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When I mount a USB pen using Thunar, I cannot write to it but I can read from it. Xubuntu 16.04.

I can write to it as root, from the command line.

mount lists the device thus;

/dev/sdb1 on /media/morpheus/FILM type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,showexec,utf8,flush,errors=remount-ro,uhelper=udisks2)

My /media directory looks like this;

[ morpheus ]-[ /media/morpheus ]

--> ll

total 16

drwxrwxrwx+  4 root     root     4096 Jan 15 11:58 .

drwxr-xr-x   3 root     root     4096 Apr 26  2016 ../

drwxr-xr-x  20 morpheus morpheus 4096 Jan 15 11:30 Data/

drwxr-xr-x   3 morpheus morpheus 4096 Jan  1  1970 FILM/

EDIT : The problem exists with ext4 formatted pens, but everything works correctly with NTFS formatted pens.

Note: I can write to the pen, as root, from the command line so I am able to continue with my work. I am looking for a solution to making Thunar mount the pen with write permission for the normal user.

EDIT : I took another USB pen and tested with NTFS partition then reformated to ext4 partition. NTFS partition works correctly, I can read and write. It is listed as so:

drwxrwxrwx   1 morpheus morpheus 4096 Jan 16 10:20 33C8B9D66F0C5779/

I then use gparted to reformat to an ext4 partition, I can no longer write to the pen and it is listed as so :

drwxr-xr-x   3 root     root     1024 Jan 16 10:24 43ab54f4-c8de-4027-9c45-591f6bf84d08/

So the system mounts ext4 partitions as root and ntfs partitions as user. Where is this behaviour configured and can I change it ?

I don't really think I should have to edit my fstab every time I reformat a USB pen, or get a new pen. I just want the system to mount my external drives as user (not root). (There is no way grandma will edit fstab, she just wants to write to the darn pen !).

hatterman
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1 Answers1

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You may need to change the ownership permissions for the usb from 'root to 'user_name'.

This thread might shed some light: change permission of usb drive

Good luck.

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    I have had a look at that post and have done some further internet reading. I have taken another USB pen and made more tests. I have edited my initial question accordingly. In short, NTFS pens work fine, ext4 pens are read only. I can chmod and chown and get it working, thanks for the pointer, but this is far from ideal. It's 2017, I just want to write to the pen ! – hatterman Jan 16 '17 at 10:34
  • I agree with @hatterman and I am having the same problem with fat32. ACLs can be used to allow w/r to the pen from the terminal but from the GUI there is no way to write to the automounted USB drive. – Lorenzo Ancora Jan 01 '18 at 19:01