I really actually feel like a BOOBIE, lol. Ok I am using SUSE Linux 10.0 LiveCD on DVD right at this very moment for the first time, I haven't rebooted yet. This is technically my second live distro I've used, Knoppix was the first but I didn't work with it very much. I plan to work with this one till I nail it. I have set the necessities; display to 1280X800, network card, etc. Will everything I set just revert back to default on a reboot being that this is the LiveCD?

I realize I am using the LiveCD and I shouldn't expect to actually have any settings saved and have this version act as anything but a evaluation, right? Another words I would like to heavily familiarize myself with SUSE using LiveCD before I even consider attempting to install it as a dual-boot to XP. Is there anyway remotely possible to get this LiveCD to save settings and such to this computer and have them load everytime I boot to SUSE with the LiveCD?

Wel come to the forum daygo140!

Most modern live-cds give you an option to save the configuration for later use. Have a look under system settings or system tools and go through the options. There's bound to be one. (I'm sorry, but I don't remember the name or location on Suse)

Ok I'm sure I'll find it. But before I do, it probably will be necessary that I mount my hard drive. When I go to "My Computer" I can see my hard drive listed but when I click it I receive the following:

Could not mount device.

The reported error was:

mount: can't find /dev/hda1 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab

How do I get the hard drive to be able to be accessed?

Open a terminal and become root by issuing the following command:
su -

now create a mountpoint:

mkdir /mnt/win_c (or any other name you like under the /mnt directory)

then try to mount the drive in the following way:

mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt/win_c (if the partition is fat32)
mount -t ntfs /dev/hda1 /mnt/win_c (if the partition is ntfs)

change 'hda1' to reflect the partition you wish to mount. The conmmand fdisk -l will give you a full listing.

If that works you are ready to add a line to fstab.
open fstab with your favourite text aditor in the following way:

emacs /etc/fstab (instead of emacs you can use kate, gedit, ...)
now add a line that looks like this:

/dev/hda1 /mnt/win_c vfat defaults,umask=000 0 0

having said that this is only useful if you can save the setup data. Otherwise the fstab stuff makes no sense as it is easier to mount manually

First off, I APPRECIATE YOUR HELP!! But I get the following when trying to mkdir.

Can anyone figure this out?

You need to mount the partition with option rw.

LOL...NOOBIE here. Thanks for your help, but I need straight instructions with good details!!!

When I was a newbie I learned several commands:

man {command}
{command} --help (or {command} -h)
gopher (or now, you'd just fire up a graphical browser like Firefox)

what you want to do in your case is type:

man mount

This will display the man page (help) for the mount command. Search the man page for the word "write" by typing a slash (/) followed by the word "write" and then hit enter.

A web page you might want to check out:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...torial111.html

Also a search for "mount writable" on this messageboard will return (among other threads):

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...mount+writable
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...mount+writable

I'm not trying to be obnoxious or anything but really, things like this stick better when you do the basics first (e.g., read the documentation) and help you tackle the more difficult problems more easily. Everyone here was a newbie at one point but sooner or later everyone had to read the "fine" manual.

I will nudge you in the right direction though.

You will need to use these commands:

chmod
mount

Also:

The user who will be writing to the Windows partition will need write access to the mount point AND to the mounted partition itself.

Figure it out - don't let yourself get frustrated. When you figure it out you'll have a feeling of satisfaction and not only that you will have learned one of the more innate concepts of Linux/UNIX that you will NEED to know as you use the system more.

Actually, the problem appears to be with mkdir rather than mount, since mkdir complains you have no permissions to create a new directory even though you are root.
I'm not sure exactly how live distros implement directory creation, but I'm surprised it doesn't let you. How about 'ls -l /mnt' '

Does it display any directories under /mnt?

If it does, check if there's one that corresponds to the name of the partition you wish to mount (i.e. hda1) Knoppix (a great live distro) mounts partitions with this naming. If so, then use one of the directories under /mnt to mount the window partition.

daygo140 - I have renamed your thread to give a more descriptive title.

Did you try "su" first?
That will make you the user "root" aka SuperUser.
I think on a live cd/dvd distros implement a RAMdrive. You should still have almost all the same permissions u would expect on a normal installed system.
Maybe I'm wrong...

Alternatives for you if that doesnt work...

Since you have windows and you dont want a dual boot

1.) Use Virtual PC
2.) Use VMWare
3.) Buy Partition Magic, have peace of mind for a dual boot setup, and install a dual boot system anyway.
4.) Just use the DVD or 5 CDs and install a dual boot and hope it resizes your harddrive and doesnt screw up windows.



I chose option 3. I'm even more a linux user than before. I try to use Suse more than windows.

You don't need to buy PartitionnMagic (and I'm not suggesting you get a pirate copy)
Most big distros have a partitioning utility available during install. XP also has a command-line tool to resize ntfs partitions. No need to waste money on anything you get free and works fine.

I met the same error message below when trying to mount a partition with a live SuSe DVD:

linux@linux:~> su -
linux:~ # mkdir /mnt/win_c
mkdir: cannot create directory `/mnt/win_c': Read-only file system
linux:~ #

I think the reason is that the DVD is "Read-only", and it seems many replies ignore this.

Any new suggestions to be able to "mkdir /mnt/win_c", with a live DVD? Thanks.

As I said before, check if there are already some mount points available under /mnt or simply mount directly under /mnt.

Obviously the DVD is going to be read-only, but that doesn't mean the live distro can't create a temporary directory in memory... although it appears this option has not been enabled.