HELP! - Windows and Linux using FAT32
 

PLEASE HELP

Ok - I'm not sure where to post this, so I am putting it in here since I am a complete n00b to Linux.

I have FC4 and Windows XP running on the same machine. I am dual booting between them using GRUB, pretty much default when I set up FC4.

I have set it up so Windows and Linux are on different partitions, but so that all the "My Documents" files from Windows are in the same FAT32 partition that FC4 is on, so that I can access the same files no matter which OS I am using.
FC4 is on hda5 - for later reference.

I have gotten competent at mounting hda5 into the /mnt/Win directory I created, and even have it working automatically with the fstab file.

Thats all well and good.

However, the problem comes when I boot into Windows XP.

When I click on E:/ (which is the FAT32 - hda5 partition which has linux in it, and also has 'My Documents' which I mounted while in Linux) - it shows me all of the folders under linux - bin, boot, dev, etc, home, lib ...and so on...

There is no trace of 'My Documents' or the Windows files that I've put in E: unless I boot into Linux and mount the files.

-- also a minor problem, but one I am not worried about because it would get fixed once I got my Windows files back in Windows, is that I can't write to any of the bin, boot, home, etc folders or anything like that... if that helps you

Why in the world would you want your Linux system on a FAT32 file system?

If you want to share data between your two operating systems, create a seperate FAT32 partition dedicated to sharing data . Your Linux system should be installed on a proper file system such as reiserfs, ext3, etc....

errm and why are you posting a new thread in another forum instead of answering our questions in order to help you...

As noted above:

Please do not post the same thread in more than one forum. Picking the most relevant forum and posting it once there makes it easier for other members to help you and keeps the discussion all in one place.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/rules.php