New install, now ALL my files are read-only. (SOLVED)

[batzilla]

I recently installed PCLinuxOS 2012-KDE over a 2009 version.  Everything seemed to go well, except for a few things that I will bring up under a different subject.  I used Synaptic to update everything, as was suggested.  Then as I went to update some documents, I find that they all are read-only and I can't edit them.  When I run mount -l, it shows everything is rw.  Anybody got any ideas as to how I can edit my documents?

[root@localhost buckmclaurin]# mount -l
/dev/sdb1 on / type ext3 (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)
/dev/sdb6 on /home type ext3 (rw)
none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/buckmclaurin/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=buckmclaurin)
[root@localhost buckmclaurin]#

This should probably be brought up under a different subject, but I also noticed that I now have two /home directories.  One is Home, that was apparently created when I installed pclinux, and has folders in it, but nothing in them.  (I don't know where it resides?!)  Then there is the /home directory that is in the root directory.  This  directory contains /home/buck, which is where all my old files are, and /home/buckmclaurin that was created with the new install.  Now when I write a document, it is saved in the /home/buckmclaurin directory instead of my old /home/buck directory.  If I try to save it to /home/buck, I get an error message saying the file /home/buck/document doesn't exist.  I don't know if this has anything to do with the above problem.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  

[pags]

I recently installed PCLinuxOS 2012-KDE over a 2009 version.  Everything seemed to go well, except for a few things that I will bring up under a different subject.  I used Synaptic to update everything, as was suggested.  Then as I went to update some documents, I find that they all are read-only and I can't edit them.  When I run mount -l, it shows everything is rw.  Anybody got any ideas as to how I can edit my documents?

[root@localhost buckmclaurin]# mount -l
/dev/sdb1 on / type ext3 (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)
/dev/sdb6 on /home type ext3 (rw)
none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/buckmclaurin/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=buckmclaurin)
[root@localhost buckmclaurin]#

This should probably be brought up under a different subject, but I also noticed that I now have two /home directories.  One is Home, that was apparently created when I installed pclinux, and has folders in it, but nothing in them.  (I don't know where it resides?!)  Then there is the /home directory that is in the root directory.  This  directory contains /home/buck, which is where all my old files are, and /home/buckmclaurin that was created with the new install.  Now when I write a document, it is saved in the /home/buckmclaurin directory instead of my old /home/buck directory.  If I try to save it to /home/buck, I get an error message saying the file /home/buck/document doesn't exist.  I don't know if this has anything to do with the above problem.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Probably an ownership / permission issue.

what are the results of the two four following commands:

Code: [Select]

ls / -lh


Code: [Select]

ls / -lhn


Code: [Select]

ls /home/ -lh

and

Code: [Select]

ls /home/ -lhn

You can copy/paste these into a command prompt.  Please post the results.

[batzilla]

Thanks for the quick reply.  Here are my results.
[buckmclaurin@localhost ~]$ ls / -lh
total 116K
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K Sep 26 22:11 bin/
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root 4.0K Sep 27 17:04 boot/
drwxr-xr-x  19 root root 4.4K Sep 27 17:04 dev/
drwxr-xr-x 128 root root  12K Sep 27 17:08 etc/
drwxr-xr-x   6 root root 4.0K Sep 26 21:42 home/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K Sep 27 17:03 initrd/
drwxr-xr-x  17 root root  12K Sep 26 22:12 lib/
drwx------   2 root root  16K Sep 26 21:36 lost+found/
drwxrwxr-x   2 root root 4.0K Sep 27 17:04 media/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K Sep 26 21:36 mnt/
-rw-r--r--   1 root root 8.2K Sep 26 22:06 Module.symvers
-rw-rw-r--   1 root root    0 Sep 26 22:04 null
drwxr-xr-x   8 root root 4.0K Aug  8 06:21 opt/
dr-xr-xr-x 145 root root    0 Sep 27 13:04 proc/
drwxr-xr-x  34 root root 4.0K Sep 28 15:53 root/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  12K Aug 20 12:59 sbin/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K Jul 12  2010 srv/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K Feb 22  2010 swap/
drwxr-xr-x  12 root root    0 Sep 27 13:04 sys/
drwxrwxrwt  10 root root 4.0K Sep 28 15:08 tmp/
drwxr-xr-x  14 root root 4.0K Sep 26 21:13 usr/
drwxr-xr-x  18 root root 4.0K Sep 26 21:14 var/
[buckmclaurin@localhost ~]$

