NTFS usb drives do not mount not as user (suse specific)
 

SUSE state they do not allow to mount NTFS drives as user.
Other distros do (I have sabayon and mandriva on laptops).

how can I disable this behavior?
I do not want to use entries in fstab - they are hd specific.
And I found NTFS-config not too helpful I believe it messes with fstab as well.
perhaps policykit? - even that got renamed now and it almost rivals Windows registry with enigmatic names (what software is called "org.freedesktop" do, anyone?).
So yes I am useless with policykit and its derivatives, so where do Suse hide their root mount rule for ntfs?

(and is there still a difference between "ntfs 3g" and "ntfs"?

Thanks
husten

/bin/ntfs-3g is a mount helper called by the mount binary if not invoked with "mount -i" .
It depends on libntfs* in /lib ( and /usr/lib ) .
Also other commands invoke ntfs-3g like 'dd' .

"ntfs" should be the fs -t[ype] .

I read about putting "ntfs-3g" into fstab but this does not work for me .
"ntfs" and "auto" worked best .

Would "su root" "sudo mount" "login -f root" work to mount as user ?

Mounting as root will work (from a root-dolphin or fstab, or su - mount).

However I would like to mount NTFS usb drives as easily as FAT usb drives e.g. via the pop-up icon in KDE 4.

This is a family PC, can't ask the rest of the family to mess with the root password.

Works fine with mandriva and sabayon.

I saw this sticky at the opensuse forums.

http://forums.opensuse.org/english/g...-notifier.html

I had already gone through this, this was a bug where even root could not automount (in a root-dolphin for example).
The issue of automounting as user is not touched by this.
Thanks anyway for bringing this up, I am still holding out for a while.
if I get fed up I will desert suse for sabayon.

Distro's let one offer the user a set of permissions or privileges. You need to add that ability to the user.

I believe that you can right click on the mounted usb read only and choose to mount it with read write permissions.

I bit the bullet and messed with policy kit - e.g. global systems policies.
Under org.freedesktop - 'The udisks project' I set mount and unmount to a user group.

I found this only because i was trying to unmount as a user a root-mounted drive. the error message asking for the password mentioned the 'udisk' stuff.

It does the job. However not the proper solution as Suse was allowing users to mount FATs before, only NTFS was the problem. I was looking for a rule that dealt with mounting on a file-systems basis. Partially solved - anyone else come up with a better way soon, else mods can mark this solved.

Anyway this policy-kit stuff sucks! It almost makes Windows registry look simple. Any KDE developers reading this should hang their head in shame. It should be organized by task or hardware, not by cult, religion, or clan membership.

Thanks all!

i have never had a problem with ntfs .but i am also running Gnome2 and not kde4 as my desktop

if not listed in fstab then the automount will ask for the root password in a gnome pop-up when i open that folder / drive

the kde mount applet will not ask......

must be a bug
i take it is not in the little box in the lower tool bar on the left side

John the drive shows up in the icon, but a click on "open with file manager" results in nothing.
Open up a root dolphin and click on the drive there ad it mounts.

Anyway It is Suse's declared policy to ask for root access for external ntfs drives. I have found nothing on the internet on how to re-adjust the original Suse setting for ntfs to the setting for fat.

I don't like it, can't change it in Suse - suppose its either the policykit work-around I described earlier or changing to Sabayon.

Did you try editing /etc/filesystems as instructed in the link I provided? If that didn't fix your problem then you must've fiddled around with some files that's causing your problems.

I have two 11.4 machines and both can mount ntfs usb sticks. I stick it in and click "open with file manager" and it's mounted.

Yes, i did catch that
my /etc/filesystems is

OpenSUSE11.4 problems with usb stick
 

I cannot believe this is a major issue with linux...Tried Ubuntu, Mint, and now Suse 11.4...when I plug the stick at startup, it mounts the usb device, otherwise is a nightmare. In Ubuntu I had to load policykit, even then, it would not load everytime...had to use the lsusb command to mount the usb device...so I thought to try another distro...
Comes Open Suse, Same thing!!!! but now policykit, nor lsusb works! help! tried looking but seems like regular users like me cannot use linux...
Ok, so whats next? Everyday Windows seems like a better program, it works! everything works, and I am saying this for the main stream users. If linux community likes to win this war, then logically this is not the way...everything has to work, for main stream people, or Windows will always be in the 90% percentile...Ok, now back to my issues, will give it a try for another day, and if not I stilll have my Windows image. Anyone with a simple solution?

jwlinux
there is no war to win
some fat issues are caused by the Microsoft patents on file names ( fat) and on ntfs

yell at them