Arch Linux

mariusmeyer

Member

From: Norway

Registered: 2009-04-25

Posts: 244

Mounting an NTFS partition in GNOME [SOLVED]

Hello!

I just made my (second) install of Arch Linux. After setting up the superficial things the way I like them, I ran into a problem mounting my Windows partition from the GNOME desktop. At first I got the error message:

Cannot mount "160 GB" volume:
Cannot get volume.fstype.alternative

I Googled, and found this thread: (1) http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=535088 and this Wiki: (2) http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HAL

The latter suggested I install the ntfs-3g driver, so I did. The reaction (after restarting HAL) was... none! When I now click the icon of the volume in Nautilus, nothing happens. I get no error message, but the volume doesn't mount. I also created the file mentioned in (1), but that didn't change a thing.

Any thoughts on this problem? Since I now don't recieve any erros messages whatsoever, it's hard to post anything constuctive. Any commands I can run from the terminal to investigate?

Thank you for any help!

NOTE: I have understood how to mount the volume from fstab, so the mounting itself is not the issue here. What I'm trying to find out is it's possible to not have the volume automount by means of fstab, but to mount it from Nautilus with a mouseclick.

Last edited by mariusmeyer (2009-04-27 06:16:41)

graysky

Wiki Maintainer

From: :wq

Registered: 2008-12-01

Posts: 10,597

Website

Re: Mounting an NTFS partition in GNOME [SOLVED]

Does this help?  I haven't tried using Nautilus to do this before.

EDIT: I have all my drive partition listed in 'places' in Nautilus too.  When I click one of them that isn't mounted, I'm prompted for my root password, but the partition isn't mounted.  I don't know why you can define mount point for your partitions using this method.

Last edited by graysky (2009-04-25 10:29:04)

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mariusmeyer

Member

From: Norway

Registered: 2009-04-25

Posts: 244

Re: Mounting an NTFS partition in GNOME [SOLVED]

Hm, if you meant the part about gnome-volume-manager and being in group storage, I've got both of them. I feel this has something to do with the way hal uses ntfs-3g, but what's funny is I don't get an error.

graysky

Wiki Maintainer

From: :wq

Registered: 2008-12-01

Posts: 10,597

Website

Re: Mounting an NTFS partition in GNOME [SOLVED]

Yeah, I just found this which suggests that you wanna add the drive partition to your /etc/fstab in the LABEL= format which I have done.

LABEL=Data    /media/data    ntfs-3g defaults,noatime    0    0

Now when I click on the 'Data' partition from Nautilus, instead of asking for my root password, it say, "Cannot mount volume.  You are not privileged to mount 'Data'"  I checked and indeed am I am in the storage group and I own the /media/data mount point on the filesystem.  Maybe someone more familiar with gnome-mount can help you.

Last edited by graysky (2009-04-25 10:46:24)

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CPU-optimized Linux-ck packages @ Repo-ck  • AUR packages • Zsh and other configs

bwh1969

Member

Registered: 2008-01-05

Posts: 151

Re: Mounting an NTFS partition in GNOME [SOLVED]

Yes, for some reason, NTFS and HAL don't cooperate natively in Arch using ntfs-3g. 

I got it to work after doing the following (see NTFS heading, you will need to try all the tricks and you will have to LOG OUT and then back in so that gnome/nautilus will accept the changes as well):

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HAL

Teoulas

Member

From: Athens, Greece

Registered: 2009-03-21

Posts: 70

Re: Mounting an NTFS partition in GNOME [SOLVED]

I've also had the same problem before. It seems to me that PolicyKit is not configured properly. Try the solution mentioned in this thread: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=542472

king.flasher.dave

Member

From: Berlin

Registered: 2008-11-25

Posts: 140

Website

Re: Mounting an NTFS partition in GNOME [SOLVED]

I've setup my laptop with a fresh arch install, but I couldn't make internal ntfs volumes be recognized by hal.
All external devices function normally... really weird.

I ended up setting the two ntfs volumes in the fstab and now all is good.

Still it is really weird!

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mariusmeyer

Member

From: Norway

Registered: 2009-04-25

Posts: 244

Re: Mounting an NTFS partition in GNOME [SOLVED]

I've decided to stick with fstab as well, as most external drives I've tested do mount properly. Would've tried out the PolicyKit mentionen by Teoulas if they were broken too.

Anyways, thanks everybody

qqldd

Member

Registered: 2009-05-12

Posts: 3

Re: Mounting an NTFS partition in GNOME [SOLVED]

I have the same problem as you said. It doesn't a good way to use fstab. However, I find that if I plug a USB hard disk which partitions are NTFS. This time it works well. It recognizes all the NTFS partitions and auto mount them. And if I right click the partition and umount one, then if I click it again, it auto mount it. It's a mystery.

qqldd

Member

Registered: 2009-05-12

Posts: 3

Re: Mounting an NTFS partition in GNOME [SOLVED]

Oh, my problem solved!!!
I think this thread maybe help:
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=71174