[buckmclaurin@localhost ~]$ ls / -lhn
total 116K
drwxr-xr-x   2 0 0 4.0K Sep 26 22:11 bin/
drwxr-xr-x   3 0 0 4.0K Sep 27 17:04 boot/
drwxr-xr-x  19 0 0 4.4K Sep 27 17:04 dev/
drwxr-xr-x 128 0 0  12K Sep 27 17:08 etc/
drwxr-xr-x   6 0 0 4.0K Sep 26 21:42 home/
drwxr-xr-x   2 0 0 4.0K Sep 27 17:03 initrd/
drwxr-xr-x  17 0 0  12K Sep 26 22:12 lib/
drwx------   2 0 0  16K Sep 26 21:36 lost+found/
drwxrwxr-x   2 0 0 4.0K Sep 27 17:04 media/
drwxr-xr-x   2 0 0 4.0K Sep 26 21:36 mnt/
-rw-r--r--   1 0 0 8.2K Sep 26 22:06 Module.symvers
-rw-rw-r--   1 0 0    0 Sep 26 22:04 null
drwxr-xr-x   8 0 0 4.0K Aug  8 06:21 opt/
dr-xr-xr-x 146 0 0    0 Sep 27 13:04 proc/
drwxr-xr-x  34 0 0 4.0K Sep 28 15:53 root/
drwxr-xr-x   2 0 0  12K Aug 20 12:59 sbin/
drwxr-xr-x   2 0 0 4.0K Jul 12  2010 srv/
drwxr-xr-x   2 0 0 4.0K Feb 22  2010 swap/
drwxr-xr-x  12 0 0    0 Sep 27 13:04 sys/
drwxrwxrwt  10 0 0 4.0K Sep 28 15:08 tmp/
drwxr-xr-x  14 0 0 4.0K Sep 26 21:13 usr/
drwxr-xr-x  18 0 0 4.0K Sep 26 21:14 var/
[buckmclaurin@localhost ~]$

[buckmclaurin@localhost ~]$ ls /home/ -lh
total 28K
drwxr-xr-x 56          501 fuse         4.0K Sep 26 21:10 buck/
drwxr-xr-x 29 buckmclaurin buckmclaurin 4.0K Sep 28 16:07 buckmclaurin/
drwx------  2 root         root          16K Jul 22  2009 lost+found/
drwxr-xr-x  6 root         root         4.0K Jun 25 13:34 mysql/
[buckmclaurin@localhost ~]$

[buckmclaurin@localhost ~]$ ls /home/ -lhn
total 28K
drwxr-xr-x 56 501 501 4.0K Sep 26 21:10 buck/
drwxr-xr-x 29 500 500 4.0K Sep 28 16:07 buckmclaurin/
drwx------  2   0   0  16K Jul 22  2009 lost+found/
drwxr-xr-x  6   0   0 4.0K Jun 25 13:34 mysql/
[buckmclaurin@localhost ~]$

[kjpetrie]

The problem is your users and groups on the new install have different numbers (UIDs and GIDs) from in your old one, so you need to ensure they are the same. If you have a backup of your old /etc/password file (and you did make a backup of everything, didn't you? If not you will in future!) this will help you identify what they should be.

I can see your user needs to have the number 501, selectable during creation from the Advanced button, but it also looks as if fuse has got the old GID, so that needs investigating.

To correct the UID for your normal user, log in as root (this is one of the few times you should do that), delete your normal user, but not any directories when asked, then recreate it using the advance button to set the UID to 501. Log out of root and back in as your normal user.

That will make your user's files writeable again, but the other system users and groups might also need looking at.

[batzilla]

The problem is your users and groups on the new install have different numbers (UIDs and GIDs) from in your old one, so you need to ensure they are the same. If you have a backup of your old /etc/password file (and you did make a backup of everything, didn't you? If not you will in future!) this will help you identify what they should be.

I can see your user needs to have the number 501, selectable during creation from the Advanced button, but it also looks as if fuse has got the old GID, so that needs investigating.

To correct the UID for your normal user, log in as root (this is one of the few times you should do that), delete your normal user, but not any directories when asked, then recreate it using the advance button to set the UID to 501. Log out of root and back in as your normal user.

That will make your user's files writeable again, but the other system users and groups might also need looking at.

Thanks, kjpetrie.  I'm afraid I didn't back up my old /etc/password file.  Stupid me!   I backed up all my personal files, but didn't do any others.  You're right - I will backup everything next time.

I'm not very good with the command line, so you'll have to tell me how to delete my normal user and recreate it.  Now my question is, which user is the "normal" user?  The old user, which was "buck", or the user that was created with the install - "buckmclaurin"?  Everything seems to be going to "buckmclaurin", so that must be it?

