Mounting a NTFS partition with PCManFM in KNOPPIX 7.4.x

[superman]

Hi, folks:

Just came to realise that the NTFS partitions cannot be mounted via PCManFM in KNOPPIX 7.4.2 due to the lack of sufficient privilege as shown by the pop-up window. The most weird thing is that the partitions can still be unmounted if they have been mounted via terminal beforehand.

I wonder if anyone else has similar experience and knows the workaround.

Many thanks!

[utu]

I don't have your problem.
Maybe you should review PCManFM Volume Management choices under Edit>Preferences.
Or...Have you set a password or something like that?

[superman]

Many thanks, utu.

Having no luck with toggling the option of Volume Management.

Have been repeating my own question in my head over and over, and the things just don't add up; having the privilege to un-mount the NTFS partition but to mount it! But, I did come across something bizarre.

I can mount and un-mount the partition as usual if the /KNOPPIX folder contains
-- KNOPPIX or,
-- KNOPPIX + knoppix-data.img or,
-- KNOPPIX + KNOPPIX1 + knoppix-data.img

The combo of KNOPPIX + KNOPPIX1 alone is a No-No!

The KNOPPIX1 contains the usual files seen in /ramdisk when booting with "KNOPPIX 2 noimage" plus a dummy file created by root with "dd bs=1M count=10 conv=notrunc if=/dev/zero of=/home/knoppix/dummy_file" . To create the compressed file, I simply followed the guide found on debian-knoppix mailing list https://lists.debian.org/debian-knop.../msg00005.html . That's all....

[utu]

I can mount and un-mount the partition as usual if the /KNOPPIX folder contains
-- KNOPPIX or,
-- KNOPPIX + knoppix-data.img or,
-- KNOPPIX + KNOPPIX1 + knoppix-data.img
The combo of KNOPPIX + KNOPPIX1 alone is a No-No!
[snip]
The KNOPPIX1 contains the usual files seen in /ramdisk when booting with "KNOPPIX 2 noimage" plus a dummy file created by root with "dd bs=1M count=10 conv=notrunc if=/dev/zero of=/home/knoppix/dummy_file" . To create the compressed file, I simply followed the guide found on debian-knoppix mailing list https://lists.debian.org/debian-knop.../msg00005.html . That's all....

This form of 're-mastering' has its hazards.
Klaus K uses the technique, but is quite careful not to get into difficulty.

The order of inclusion for KNOPPIX, KNOPPIX1 and knoppix-data.img is crucial.
This order is spelled-out in the init within minirt.gz, and not yours to control.
The last element actually added may write over something in a previous element
that had been different or missing. Elements being KNOPPIX, KNOPPIX1 and knoppix-data.img.

You may need to look at the expanded contents of each element in a linux filesystem
to see what files might be over-written.

Such problems do do not occur with actual re-mastering, such as Werner P Schulz
provides. His technique takes care of any possibility of improper combinations.

---------------

Another way of looking at Klaus K's shortcut process is it works predictably ONLY
if there is no overlap in the definiton of any filename's content among the several
separate filesystems being combined. Similarly contents of any folder like /ext /lib, and
so on must not overlap.

[superman]

Thanks again, utu!

You may need to look at the expanded contents of each element in a linux filesystem
to see what files might be over-written...

The list of all files in KNOPPIX1 is as follows,

.
./var
./var/run
./var/run/utmp
./var/lib
./var/lib/bluetooth
./var/lib/bluetooth/XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX              <-- MAC address removed.
./var/lib/bluetooth/XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX/settings     <-- MAC address removed.
./var/log
./var/log/wtmp
./.wh..wh.orph
./etc
./etc/modprobe.d
./etc/modprobe.d/snd-hda-intel.conf
./etc/localtime
./etc/default
./etc/default/keyboard
./etc/sysconfig
./etc/sysconfig/i18n
./etc/sysconfig/keyboard
./etc/environment
./etc/fstab
./etc/timezone
./etc/X11
./etc/X11/xorg.conf
./etc/adjtime         <-- LOCAL is substitued with UTC
./.wh..wh.aufs
./home
./home/knoppix
./home/knoppix/dummy_file

I am still puzzled by the misbehaviour of PCManFM caused by these files. The files, adjtime and dummy_file, are the only two foreign files and the rest created by booting the pc with "KNOPPIX 2 noimage lang=uk". If I understand the cheatcodes file correctly, KNOPPIX won't load the knoppix-data.img file when the noimage parameter is given even if the file is in the KNOPPIX folder. So, there shall not be any interference from the actual content of the .img file. To help myself to get the situation crystal clear, I have also tried to create the same set of files after the .img file being removed, and the result is still the same.

Such problems do do not occur with actual re-mastering...

Hope it's the case when I do my very first remastering...

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I see it as a "safety" feature so that I won't save something fishy on NTFS partitions by mistake while surfing the net so long as my imaginary safety feature won't trash the filesystem after the partitions are mounted manually.

[Werner P. Schulz]

Just came to realise that the NTFS partitions cannot be mounted via PCManFM in KNOPPIX 7.4.2

What do you mean by "NTFS partitions"? Do you have a Knoppix HD install and a separate NTFS partition on the same HD? Please more explanations. If you boot with Knoppix, what's the output of

blkid

and

fdisk -l

(little "L")?

[superman]

@Werner P. Schulz

What do you mean by "NTFS partitions"? Do you have a Knoppix HD install and a separate NTFS partition on the same HD? Please more explanations. ...

Thanks for joining in the conversation! I by no means ignore your questions, but have just figured out where I made the mistake and so am not going to bother the folks with this matter.

@utu and Werner P. Schulz
The /etc/fstab in the /KNOPPIX1 is the naughty boy and needs to be deleted. I should stick to my usual drill of creating KNOPPIX1 for the previous version of KNOPPIX; 1.) booting the very merry virgin KNOPPIX, 2.) snapshotting the /ramdisk folder, 3.) messing about the system, 4.) snapshotting the /ramdisk folder again, and 5.) compressing only the differences of two snapshots. For the latest release, I only did step 1, 3, 4, and 4-and-half (compressing w/o diff); really got caught up by my very own laziness this time.

Thanks you folks for the input!