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jabozzo

Member

Registered: 2025-10-19

Posts: 6

[SOLVED] thunar-volman unable to mount ntfs external disk

Hello,

I have an USB external disk (BACKUP_PLAN) that I can mount manually without any issues:

[jabozzo@hydropowered ~]$ sudo mkdir /run/media/jabozzo/BACKUP_PLAN
[sudo] password for jabozzo: 
[jabozzo@hydropowered ~]$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /run/media/jabozzo/BACKUP_PLAN/
[jabozzo@hydropowered ~]$ # Here if I click on the disk on thunar, it opens without any issue. I cannot eject it from thunar though.
[jabozzo@hydropowered ~]$ sudo umount /run/media/jabozzo/BACKUP_PLAN/
[jabozzo@hydropowered ~]$ sudo rmdir /run/media/jabozzo/BACKUP_PLAN/

But I cannot mount it by thunar-volman. When I plug the disk, it takes a few seconds and it appears on the sidebar with an ejection symbol (as if it was already mounted?).

But when I click on the disk it throws the following error in a pop-up: Failed to mount "BACKUP_PLAN". Error mounting /dev/sda1 at /run/media/jabozzo/BACKUP_PLAN: fsconfig() failed: No such file or directory.

I have installed the latest ntfs-3g package, thunar-volman, gvfs and all the reasonable packages that are recommended to install in the wiki:

[jabozzo@hydropowered ~]$ pacman -Qs ntfs
local/ntfs-3g 2022.10.3-2
    NTFS filesystem driver and utilities

[jabozzo@hydropowered ~]$ pacman -Qs thunar
local/thunar 4.20.6-1 (xfce4)
    Modern, fast and easy-to-use file manager for Xfce
local/thunar-archive-plugin 0.6.0-1 (xfce4-goodies)
    Adds archive operations to the Thunar file context
    menus
local/thunar-volman 4.20.0-2 (xfce4)
    Automatic management of removable drives and media for
    Thunar

[jabozzo@hydropowered ~]$ pacman -Qs gvfs
local/gvfs 1.58.0-2 (gnome)
    Virtual filesystem implementation for GIO
local/gvfs-afc 1.58.0-2 (gnome)
    Virtual filesystem implementation for GIO - AFC
    backend (Apple mobile devices)
local/gvfs-gphoto2 1.58.0-2 (gnome)
    Virtual filesystem implementation for GIO - gphoto2
    backend (PTP camera, MTP media player)
local/gvfs-mtp 1.58.0-2 (gnome)
    Virtual filesystem implementation for GIO - MTP
    backend (Android, media player)

Also I am loading thunar in daemon mode via the Hyprland exec-once = thunar --daemon statement on the hyprland config.

I can mount and unmount using thunar FAT-formatted USB sticks and my android phone. It is just this ntfs external disk giving me problems. If I execute the daemon mode of thunar manually I get the following messages when plugging in the disk:

[jabozzo@hydropowered ~]$ thunar --daemon
thunar-volman: Unsupported USB device type "usb".
thunar-volman: Unsupported USB device type "usb-storage".
thunar-volman: Unknown block device type "disk".

Which are exactly the same messages I get when I plug the FAT USB stick which does work, though the last line does take some time for the ntfs disk and is instant in the case of the pendrive.

Is there a package/configuration/permission I may be missing?

Last edited by jabozzo (2025-10-24 01:01:28)

unixman

Member

Registered: 2015-03-12

Posts: 182

Re: [SOLVED] thunar-volman unable to mount ntfs external disk

Are you able to mount it on terminal as casual user?(non root) via gvfs?
is gvfs supports ntfs volumes? i dont know.

Last edited by unixman (2025-10-23 06:19:00)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,086

Re: [SOLVED] thunar-volman unable to mount ntfs external disk

It is just this ntfs external disk giving me problems.
I have installed the latest ntfs-3g package, thunar-volman, gvfs

This is most likely ntfs-3g vs. ntfs3 behavior and the disk marked as dirty (yanked w/o unmouting "safe removal")

sudo mount -t ntfs3 /dev/sda1 /run/media/jabozzo/BACKUP_PLAN/

also fails?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NTFS#U … rked_dirty
nb. that this kind of behavior will eventually cause data corruption - windows or linux, internal or external: close the filesystem before cutting power to the disk.

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jabozzo

Member

Registered: 2025-10-19

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] thunar-volman unable to mount ntfs external disk

Are you able to mount it on terminal as casual user?(non root) via gvfs?
is gvfs supports ntfs volumes? i dont know.

I can't mount it using gvfs either:

[jabozzo@hydropowered ~]$ gio mount -d /dev/sda1 
gio: /dev/sda1: Error mounting /dev/sda1 at /run/media/jabozzo/BACKUP_PLAN: fsconfig() failed: No such file or directory

It does throw the same error as thunar and by the test proposed by seth:

This is most likely ntfs-3g vs. ntfs3 behavior and the disk marked as dirty (yanked w/o unmouting "safe removal")

sudo mount -t ntfs3 /dev/sda1 /run/media/jabozzo/BACKUP_PLAN/

also fails?

Indeed, by forcing the type to ntfs3 I get an error instead of mounting:

[jabozzo@hydropowered ~]$ sudo mkdir /run/media/jabozzo/BACKUP_PLAN
[jabozzo@hydropowered ~]$ sudo mount -t ntfs3 /dev/sda1 /run/media/jabozzo/BACKUP_PLAN/
mount: /run/media/jabozzo/BACKUP_PLAN: fsconfig() failed: No such file or directory.
       dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call.

So there must be an ntfs3 issue. Given this post I've checked if the ntfs3 module is loaded in the kernel, and it is:

[jabozzo@hydropowered ~]$ lsmod | grep ntfs
ntfs3                 327680  0

So I followed the post to remove an blacklist the module.

sudo rmmod ntfs3
echo blacklist ntfs3 | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ntfs3.conf

Now it works perfectly, did not even needed to reboot. Thank you!

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,086

Re: [SOLVED] thunar-volman unable to mount ntfs external disk

That's by no means the "solution" you're looking for - run chkdsk on the partition and fix it properly.

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jabozzo

Member

Registered: 2025-10-19

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] thunar-volman unable to mount ntfs external disk

That's by no means the "solution" you're looking for - run chkdsk on the partition and fix it properly.

I've no direct access to Windows. I've ran chkdsk using a lent computer and It did some minor corrections ("errores leves" and "error en índice"). Now the disk is clean. In order to preserve it like that on linux. Should I just be careful to always unmount the disk or there is something else to be done for a safe disconnection?

PS: After the disk repair. gio mount works without the original error.

Last edited by jabozzo (2025-10-25 05:29:55)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,086

Re: [SOLVED] thunar-volman unable to mount ntfs external disk

I've no direct access to Windows.

Don't use an ntfs partition, you've no way to properly maintain it.

But yes,

just be careful to always unmount the disk

will avoid needless problems with it.

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jabozzo

Member

Registered: 2025-10-19

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] thunar-volman unable to mount ntfs external disk

Okay, I will backup the disk, format it to a different filesystem and pour its contents back again. Thank you for the concern.