Unable to write to /mnt/hda1

[mikeadams]

Hi !

I am new to Linux and am extremely delighted that Knoppix is avalaible to introduce newbies like us to Linux in such a user friendly way .
I have a problem however. I have a Windows XP box . I wanted to copy the SAM file from c:\windows\system32\config to my c:\ drive . As you may know that SAM file cannot be copied while Windows is running,so I booted up Knoppix from the Live CD and issued the following command at the terminal :

cp /mnt/hda1/windows/system32/config/sam /mnt/hda1

I now get the message : Unable to write to /mnt/hda1.

I also tried removing the check mark thats besides Read Only on hda1 but even that didnt help. I have noticed that I am unable to write to any of my drives while using Knoppix and get the same message.

Please help.

Thank You

[UnderScore]

Before you enable write acess, what filesystem is on the drive? If it is FAT32 then it is fine. If it is NTFS, we tell all people who intend to use Knoppix to write to a NTFS drive that Knoppix in most cases can not reliably (possibly destroy) a NTFS filesystem. Older versions of Knoppix (i think Knoppix 3.6 & 3.7) has captive NTFS, which in my opinion had a low success rate. Knoppix 4.0.2 has

- Updated NTFS read-write support using libntfs CVS version and fuse*)

(*)A free (GPL) NTFS write support is currently under development. Experimental-friendly testers may find the corresponding tools and instructions for accessing rw-mounts of NTFS-Partitions, on the DVD (use at your own risk).

You are welcome to attempt it with Knoppix 4.0.2 but there is always a risk that it will write garbled data to that drive that could possibly overwrite other good necessary data.

It might be easier to swap out the HD to another PC & copy the file. Or you could use the window CD to boot to a rescue command prompt. Then you could use the command: copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\

I hope this helps.
James

[mikeadams]

Thanks Underscore,

I was able to copy the required files by booting from XP bootup disk and then going into the Recovery Console.

Thanks once again