I used my usb to install ubuntu on my netbook and now it says it's read only. Checked all over for a switch, even pulled the plastic case off but I can't find one and I'm getting more and more annoyed with it. Any help appreciated

What do you get when you type "mount -l"? Have you tried remounting it read/write instead of read only?

Tried to mount it in RW but got
"mount: block device /dev/sdb is write-protected, mounting read-only"

Shouldn't there be a partition on the drive (or maybe even more than one?) in which case you should be trying to mount something like "sda1" or "sda2" rather than just "sda"? Using sudo as necessary, what partitions do you see on the drive using the command fdisk -l ? (Note: that's a lowercase "L")

Sasha

Is is possible that somehow you boot with the stick installed? Boot to your new OS and then install the flash drive.

You could try fsck. Linux will mount a device read-only if it looks as if it might be corrupt.

output from fdisk -l

"fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 16.1 GB, 16139354112 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1962 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000d4922

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 1874 15052873+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1875 1962 706860 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 1875 1962 706828+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 4007 MB, 4007657472 bytes
124 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1018 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 7688 * 512 = 3936256 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x8ef631df

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 ? 274784 529564 979374166 66 Unknown
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(734, 123, 14) logical=(274783, 70, 21)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(120, 143, 6) logical=(529563, 65, 22)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2 ? 448668 961719 1972168331 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(187, 180, 14) logical=(448667, 16, 52)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(784, 0, 13) logical=(403059, 76, 1)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb3 ? 426615 680707 976730017 7d Unknown
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(252, 59, 46) logical=(426614, 84, 39)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(139, 118, 4) logical=(122048, 22, 28)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb4 ? 543622 544705 4161550 6f Unknown
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(370, 101, 50) logical=(543621, 57, 11)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(10, 114, 13) logical=(544704, 8, 44)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order"

tried fsck but it keeps leaving the file system unchanged I guess because it's in read only.

Jefro's post #5 looks like it's worth another look.

Meanwhile, from your fdisk output, we can see two disks -- sda and sdb. If sda is the USB stick, then I'd wager you should be trying to (re)mount /dev/sda1 which is the Linux filesystem. I'd also wager that it's called "sda" because it's being identified/labeled before the sdb drive -- which means that there's a decent chance (again) that post #5 may help. If the USB stick were not inserted during machine boot, then I'd figure the second drive (sdb) would actually be shown as sda, which I suspect it is because it appears to be the one with the Windows on it.

Remove USB stick; reboot Linux from the HDD where you installed it (should then be sda I believe), and log in; now, connect the USB stick (which will become sdb I believe) and proceed trying to mount /dev/sdb1 as read-write.

Best of success -- keep us posted!

Sasha

P.S. - to use fsck, a filesystem (a partition) should be UNmounted or perhaps mounted read-only (I can't recall off top of head if read-only will work -- check the fsck man-page on that if you wish.)

The message saying "filesystem unchanged" most likely means there was nothing to do, i.e. nothing wrong.

Type: lsusb to verify it's actually sda (although I'm pretty sure it is also.)

This always happens to me when making/trying some ubuntu's
only solution I have found is to format it fat32 with Gparted.

It's a netbook so the sda is the file system. The memory stick defentily on sdb.
I used the memory stick to install ubuntu. The installer turned the stick into a bootable stick, booted the netbook with the stick in and installed the distro. Now this distro is installed I want to use the stick as normal.

The fsck says there is problems on the stick and gives me options to fix them put then exits with the message file system left unchanged.

I will have a try with Gparted tonight.

Cheers for all the help people appreciate all the replies.

G-Parted works as a Swiss Knife

I had the same issue once
tried removing .Trash several times
succeeded after deleting the 8-GB pen drive partition and formatting it in ntfs
and again formatted in fat32 and it worked.

hope this information helps you!