want to create a fat32 partition for file sharing between OSs
There are ntfs solutions (for which you would need to pay)

By default NTFS file can only be read, try as root and check the windows
partition is mounted correctly, but as said above if it is not supported by FC5, that will not work
If it is only Zin -> linux, this should work
Try mandriva, suse, and many others

WIndows file access in Fedora 5
 

Thanks Lenard for your help and advice here. I have bookmarked the page you suggest and will download it later this evening (working just now a home.....). I guess, as a Linux 'newbie' that the installation of this would solve the problem for me??
Again, I appreciate your prompt response. Best regards - Peter

Have I erred here?
 

Hi Emmanuel_UK, apologies if I have erred in some way with respect to LQ rules? I am new to this. Was it my email address?? Best regards - Peter

yes the email. The idea being that
1) public discussion so other can learn from it
2) fact that all users are equal

welcome to LQ BTW
good luck with linux

Putting your email address on discussion boards is never a good idea either...

That site you were directed to is exactly what you want, it has instructions there on how to install.

Fedora has quite a short cycle on new kernels, and you will need to use this patch for every kernel, so whenever you get a new kernel (via yum or whatever) check that site to get the new patch, they are usually very good at having the latest one

Windows/NTFS etc..
 

Hi Lenard and Emmanuel_UK. Firstly, apologies for the email address, I have just read the LQ rules.... ooooppppsss!! Sorry!!! Thanks also for the welcome to the forum!! I will be very happy to have the total solution for me avoiding Windows altogether if at all possible.

Secondly, Lenard, why is - in your opinion - CENTOS a better option for me? I have tried a number of distros but Fedora 5 looks and feels better on the laptop so far. I think I tried Centos some weeks ago but there were configuration issues that I could not resolve easily and went back (aganin!) to Ubuntu until I cam across Fedora 5 three weeks ago.

Regards - Peter

make a spare partition of 5 or 6 Gb so can dual boot linux
So you can make up your mind, test various distros.
be sure to make /home as a separate partition (or you will loose data)
Use grub as boot loader rather than lilo

It is just a suggestion, you did state that your office is now using Red Hat as the server. CentOS 3/4 is binary compatible with RHEL 3/4 is why I made the suggestion.

Accessing Windows through Fedora 5
 

Hi all.... thanks a lot for your help and input yesterday - much appreciated! I tried for a while last evening to sort the problem out. I downloaded the correct file for the kernel version but there was some sort of conflict. So, I will try again later this evening. I also didn't appreciate that CENTOS was a closer distro to Red Hat than Fedora 5. Maybe I will also load this as well t see which fits best. Gentlemen, thanks again and for your patience and help. I am determined to get the right Linux on my system and leave Windows alone. I am also looking at Wine - any thoughts on that product? The onl other Windows software I use from time to time is PagePlus (Serif) it is an excellent DTP package but - maybe whe I have had the time to play with Scribus et al intelligently I may be able to dopr PagePlus as well.
Regards - Peter

Fedora 5, Windows file access and Linux-NTFS
 

Thanks to all who helped me out here. I finally managed to find the time to get the software installed and working. All I have to do now (as a Linux 'newbie') is to try again to get Fedora 5 to see this 100% of the time. Currently, I can access the Windows partition once and drag over files as read only despuite entering various configurations as suggested by the documentation.

Once more THANKS! I will persevere....................

Hmmmm.....

Try the following entry example;

Remember to adjust to actual configuration needs.