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I'm running Ubuntu 20.04 in dual boot with Windows 10. The way I have my setup configured is there's an SSD with both Windows and Ubuntu operating systems and a second drive with all my data on it, such as downloads and documents, etc. The disk is partitioned under NTFS scheme.

Firstly, I was interested in simply mounting that drive automatically on boot, which I managed by going to disks > selecting the drive > edit mount options > mount at startup. However, a few days afterwards I found myself unable to edit any of the files in the mounted disk. The New Folder and Paste options are greyed out, I can neither save any new file nor edit previous ones. The user permissions showed the files belonging to "root" and so kept me from changing anything. After disabling automount, the file permissions show my username instead of root now but I still can't edit anything.

I have tried numerous solutions, many even successfully, but things revert back to same in a few days for no apparent reason. I would really like to know what's the issue here and how it can be fixed.

Thanks!

Mohammad Ali
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2 Answers2

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I had the exact same setup and faced the same problem. So here is a solution:

  1. Make sure fast startup is turned off in Windows Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options\System Settings.
  2. Make sure you have shut down your PC and not hibernated it with windows.
VidathD
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  • Thanks for your comment. Disabling the fast startup option has enabled me to modify the files now, although it still shows them as associated with root user.

    I'm intrigued how I didn't need to disable it earlier for making things work, as before I could still edit files with the option enabled, though it kept reverting back to read-only. Any chance I can have that option enabled and still be able to use things normally here (I kinda like fast startup and how everything is open when the system boots up)?

     – Mohammad Ali Jun 20 '20 at 09:44
  • @MohammadAli That can't be possible and if it is, I would like to do that too. LOL. You see, Windows fast startup is not an actual shutdown and power on. It is actually a kind of hibernation. So when windows is in hibernation, it doesn't unmount the partitions, therefore stopping Ubuntu from mounting them as read and write. However, this is only the case for partitions shared with windows so you shouldn't have any trouble with EXT4 partitions with fast startup on. Unfortunately, you won't be able to read and write Shared partitions or Windows partition. – VidathD Jun 20 '20 at 16:57
  • There is one way though. Fast startup doesn't apply for Restart. So you can have fast startup on if you mostly work with your EXT4 partitions. If you want to save something in a shared partition, you can save it in your /home, restart your device (from Windows) and save it in your shared partition. – VidathD Jun 20 '20 at 16:59
  • BTW, having owner as root is perfectly normal. – VidathD Jun 20 '20 at 16:59
  • If this was useful to you, please upvote this answer for future readers and consider marking it as accepted. – VidathD Jun 20 '20 at 17:00
  • <<BTW, having owner as root is perfectly normal.>>

    That only seems to be the case when it is auto-mounted with disks > selecting the drive > edit mount options > mount at startup. When I disable auto-mount and access the files after login, it shows me as owner. I was wondering if it could be set up so that it shows me as the owner even if it mounted on boot.

     – Mohammad Ali Jun 20 '20 at 21:49
  • I think so. What is your fstab? – VidathD Jun 21 '20 at 03:40
  • https://imgur.com/NGkFnm5 – Mohammad Ali Jun 21 '20 at 07:42
  • Make a backup of fstab (sudo nano -B /etc/fstab)Try replacing the part that's after nosuid with users,uid=1000,dmask=027,fmask=137,x-gvfs-show,utf8 0 0 – VidathD Jun 21 '20 at 07:48
  • Did it work for you? – VidathD Jun 30 '20 at 03:56
  • I'm sorry I forgot to get back here. It did, but the group is still root. Any way that can be changed as well? Here's what I'm talking about: https://imgur.com/OnbHKy3 – Mohammad Ali Jul 01 '20 at 13:08
  • @MohammadAli There might be but I am not aware of it. It will not deprive you of any privileges. Root means super user (as in sudo) so it is fine and I don't think it is advisable to change that as changing that may cause problems when using the partition. – VidathD Jul 01 '20 at 13:42
  • Alright. Thanks again for your help with everything :) – Mohammad Ali Jul 01 '20 at 15:30
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What worked for me was login with windows, find the permissions tab and write "everyone" and click full control, click apply, then restart to linux.

Andreas Kormas
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