Distribution:Arch Linux 2010.05
Kernal:2.6.33.4

System Info:
Intel
Core2Duo 1.8GHz
2GB Crucial DDR2 667MHZ RAM
ASrock 775-DualVSTA Motherboard
NVIDIA
8800GT 512MB PCI-Express Graphics Card
500GB SATA Western Digital Caviar Blue (MAIN SYSTEM DRIVE)
250GB IDE Western Digital Caviar
300GB SATA WEstern Digital Caviar RE16
160GB IDE Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 9
500W Casecom power supply


Hello All,

I've recently switched to linux full time using Arch with a fresh install and im still trying to get everything configured properly.

One of the problems i'm having relates to permissions. I've currently got my main 500GB SATA hard drive (see details in system info) and my 250GB IDE (see system info) drive plugged in, with all the others unplugged. On the 250GB HDD ive got all my backups of music and films that I want to transfer back to my 500Gig hdd. The problem i'm having is 1. I can't create any new partitions on my 500gig hard drive because when I enter the Disk Utility (in gnome) and try and create a new partition, I get the message:

So it obviously wants me to be root to do this, but why? and how do I become root whilst using a program like that. I've seen it before when it asks you for a password for root in a dialogue box, but Arch doesn't seem to be doing this.

Second problem, still relating to permissions, is when I try and view the 250Gig backup drive through "Places>Computer>Backupdrive", I get the error:

If I mount it using the fstab, I still get the same messages.

Has anyone got any ideas how to solve this.

Thanks,
Scott.

Open a console, su to root and run:

# pacman -S gksu
# pacman -S gparted

Just to be sure you have the necessary packages installed. Then open another console and run as an ordinary user:

$ gksu gparted

A window will come up prompting you for your root password; enter it. A very nice partitioning application, gparted, will come up with root privileges. For editing fstab as root run:

$ gksu gedit /etc/fstab

In general, to run any application with root privileges, run:

$ gksu <application>

To change the permissions on a mounted partition to give the world full read/write permissions, open a console, su to root and run:

# chmod -R 777 <mount point of partition>

Note, the partition must be mounted when the above command is run or it won't work. This method will only work if the partition is formatted with a linux filesystem like ext3, ext4, xfs, etc. It won't work on windows formatted partitions like NTFS or FAT32.

so you are doing this as a normal user ?
that will not work you need to be root

install and setup sudo ( gksu ) as above or do it in the terminal as root

or edit Arch to allow root gui login ( not recommended ) see the Arch wiki- it is there
root GUI login is not normally recommended , except for fixing a fubar'ed OS and for set-up


one reason for the error massage is that Arch starts with the user id of 1000 ( most others start with 500

i have that problem with a shared disk between CentOS 5.5 and Arch

i need to reset the file group from within cent or arch

Thanks for the replies,

I have used Gparted many times in the past, and thats where I mentioned seeing the root login prompt in my post. I've installed it and its all working fine. But I just figured that the Disk Utility that comes with gnome would be sufficient enough and provide you with root privileges automatically, without having to use command line options such as gksu, obviously that must be asking for too much from gnomes disk utility. I didn't mean that i wanted to edit the partitions as a normal non-root user, i just assumed that the Disk Utility would give me root privileges.

I already had sudo installed and set up, from when I did the initial setup of Arch, but i've never heard of gksu, but its needed by gparted and its doing its job.


As for the mounting problem, its an NTFS partition im wanting to mount as its a backup that I made from when Windows was still installed, before I switched completely to open source. I don't necessarily want to give 'full read/write permissions to the world' Kilgoretrout, but I do actually want to be able to access the drive in the first place, so that I can copy the data from it. Once ive got the data from it, it can be wiped and formatted with ext3/4 partition like the rest of my partitions.

<EDIT> I've just created the partitions I need on the 500 gig drive. But I cant mount them from in the browser. Why isn't there a dialogue box popping up and just asking for root password? I don't want to have to do everything from the command line, i've been doing that for years, I just want it to give me some dialogue boxes instead. Is there something that i've not got installed or anything? </EDIT>

Thanks again,
Scott.

You need to do a few things. First install ntfs-3g:

# pacman -S ntfs-3g

You also need to have the fuse module loaded:

# modprobe fuse

Make sure hal is running:

# /etc/rc.d/hal restart


Try plugging in your external hard drive and see if you can mount the ntfs and other partitions. If not logout and back in and try again. If it works, you should check your /etc/rc.conf file and make sure hal is set to load in the services/daemon section and fuse is set to load in the modules section. There both needed for automounting in gnome.

Note: If you don't want to do things from the command line or fool around editing text configuration files, Arch is not the best distro for you. Arch is for advanced users and assumes a fair level of sophistication at the command line and familiarity with linux configuration. With Arch you are responsible for configuring and maintaining your system. It's nice for the advanced user because you can set things up exactly the way you want without anything extra being installed or getting in the way. With that flexibility comes the burden of knowing what to do because arch isn't going to assume it knows what you want to do.

It may be the ntfs-3g that I need, it seems to ring a bell from past installation configuration. As I say, as soon as i've got the data from it, I will no longer need to use NTFS. I will try ntfs-3g when i get a second. I already have fuse.

And I have to disagree with you on Arch not being the best distro for me. I've used it on and off since 2005 I believe, and I have tried to use more 'user orientated' distros such as Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Fedora and such like, and they are just too closed and restricted for me. And the whole point in using Arch is that if I so want... I can have it setup to automatically do things, or if id rather manually do things from the command line, then I can... thats the whole point of Arch is it not?. The other thing that I like about using Arch, is the fact that it forces me to learn how to use the os from the base up, so I have to learn about basic things to be able to configure advanced things, which gives me a way better understanding of linux than I would get from using something like Ubuntu or Fedora. As I said before, ive been using command line options for years and Id just like certain things now to have interfaces, which is why im using Arch, because I can choose to do that. It might take me some time to get it right, and might take a lot of questions on forums and stuff like that, but in the end ill get it how i want it. I guess its all just a matter of opinion Kilgoretrout.


<EDIT>Right, installing NTFS-3g has fixed the problem, and I can now mount the filesystem manually using mount -t ntfs-3g /mnt/backupdrive, and I can see everything. I have added this to fstab along with my other 2 ext4 partitions on my main 500gig hard drive. But I can't seem to copy anything to or from any of the partitions. My fstab looks like this:

Does this look ok? Have I done anything thats not ideal?. Also, is mounting all the partitions to /mnt/"name" good practice or is there a better way of doing this? I have set rw, so in theory I should be able to read and write on all the paritions, but it doesn't seem to be letting me.


Any ideas?</EDIT>

Thanks,
Scott.

With sda5 and sda6 mounted, as root run:

# chmod 777 /mnt/Music
# chmod 777 /mnt/Media

See my prior post re chmod. The rw fstab option is not for linux filesystems. Just chmod the mount points with the partitions mounted if you want to have rw access to a linux formatted partition. See man chmod for an explanation of the numeric codes involved.

Ah yes, thats sorted it now.

Thanks so much kilgoretrout. Going to have a read of the manual for chmod so I know how it all works in future.

Scott.