[kjpetrie]

You don't need to use the command line to delete and add users as you can do that from PCC -> System->Manage users. However, you obviously can't be logged on as the user you intend to delete, which is why you have to do what is normally forbidden - log in as root. (It would be possible to create a temporary user just for the purpose and then delete it again, but that complicates things as you'd have to make sure the new user didn't get issued UID 501, and for a few moments it's a lot of trouble to go to. If worried about security, just disconnect the Internet first and reconnect after.)

However, it's also possible, depending on circumstances, that it's easier to to change the ownership and group of the files to your new user, that can be done from a root File Manager without actually logging off.

There are now lots of questions you need to consider. They might or might not matter:
1. Which user name do you want to use?
2. Have you set up any shared folders with other machines and if so, which sharing protocol do you use?
3. Have you given any of your files special ownership or groups?

If the answer to 1 is your old name you could just create the user and give it the UID 501. This would get all your files owned by the old user. However, you would need to change the groups of your files to your user's group, rather than fuse, so use the technique in the next paragraph for that, unless you have a lot of scattered files with special groups. If that's the case, you'll have to work through them and sort it out yourself, as you have no record of what the GIDs meant before.

If the answer to 2 and 3 is No, it would be easier just to open a File manager in superuser mode and navigate to /home, click properties on the folder, and then go to the permissions tab. There you can set the users and group and tick the box to apply the change to all subfolders. Click OK and all is done. If the answer to 1 is your new user you might also need to rename the folder to the new name, if you haven't already done so.

If you want to delete the user and create a new one you need to log on as root, open PCC and go to System-> Manage Users, highlight the user, click the toolbar item to delete it, reply no to the box which asks whether you should delete the user's home directory. Then click to create a new user and set it up, clicking the advanced button to select the UID. Once it's all done, click any OKs and close PCC. Log out and back in as the normal user, and all should be well.

Which route to use is the one that's most straightforward for you in view of your answers to the questions.

Hope it goes well.

[batzilla]

You don't need to use the command line to delete and add users as you can do that from PCC -> System->Manage users. However, you obviously can't be logged on as the user you intend to delete, which is why you have to do what is normally forbidden - log in as root. (It would be possible to create a temporary user just for the purpose and then delete it again, but that complicates things as you'd have to make sure the new user didn't get issued UID 501, and for a few moments it's a lot of trouble to go to. If worried about security, just disconnect the Internet first and reconnect after.)

However, it's also possible, depending on circumstances, that it's easier to to change the ownership and group of the files to your new user, that can be done from a root File Manager without actually logging off.

There are now lots of questions you need to consider. They might or might not matter:
1. Which user name do you want to use?
2. Have you set up any shared folders with other machines and if so, which sharing protocol do you use?
3. Have you given any of your files special ownership or groups?

If the answer to 1 is your old name you could just create the user and give it the UID 501. This would get all your files owned by the old user. However, you would need to change the groups of your files to your user's group, rather than fuse, so use the technique in the next paragraph for that, unless you have a lot of scattered files with special groups. If that's the case, you'll have to work through them and sort it out yourself, as you have no record of what the GIDs meant before.

If the answer to 2 and 3 is No, it would be easier just to open a File manager in superuser mode and navigate to /home, click properties on the folder, and then go to the permissions tab. There you can set the users and group and tick the box to apply the change to all subfolders. Click OK and all is done. If the answer to 1 is your new user you might also need to rename the folder to the new name, if you haven't already done so.

If you want to delete the user and create a new one you need to log on as root, open PCC and go to System-> Manage Users, highlight the user, click the toolbar item to delete it, reply no to the box which asks whether you should delete the user's home directory. Then click to create a new user and set it up, clicking the advanced button to select the UID. Once it's all done, click any OKs and close PCC. Log out and back in as the normal user, and all should be well.

Which route to use is the one that's most straightforward for you in view of your answers to the questions.

Hope it goes well.

kjpetrie, I think I follow what you're saying, but I wanted to make sure you see what I have before I go and mess up.  I would post the screen, but I don't know how.

In PCC, under "manage users on the system" under the "users" tab, I have this:

User Name       User ID    Primary Group   Full Name          Log-in Shell  Home Directory
buckmclaurin      500        buckmclaurin     Buck McLaurin    /bin/bash      /home/buckmclaurin
buck                   501        buck                  Buck McLaurin     /bin/bash      /home/buck

I created the user "buck", since the only user was "buckmclaurin" and my old files were in /home/buck.  I would really like to get rid of "buckmclaurin", but that was put in by Install and I don't know if that would be a good idea.

