Putting stuff on your M$ C: drive and the possible pitfalls

[roberto]

How to save files and stuff to your M$ Windows C: Drive
This was my reply to another post but I thought I might post it here too.


Being a new linux user myself I am going to try and answer this as best I can and hopefully someone will correct me wherever I may go wrong. There are a few things to look out for if you are new to linux. This is not an abbreviated document as well it shouldn't be. At least not until M$ and linux play safe (not necessarily nice but safe is good)

1.) M$'s Windows XP, 2000, and NT can all "POSSIBLY" be corrupted by writing to the disk when not actually running windows. This is due to some technology M$ claims is a security feature. If you are normally running Windows 95,98, or ME you generally wont need to worry about this. (unless you intend on modifying/deleting existing files.)

2.) Knoppix makes all of your Hard Disks In your computer read-only while it is running (changeable). (this is also a safety feature and just a good idea in general to start with, especially because of number 1)

3.) Your drives under linux/Knoppix will NOT be labeled as C:, A:, D: etc. They instead will be labeled in the order in which they are detected in your machine and where they are physically located. In most machines your C: drive is most likely labeled as "hda1" and if your disk is split into 2 partitions your D: drive would normally be called "hda5". Your floppy on Knoppix will generally be labeled as "floppy" your cd-roms as "cdrom" and "cdrom1" if you happen to have 2 cd drives. For more info please read much of the stuff available on the internet as this box is too small to include such info.

To be able to make your "c:" drive writeable and to save your files follow the instructions below.

WARNING!!! See the first section of this reply BEFORE doing these steps as you CAN cause damage to your other operating system IF you are normally running Windows NT, 2000, or XP. If you are running these operating systems then please read up on the issues relating to writing to these systems when they are not running.

1.) Boot Knoppix. (I assume this is already done.)

2.) Check to make sure your drive has been recognized. On your desktop you should see drive icons with labels corresponding to your computer system. (See above) One should probably say "hda1" underneath it. If it does not, then Knoppix may have not been able to detect your hardware right (which I doubt).

3.) Open the drive icon by clicking on it once with your left mouse button.

4.) Check to make sure that the contents of the drive are the same as you would see on your Windows C: drive. (Keep in mind that when you are in windows you see your files from the desktop in. When you are in Knoppix you are seeing your files from the root directry out and NONE of the shortcut links in windows will work. So it will look a little different in Knoppix then you may be used to.)

5.) If the contents match your old "C:" drive under windows close the window you have just opened and go to the step 6. If the contents do not match or you get folder icons that are written in symbols you may have either mounted the wrong partition (sometimes "hda2" if your disk is partitioned under windows) or your file system is not fully supported. Also be sure to check and make sure that you indeed HAVE opened the right icon by looking at the title on the very top of the window frame. If all looks right and you still have garbled names or other weird things go to step 5a

5a.) Try one of the other drive icons on your desktop. One of those may give you what you are looking for. Still having trouble? Come back here and give me some more info. Finally working for you? Good, continue to step 6.

6.) With the window closed that you previously opened. Right-Click on the drive icon, that produced what you were looking for, then select " Mount as Read - Write" from the menu. It will prompt you again asking if you are sure you want to do that. If you have read the warnings and you understand the possible danger to some operating systems then click on "Yes". If you aren't sure why I am making a big deal out of a yes or no question then please search the internet on the topic of "linux and NTFS". Click on NO if you dont yet understand.

7.)Your filesystem should now be in a writable state. You may have difficulty creating folders/files using the default filemanager window. you may want to open your K menu (the gear icon) and Select "System Tools" -> "File Manager (root)" From the list. This will allow you to make the folders and some file types through this window. Otherwise you may save your files through whichever program you are in.

IMPORTANT NOTE!
Your drive letter and the subfolders on your old C: drive are normally located by browsing to "/mnt/XXXX/" where X is the label that you had to find in step 2. This is also where you can find the other Disk drives on your system (floppy, cdrom, zip, LS-120 etc. sometimes though these drives may be in a folder called "auto" so the path MIGHT be "/mnt/auto/XXXX")

8.) If you get errors doing this process then something else may be awry. Please feel free to come back to this site and ask me some questions.

NOTE AGAIN!
You may get errors saying something about " permission denied" or "You do not have the proper permissions" These are fairly common as most of the programs are being run in Knoppix as a user and not an Administrator or root as it is called in the world of linux. Please check out the Knoppix FAQ for more information for these types of problems.

Thx for reading all of this. I hope all of my typing was worth it.

[Dave_Bechtel]

--This is one (ONE of many!) reason why I'm still using Win98SE. Everything past it gets slightly more and more evil as you "progress."

--Good post BTW. Altho I would imagine most of the "damage" could be fixed by running scandisk in autoexec.bat or something.

How to save files and stuff to your M$ Windows C: Drive
This was my reply to another post but I thought I might post it here too.


Being a new linux user myself I am going to try and answer this as best I can and hopefully someone will correct me wherever I may go wrong. There are a few things to look out for if you are new to linux. This is not an abbreviated document as well it shouldn't be. At least not until M$ and linux play safe (not necessarily nice but safe is good)

1.) M$'s Windows XP, 2000, and NT can all "POSSIBLY" be corrupted by writing to the disk when not actually running windows. This is due to some technology M$ claims is a security feature. If you are normally running Windows 95,98, or ME you generally wont need to worry about this. (unless you intend on modifying/deleting existing files.)

Please check out the Knoppix FAQ for more information for these types of problems.

Thx for reading all of this. I hope all of my typing was worth it.

[roberto]

--This is one (ONE of many!) reason why I'm still using Win98SE. Everything past it gets slightly more and more evil as you "progress."

--Good post BTW. Altho I would imagine most of the "damage" could be fixed by running scandisk in autoexec.bat or something.

BE WARNED!!!: Windows XP does not use Autoexec.bat any more. AND you can't run scandisk before windows starts. Windows XP now uses something that is referred to as SID (security id) for keeping track of files on the drive. If any file is modified without Windows services knowing about it. It can (and probably will) lock your file system. Resulting in having to use the recovery console if at all possible. (Which works 50/50 at best). Also I will make note that Windows XP's registry can be corrupted when the disk check runs at startup when writing to the disk through anything but Windows XP's Kernel (Hell it even corrupts its self a lot of the time ) Please use the internet for further information.

P.S. Sometimes depending on the way Windows XP is built/configured if all of your files show up in KNOPPIX as 0 byte file sizes. THIS IS NOT A FAULT OF KNOPPIX! Windows is using a "shadow" filesystem (which is EVIL for home users machines). PLEASE for your sake and your local tech/geek DO NOT MODIFY these "shadow" filesystems as this will (with 99.9% probability) TRASH Windows XP and ALL of your data.

[roberto]

all of this stuff has been HEAVILY cleaned up and posted on the Unofficial Knoppix Users guide project page found here:

http://sourceforge.net/docman/?group_id=70773

toast


who said this is garbage? lol ... ok ok so i write weird on-the-fly.