(SOLVED) Link breaks after restart

[Bullitt]

I created a link to My Documents folder on my XP partition in my PCLOS home folder, everything worked fine until I restarted my system, when I tried the link I got an error message saying folder not found.   Any ideas how to get the link to stick?

[djohnston]

Are you automatically mounting your XP partition in fstab? It could be that the partition your link points to isn't mounted.

[uncleV]

Expanding djohnston's statement:

When you open a file manager most of them list the possible partition you can go. When you click on your XP partition it's mounted by request. And it is still unmounted if you never clicked on it.
You can have them mounted automatically by adding certain lines to the file /etc/fstab. I did it this way:
Created new folders named for the partitions in /mnt directory (You can do it where ever you want and name them at your taste). After that opened PCC-->Local disks-->Manage disk partitions, unmounted the partitions and mounted again pointing to the folders that I created in /mnt. After that "Yes" to changes in fstab.

[Bullitt]

Okay, let me take a look at both of those files, mnt & fstab to see if I understand what additions/changes I need to make.  I'm pretty sure I'll be back to ask specifics to needed changes in each file. 

[djohnston]

Bullitt,

Open a text editor or viewer and open /etc/fstab. You don't want to edit it yet, so open it as your regular user. Post the contents of the file. The easiest way is to open a terminal as your regular user, and enter the following.

cat /etc/fstab > fstab.txt
exit

That will create a text file named fstab.txt in your home directory.

[Bullitt]

Bullitt,

Open a text editor or viewer and open /etc/fstab. You don't want to edit it yet, so open it as your regular user. Post the contents of the file. The easiest way is to open a terminal as your regular user, and enter the following.

cat /etc/fstab > fstab.txt
exit

That will create a text file named fstab.txt in your home directory.

Here is what it looks like:

# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=98893c05-0385-4968-b6c8-52cf5c1fba28 / ext4 defaults 1 1
# Entry for /dev/sda7 :
UUID=a23b317b-e050-4075-ae74-b48c792aa68a /home ext4 defaults 1 2
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=7aecb9d5-14fa-431c-9ab9-47f3696f12a9 swap swap defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0

I will need some help in making the needed edits.  I am not very knowledgeable with making changes to pclos.  Thanks for the help.

[djohnston]

OK, the NTFS partition isn't mounted, so we'll need to see how your hard drive is partitioned. In a terminal, again, enter the following:

su
(enter root password)
fdisk -l > fdisk.txt
exit
exit

In case you're not sure, the second command is fdisk dash(lowercaseL). That will create the text file name fdisk.txt in your home directory, which you can view and copy. User root will own the file, but if you copy it somewhere else in you home directory, you will own the copy. The file will contain a list of all the partitions on your drives. Anyway, paste the contents of the file in your next post.

One question comes to mind. Do you want to be able to read and write to the Windows partition, or do you just want to be able to read the files that are there?

[Bullitt]

OK, the NTFS partition isn't mounted, so we'll need to see how your hard drive is partitioned. In a terminal, again, enter the following:

su
(enter root password)
fdisk -l > fdisk.txt
exit
exit

In case you're not sure, the second command is fdisk dash(lowercaseL). That will create the text file name fdisk.txt in your home directory, which you can view and copy. User root will own the file, but if you copy it somewhere else in you home directory, you will own the copy. The file will contain a list of all the partitions on your drives. Anyway, paste the contents of the file in your next post.

One question comes to mind. Do you want to be able to read and write to the Windows partition, or do you just want to be able to read the files that are there?

Here is what shows as a list of the partitions on my computer:

 Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1         914     7341673+  12  Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda2   *         915       14106   105964365    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3           14107       19457    42981907+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5           14107       15674    12594928+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6           15675       16104     3453943+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7           16105       19457    26932941   83  Linux


What I am hoping to do is read and write to the files on the Windows partitions.  Thanks again for all your help.

[Bullitt]

This is a more complete list of the fdisk output:

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x9a0d38ea

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1         914     7341673+  12  Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda2   *         915       14106   105964365    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3           14107       19457    42981907+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5           14107       15674    12594928+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6           15675       16104     3453943+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7           16105       19457    26932941   83  Linux

[djohnston]

What I am hoping to do is read and write to the files on the Windows partitions.

You'll need the packages ntfs-config and ntfs-3g installed. I'm pretty sure those are already installed by default, but it wouldn't hurt to check in Synaptic for them. Once you've verified they're installed, you can proceed. Open a terminal.

su -                                             (become root and change to root's home directory)
mkdir /media/winC                      (create a directory for mounting Windows partition)
cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.backup  (make a backup copy of fstab's current contents)
kwrite /etc/fstab                        (edit fstab file using kwrite)

Enter what's listed above in red. Add the following line to fstab, then save the file.

/dev/sda2     /media/winC     ntfs-3g     defaults,locale=en_US.utf8,umask=000   0    0

Become regular user in the terminal again by entering exit command. Leave the terminal session by entering exit command again.

I don't use Windows any more, so I have no partitions to mount. I'm going by others' examples for the fstab entry. Your link to My Documents will need to be changed to point to the new location. Anyway, after making the changes, reboot and see if everything's working.

[longtom]

I am probably missing something (I am good at that), but in menu - configuration there is a "NTFS Configuration Tool".  Running that always mounted my ntfs partition and added the necessary lines into fstab.

God luck

[djohnston]

Bullitt,

Try longtom's way first. It's probably much easier. It's in the menu under More Applications > Configuration > NTFS Configuration Tool. Check Enable write support for internal device. If you have any USB NTFS hard drives, you'll want to check Enable write support for external device, also. If you click the arrow to the left of "Advanced Configuration", it should show you the mount points assigned. Save your changes, then look at the /etc/fstab file to see if the changes were written.

Thanks, longtom.

[Bullitt]

Bullitt,

Try longtom's way first. It's probably much easier. It's in the menu under More Applications > Configuration > NTFS Configuration Tool. Check Enable write support for internal device. If you have any USB NTFS hard drives, you'll want to check Enable write support for external device, also. If you click the arrow to the left of "Advanced Configuration", it should show you the mount points assigned. Save your changes, then look at the /etc/fstab file to see if the changes were written.

Thanks, longtom.

Okay, I'll give it a try.  Again, thank you for your time and persistence.   I don't have any problem accessing the files I need on the windows partition, it just takes a little digging.  I thought it would be great just to link it in Documents in my Home directory.   I will keep at it.  Maybe if I just open the windows partition before I try the link, hmmm.   Well I have a few more things to try.

Bullitt

[Bullitt]

I found a way to mount the XP partition in the Configure you Desktop control panel.  Open CD, select Removable Devices, select (check mark) Enable automatic mounting of removable media, now look at the partition in the main display box and select (check mark) the partition you want to mount  automatically on login.  

That it! any links you setup to your windows partition will work when you start PCLOS.