Under the "groups" tab, I have this:

Group Name         Group ID         Group Users
fuse                      501                 mysql
vboxusers             502                 
buckmclaurin         500                 buckmclaurin
buck                      503                 buck

I see that "buck" needs to be 501(?), but I don't know what to do with the rest.  I would think that I need to change "fuse" to something else besides 501.

[Phil]

On a newly installed system which has a user called buck and an old directory from a previous system called buck (different user id) then:

chown -R buck:buck /home/buck

This will change recursively user and group ownership to buck for the directory /home/buck.
(Tip really from O-P)

[batzilla]

On a newly installed system which has a user called buck and an old directory from a previous system called buck (different user id) then:

chown -R buck:buck /home/buck

This will change recursively user and group ownership to buck for the directory /home/buck.
(Tip really from O-P)

I ran chown -R buck:buck /home/buck, but I'm still confused about the group ID for buck being 503.  Should it not be 501 as well?  I'm also wondering about buckmclaurin having the UID and GID of 500.  When I boot, the user always ends up being buckmclaurin, when I want it to be buck.  I have to change the user to buck manually (su buck).

[kjpetrie]

What's odd here is that ls -l /home showed buck as owned by "501", but if buck is 501 it should have shown buck rather than the number. Or have you created the user since making that listing?

If you're not using buckmclaurin you can delete the user and its directory in /home. It's very strange fuse has got a GID in the users rather than the system range. However, I wouldn't change it as the system might have created files with that GID and changing it might confuse things. It doesn't matter that buck's GID and UID are different.

However, in view of the fuse GID, you might prefer re-install yet again and see whether fuse gets a proper system GID this time.

[batzilla]

I couldn't figure out how to open Dolphin in superuser mode, so I went to Konqueror and changed the user and group to "buck".  I then tried one of my files to see if it was still read-only and it was, so I went back and changed the user and group back to root where it was before.  Then I messed up and ticked the box to apply the change to all subfolders, and it wouldn't let me cancel.  Now I can't get Dolphin or Konqueror to work!

I guess now I will have to re-install.

[pags]

I couldn't figure out how to open Dolphin in superuser mode, so I went to Konqueror and changed the user and group to "buck".  I then tried one of my files to see if it was still read-only and it was, so I went back and changed the user and group back to root where it was before.  Then I messed up and ticked the box to apply the change to all subfolders, and it wouldn't let me cancel.  Now I can't get Dolphin or Konqueror to work!

I guess now I will have to re-install.

If you haven't re-installed yet, you could use the LiveCD to do the chown (and possibly, chmod) commands on the relevant directories...you would just use numeric IDs instead of names...you can get the relevant data from existing system files (I'll check and post when I get a moment)...

[batzilla]

OK!  I reinstalled and some things are working, but not all.  I do have read-write privileges on all my documents, so that makes me happy.   I do have some problems, though.

I ran the checkdisk from the login screen, and it showed that it passed.  I had already checked the md5sum and it was good.  I ran chown -R buck:buck /home/buck since my old system had a user named buck and the new download has a user named buck, and things seem ok with my /home directory.

In PCC, under "manage users on the system" under the "users" tab, I have this:

User Name       User ID    Primary Group   Full Name          Log-in Shell  Home Directory
buck                   500        buck                  Buck McLaurin     /bin/bash      /home/buck

Under the "groups" tab, I have this:

Group Name         Group ID         Group Users
fuse                      501                 mysql
vboxusers             502                 
buck                      500                 buck

These are the new results of the  different commands.

