hello gang -
a linux newbie needs basic help - my desktop pc is loaded with ubunto 8.04

have just purchased 2 gb usb flashdrive - never used one before in my life-:

when i click on the flashdrive icon i get ' unable to mount location'

what do i need to do to use the flashdrive

i wish to store text only

any help appreciated

cheers lizzie

HI rose,welcome . You have to make the USB flash drive usable. Just follow the steps:

http://thegnulinuxguy.wordpress.com/...-command-line/

It will list usb as /dev/sdb

creat directory to mount usb

If it auto mounts then see it using

/media/****

will show mounted usb

Also see it using

I'm grateful rose asked this question because I was wanting to know how to use a USB memory stick under Linux also.
This will disgust all present but I'm ancient so I struggle with computers generally.
I have been using Ubuntu for 4 years now but have avoided COMMAND LINE because it makes my head hurt
I am NO FAN of Microsoft but instructions I saw for using a USB flashdrive under Windows use simple GUI steps that even a prehistoric nitwit such as myself could make sense of.
Can a USB flashdrive be used under Linux with GUI??
Regards,
Greg

Ya when mounted USB can be seen in File system in GUI..Just try accessing file system icon

I think there is a package that you can install. Think it is called mountmanager or similar. It is a graphical way to change mount issues. I have tried it on mint and I know it came from ubuntu so you should be able to use it.

Depends on how many harddisks are in the computer, can also be sdc, sdd, sde...

Since most USB sticks use fat16, you can just install the dosfstools package with your GUI software manager. This should allow your system to "see" the existing filesystem.

Thanks,
Can't find a package called mountmanager??
I already have REMOVABLE DRIVES AND MEDIA PREFERENCES but that tool does not say anything about USB flashdrives??
Synaptic package manager offers DISC MANAGEMENT "mount and unmount file systems" dunno if that would help??
Regards,
Greg

You may need to give your user some rights to mount usb flash drives. I don't use ubuntu so I can't exactly say where it is. Under user rights or a similar term.

Synaptic ought to have mountmanager in packages. If not then sudo apt-get install mountmanager

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/mount-mana...artitions.html

Thanks Jefro that was a useful post
I did some searching and mountmanager was first offered in Ubuntu 9.04 so does that explain why it does not appear in synaptic package manager for older versions of Ubuntu??
I may need to update my OS??
My PC is old (not as old as me fortunately) and I use dialup internet so long ago I was advised to stick with what I had (Ubuntu 7.10) as it was doing all I needed.
Regards,
Greg

The answer depends on what version of the Linux kernel you are using.

The 2.6 series of the Linux kernel is capable of autodetecting a USB device. If you are using Gnome or KDE, a icon will display on the desktop which you can mount and open easily with the mouse. The permissions issue depends to some extent on which Linux distro you are using.

The 2.4 series of the kernel did not do this. You had to use the sort of techniques that prayag_pjs described to detect the device and add it to the fstab (File System Table) file.

If you want a blow-by-blow, I described how I did this for my Iriver podplayer in this post on my personal blog.

twum_au, I may be older than you. I started with computers when DOS 3 was the bee's knees.

Linux isn't hard. It's just different.

Hi Frank,
when I inserted the USB stick I got no icon on the desktop.
I clicked Places/computer, an icon for USB Flashdrive was displayed in that window. I clicked the icon.
The message "unable to mount location" was then displayed.
I did some checking and Linux kernel 2.6 has been used in Ubuntu distros going back to at least 5.04 so I can't understand why I never got an icon on my desktop when the stick was inserted???
It seems not to be autodetecting like you say it should???
Regards,
Lizzie