[MintabiePete]

I am trying to access windows files in RedHat Linux 8.0, I am sure that I could see them before when I was having a look around not long after I installed RHL with a dual boot with Win XP Home , maybe I was mistaken



Anyway I went in as root and created a directory



mkdir /mnt/win

then mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt/win



then /mnt/win then ls -all



then it shows all my files , but how do I access them ? Would appreciate someone putting me on the right track

[codejockey]

From your description, it seems you're already there -- you should be able to copy, delete, rename and otherwise manipulate your Windoze files using standard Linux/Unix commands (e.g., cp, rm, mv respectively). Of course, you won't be able to execute your Windoze files under Linux unless you run some sort of emulation or guest O/S hosting (WINE or VMWare, for example). What are you trying to do with your Windoze files that you are having trouble with?

Additional info appreciated -- hope this helps.

[MintabiePete]

I have downloaded and installed WINE but as to yet havn't worked out how it works , but I guess what I am trying to do is to be able to access text files in windoze if only to read them , but I was under the impression that I could run windoze programs in linux until I tried to download a simple game and it downloaded as a tarball but when I went and opened it I had no hope , it had all these little files with ? marks on them .

[snowdog]

If your WinXP partition is NTFS, you will only be able to read them. No write access. But it sounds like you are already able to read them. RedHat 8.0 should be able to handle FAT32 partitions for read/write.

[lynch]

Must be fat32 on the XP partition,as I'm sure RH 8 didnt include NTFS support.The files with the ?'s are usually figured out by reading the file extension or (as I do ) open it with a text editor like kwrite and see if it's human readable/understandable.
lynch

[MintabiePete]

looking into the RH L 8.0 documantation for me to automatically mount a windoze partitian I must modify the /etc/fstab file but I cannot for the life of me get in . I have tried to use the pico editor but it says I havnt got it . I have checked up and I have PINE where is is supposed to be .



I have tried to edit as root but no go , cant even seem to get pico to work .

[lynch]

Try this:
vi /etc/fstab
When the file appears press i to switch to "insert"(edit)mode.Use the up,down,right,left arrow keys to move from line to line .To start a new line move the cursor to the end of the line just before where you want to create a new line and hit enter.When you're done hit esc and to save the changes you made hold down Shift and type ZZ .

If you can get to the root desktop you can use kwrite.That's what I do sometimes.
HTH
lynch

[codejockey]

The files with the ?'s are usually figured out by reading the file extension or (as I do ) open it with a text editor like kwrite and see if it's human readable/understandable.

You can also use the file command to report the type of file. Note that the filetype does not depend upon the extension (as in Windoze/DOS); the information about the file type is embedded in the file itself (the "magic number"). So, for example, you can use the command file path-to-file-of-unknown-type to determine the filetype for path-to-file-of-unknown-type (try file /bin/ls, for example). This works for lots of files; if the file command can't figure out what the file is, it is reported as "data" (which typically means a binary file of unknown format).

Hope this helps.

[zydecomon]

I'd like to know specifically how to add these mounts perm to mt profile (or whatever you would call it). Any help would be great. BTW, I know my way around vi (enough anyway), so if you feel so, please omit the obvious vi cmds. Just show me what it would look like. Thanks

[lynch]

Nothing about vi is obvious.

/dev/hdc /mnt/windows auto noauto,user,rw,umask=0 0 0

You must create the /mnt/windows mount point directory.I put in auto for filesystem type but you can put vfat if it's fat32(MS's kludge to support long file names).Forget ntfs unless you have a spare day.The rw should work in vfat and the umask=0 lets regular users access the windows partition.
HTH
lynch

[zydecomon]

My goal is to get all my music and movies accessed in Linux, so this is what I'd like to see:

/dev/hdb1 /mnt/music_movies auto noauto,user,rw,umask=0 0 0

Is that still correct? Yes, I already have mnt/music_movies established as a dir.

Speaking of playing music. Most of my music is mp3. I have encountered the copyright error message when trying to play mp3's. Without having looked for an alternate player from the default "Audio Player" that RH9 provided, is there anything I can do to allow the playing of these mp3's without installing a new player?

[lynch]

Yes that line should be ok.
Redhat doesnt support NTFS or MP3.There are remedies to both.There is a fix for MP3 support in xmms here
lynch

[MintabiePete]

I have run into a problem
an error occured during the file system check, and my RHL wont open.

I opened the /etc/fstab file and edited it with vi

I edited this line and it seemed to cause the problem.

/dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat default 0 0

I changed it to :

/dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat auto,owner,users 0 0



I can start the dual boot and click on linux and what comes up is the error occured during the file system check.

it gives me the option to enter root for maintenance
to repair filesystem.
where I enter vi /etc/fstab

and the file comes up and when I type i it is changable but I cant seem to save it with shift + type zz

it gives me a E45 'readonly' option is set ( use ! to overide)

any ideas how I can save what I edit ?

Thanks

[codejockey]

The filesystem error you are receiving on boot is not related to the changes you are making to the /etc/fstab file (Linux does not normally check Windoze filesystems; the /etc/fstab file only lists those filesystems to be mounted (with appropriate options)). You should definitely go into single-user (aka "maintenance") mode and run fsck (or the appropriate equivalent) on each filesystem. Note that the filesystem being checked should be unmounted while the check is being performed; if the root filesystem has errors, you should boot from either a boot disk or the installation CD (assuming you can get to a command prompt from the installation CD). A note of caution: it pays to proceed carefully here; allowing a utility such as fsck to "correct" filesystem errors can cause as many problems as it solves. That said, however, fsck is often correct in its diagnosis, and allowing it to fix things is usually the best choice.

As for your vi question: if you are editing the file as root, you can force your changes to be made by using :w! (that's colon-w-exclamation point) or :w!q (which will quit after saving (forcing) your changes.

Hope this helps. Fsck and related questions? -- post again, and we'll go from there.

[MintabiePete]

Thanks codejockey for your quick reply you blokes must never sleep.

not too sure what you mean by it has to be unmounted while the check is going on .

but I ran the fsck /etc/fstab and this is what I got :


Checking root filesystem
fsck ext 3 iLABEL=/:
The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2 filesystem if the device is valid and it really contains and ext2 filesystem (and not swap or u8fs or something else ) , then the superblock is corrupt and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock : esfsck-b 8193 <device>

: No such file or directory whilt trying to open i LABEL=/ [FAILED] ( in red letters)


with all this going on it looks like I have typed in something in the wrong place or something like that and my instincts are to boot from the RHL8.0 CD because I dont know any other way of maybe repairing it .

I tried forcing the changes but it wouldnt do it by using :w!q keeps giving me a message that it is read only and not changeable .