[buck@localhost root]$ ls / -lh
total 112K
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K Aug  7 10:07 bin/
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root 4.0K Oct  2 10:57 boot/
drwxr-xr-x  19 root root 4.4K Oct  2 10:57 dev/
drwxr-xr-x 128 root root  12K Oct  2 10:59 etc/
drwxr-xr-x   5 root root 4.0K Oct  2 11:19 home/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K Oct  1 19:46 initrd/
drwxr-xr-x  17 root root  12K Aug 20 12:59 lib/
drwx------   2 root root  16K Sep 30 15:41 lost+found/
drwxrwxr-x   2 root root 4.0K Sep 30 16:06 media/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K Sep 30 15:41 mnt/
-rw-r--r--   1 root root 4.1K Jun 25 13:34 Module.symvers
-rw-rw-r--   1 root root    0 Sep 30 16:06 null
drwxr-xr-x   8 root root 4.0K Aug  8 06:21 opt/
dr-xr-xr-x 135 root root    0 Oct  2 06:56 proc/
drwxr-xr-x  35 root root 4.0K Oct  2 10:59 root/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  12K Aug 20 12:59 sbin/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K Jul 12  2010 srv/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4.0K Feb 22  2010 swap/
drwxr-xr-x  12 root root    0 Oct  2 06:56 sys/
drwxrwxrwt  12 root root 4.0K Oct  2 10:59 tmp/
drwxr-xr-x  14 root root 4.0K Sep 30 15:24 usr/
drwxr-xr-x  18 root root 4.0K Sep 30 15:26 var/
[buck@localhost root]$ ls / -lhn
total 112K
drwxr-xr-x   2 0 0 4.0K Aug  7 10:07 bin/
drwxr-xr-x   3 0 0 4.0K Oct  2 10:57 boot/
drwxr-xr-x  19 0 0 4.4K Oct  2 10:57 dev/
drwxr-xr-x 128 0 0  12K Oct  2 10:59 etc/
drwxr-xr-x   5 0 0 4.0K Oct  2 11:19 home/
drwxr-xr-x   2 0 0 4.0K Oct  1 19:46 initrd/
drwxr-xr-x  17 0 0  12K Aug 20 12:59 lib/
drwx------   2 0 0  16K Sep 30 15:41 lost+found/
drwxrwxr-x   2 0 0 4.0K Sep 30 16:06 media/
drwxr-xr-x   2 0 0 4.0K Sep 30 15:41 mnt/
-rw-r--r--   1 0 0 4.1K Jun 25 13:34 Module.symvers
-rw-rw-r--   1 0 0    0 Sep 30 16:06 null
drwxr-xr-x   8 0 0 4.0K Aug  8 06:21 opt/
dr-xr-xr-x 135 0 0    0 Oct  2 06:56 proc/
drwxr-xr-x  35 0 0 4.0K Oct  2 10:59 root/
drwxr-xr-x   2 0 0  12K Aug 20 12:59 sbin/
drwxr-xr-x   2 0 0 4.0K Jul 12  2010 srv/
drwxr-xr-x   2 0 0 4.0K Feb 22  2010 swap/
drwxr-xr-x  12 0 0    0 Oct  2 06:56 sys/
drwxrwxrwt  12 0 0 4.0K Oct  2 10:59 tmp/
drwxr-xr-x  14 0 0 4.0K Sep 30 15:24 usr/
drwxr-xr-x  18 0 0 4.0K Sep 30 15:26 var/
[buck@localhost root]$ ls /home/ -lh
total 24K
drwxr-xr-x 59 buck buck 4.0K Sep 29 20:26 buck/
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  16K Jul 22  2009 lost+found/
drwxr-xr-x  6 root root 4.0K Jun 25 13:34 mysql/
[buck@localhost root]$ ls /home/ -lhn
total 24K
drwxr-xr-x 59 500 500 4.0K Sep 29 20:26 buck/
drwxr-xr-x  2   0   0  16K Jul 22  2009 lost+found/
drwxr-xr-x  6   0   0 4.0K Jun 25 13:34 mysql/
[buck@localhost root]$

I'm assuming that the UID of 500 for buck is ok and UID for fuse of 501 is ok?

Now, here are my latest problems:

When I restart and try to log in as "buck", I get the message, "Call to lnusertemp failed (temporary directories full?).  Check your installation."  When I click on that, it sends me back to the log in page and I log in as "root" ok.  I don't want to be logged in as "root"!!

I still can't set up my HP Deskjet 722c (see "Can't find driver for HP 722c in pclinuxos 2012.08, under Desktop Hardware).  It installs fine with the LiveCD.  I don't understand why it won't set up in the new download.

Well, that's it for now.  Thanks for the help.

[kjpetrie]

Just to say, having checked through my own system, I also have fuse as a 'normal' group, so that doesn't seem to be wrong, although it means GIDs will tend to be offset by one from UIDs. It's ugly but it doesn't matter. Sorry for misleading you there.

500 is right for the first user on the system.

Can you post the result of ls -la /home/buck, please.

Also df

[menotu]

I would post the screen, but I don't know how.

To post screenshots you could use an image hosting site such as minus.com or postimage.org to upload your screenshots.  

When they are uploaded look for a field with the name similar to forum code or forum links then copy that address and paste in your forum post. Voila. (you can preview your forum post to see if the screenshot url code you've pasted is shown in the post prior to hitting the Post button)

In KDE to get the screenshot simply press the PrtScn (Print Screen) key and in the Capture Mode choose one to suit i.e. Full Screen or Rectangular Region or Window Under Cursor (if you want grab a menu item / or notification that may take a few seconds to appear  you can use the Snapshot Delay function to delay the snapshot being taken for x seconds)