Can't mount NTFS partition with write permissions

Question

I am running Ubuntu 16.10 and during setup I added my data drive which is ntfs, to automount in /etc/fstab file. The entry looks like this -

UUID=EA469A60469A2D77   /alpha  ntfs-3g rw,permissions,umask=0022,user,exec,uid=1000,gid=1000,locale=en_US.UTF-8  0       0

I would like to know what I am doing wrong and how to get write access to the mounted NTFS partition.

EDIT1:

prenx@prenx4x:~$ sudo lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT,LABEL
NAME   FSTYPE   SIZE MOUNTPOINT LABEL
sdb           111.8G            
├─sdb2 swap    18.6G [SWAP]     
└─sdb1 ext4    93.2G /          
sdc             3.7T            
├─sdc2 ntfs     3.7T /zeta      Zeta
└─sdc1          128M            
sda           953.9G            
├─sda4 ntfs   952.9G /alpha     ALPHA
├─sda2 vfat      99M            
├─sda5 ntfs     450M            
├─sda3          128M            
└─sda1 ntfs     300M            Recovery

After changing any option I test it using mkdir-

prenx@prenx4x:/alpha$ mkdir a
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘a’: Read-only file system
prenx@prenx4x:/alpha$ sudo mkdir a
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘a’: Read-only file system

Also I am unable to paste or create anything in any sub-folder as well.

Is your "data drive" actually the C: drive in Windows, or some other drive letter? — heynnema, Dec 05 '16 at 00:12
the /alpha shown above is C drive, the /zeta is just a data drive with no OS in it. Both are mounted as read only. — The Prenx, Dec 05 '16 at 00:15

score 19 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

19

If the NTFS drives are mounting as read-only, its probably because Ubuntu thinks their filesystems are unclean, probably due to hibernation, or a damaged file system. Do this:

in Windows

boot into Windows
open the Power control panel
choose change what the power buttons do
choose change options that are unavailable
uncheck fast startup
close the Power control panel
open an administrative command prompt window
type powercfg /h off
type chkdsk /f c:
approve to run chkdsk at next reboot
type chkdsk /f x: (replacing "x" with drive letters of other visible NTFS partitions)
reboot into Windows to let chkdsk run on drive C:

edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

Community

1

answered Dec 05 '16 at 00:26

heynnema

70,711

2

you can stop at the point close the Power control panel, below points quite complicated and may not need for some cases. it worked with for me with Ubuntu 16.10 and Windows 10 – vanduc1102 Feb 14 '17 at 15:45
2

@vanduc1102 No, you need to follow the complete instructions that I've given. – heynnema Feb 14 '17 at 15:46
This worked perfectly. Thank you! BTW I did need to run chkdsk on both drives; I checked, out of curiosity. – user178602 Jan 11 '18 at 23:51
Nope, not on mine. Mounts fine under windows. Mounts and writes fine under one linux system. Just not the other one! – Owl Aug 16 '19 at 16:24
@Owl please start a new question to get some help. Thanks! – heynnema Aug 16 '19 at 17:17
Actually, for me @vanduc1102 was right, it was all that was needed, NTFS partition now mounts as writable. – SlimDeluxe Sep 15 '19 at 11:58

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 04 '16 at 23:18

1

Using rw, permissions, umask=0022, user, exec, uid=1000, and gid=1000 seems excessive.

The Official Documentation is pretty straight forward.

Something like this should work for your purposes:

UUID=EA469A60469A2D77 /alpha ntfs-3g defaults,windows_names,locale=en_US.utf8 0 0

answered Dec 04 '16 at 23:18

AnotherKiwiGuy

4,370
1
21
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I tried these options but they are also not working for me. – The Prenx Dec 04 '16 at 23:31
What happens exactly? Can you explain in a little further detail? Also, can you post the output of sudo lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT,LABEL in your question? – AnotherKiwiGuy Dec 04 '16 at 23:32
Also about using all these many options, I reached here one option at a time, but none of those worked for me. – The Prenx Dec 04 '16 at 23:32
I know this may be a silly question, but have you done sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g? – AnotherKiwiGuy Dec 05 '16 at 00:08
Yes. I looked at some other forums, and they suggested sudo apt-get purge ntfsprogs, sudo apt-get purge ntfs-3g, sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g which I did. Plus the partitions are getting mounted as read only. – The Prenx Dec 05 '16 at 00:13
What about using /dev/sda4 instead of UUID=EA469A60469A2D77? – AnotherKiwiGuy Dec 05 '16 at 00:14
when I changed to /dev/sd4 from UUID, ubuntu didn't like that and it hanged and refused to boot. – The Prenx Dec 05 '16 at 00:28

Can't mount NTFS partition with write permissions

2 Answers2

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