[busterdog]

Is it possible whilst in linux red hat to view windows files.
I want to change the linux background and the file is on the windows drive.
BTW, triple boot between 98se, xp home and red hat.

Many thanks

BD

[lynch]

Yes it is possible.You need to figure out your partitions to do it,though.How many hard drives? If you have everything on one hdd ,that makes it a little easier. You can open a terminal as root and type:
fdisk -l /dev/hda
to get your present partition table.
Post the results from that so we'll know what partition to mount.
lynch
EDIT: I have fixed the typos in my replies in this thread in case someone in the future uses this info.It will lessen the confusion,I think

[busterdog]

Originally posted by lynch:
Yes it is possible.You need to figure out your partitions to do it,though.How many hard drives? If you have everything on one hdd ,that makes it a little easier. You can open a terminal as root and type:
fdisk -l /dev/hda
to get your present partition table.
Post the results from that so we'll know what partition to mount.
lynch

Just the 1 h/d
I am about 1 day old with linux. Could you tell me how to open a terminal as root?
Got my hard drive partitioned into 4.
1) Win 98
2) XP
3) linux
4) spare for storage

Thanks for ya time lynch

[lynch]

Click on the icon that looks like a monitor screen partially covered by a shell.(terminal=shell)
When the terminal window opens,you'll see a prompt like:
busterdog@localhost: with a cursor.
type su and hit enter.
You'll be prompted for a password.
Type in the root password you made up during installation and hit enter.
(The password entry is blind so you wont see any characters on the screen while you enter the root password)
You should now have a root prompt somthing like this:
localhost:/home/busterdog #
The pound symbol(#) indicates root.
Now type:
/sbin/fdisk -l /dev/hda
make sure you leave a space between the command( sbin/fdisk ),the option( -l ) and the argument( /dev/hda )
HTH
lynch

[busterdog]

bash: fdisk: command not found

BD

[lynch]

Try this as root:
/sbin/fdisk -l /dev/hda
I keep forgetting that Redhat use the absolute path in bash.
Sorry,I mostly use SuSE.I have RH 7.3 on another comp but I dont use it enough to remember that RH uses the absolute path(by default) for system commands.Try the above-it should work
lynch

[busterdog]

Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 7476 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 765 6144831 b Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda2 766 7476 53906107+ f Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5 766 1772 8088696 b Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda6 2445 7476 40419508+ b Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda7 1773 1785 104391 83 Linux
/dev/hda8 1786 2412 5036346 83 Linux
/dev/hda9 2413 2444 257008+ 82 Linux swap

Partition table entries are not in disk order


Once again, Thanks for ya help lynch

BD

[lynch]

I'm guessing that win98 is on hda1 and XP is split on hda5 and hda6.You need to make places for your windows partitions so...
You need to log in as root again and type:
mkdir /mnt/win98 <press enter>
then type:
mkdir /mnt/xtd <press enter>
then type:
mkdir /mnt/xp1 <press enter>
then type:
mkdir /mnt/xp2 <press enter>
Now,to check to see if they're where they should be,type:
ls -l /mnt
They should be visible now.The /mnt/xtd is the extended partition

Now you need to make a symlink for each directory(mount point)
As root,type:
ln -s /dev/hda1 /mnt/win98 <enter>
then:
ln -s /dev/hda4 /mnt/xtd <enter>
then:
ln -s /dev/hda5 /mnt/xp1 <enter>
then:
ln -s /dev/hda6 /mnt/xp2 <enter>

Be sure that you have a backup copy of /etc/fstab before you make the following changes to that file.To do that,type:
cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak <enter>
The next step is to enter the info you've created into /etc/fstab
Now,when I edit text files,I like to log out of my regular user desktop and, at the graphical login screen,I log back in as root from there.That way I can just open a text editor from the desktop instead of running vi or pico from a terminal(I'm lazy )

So,open a text editor like advanced text editor or kate and open /etc/fstab.
You'll see a bunch of entries for hda7,8,9,cdrom floppy etc.If you see any entries for hda1,hda4,hda5,or hda6 then skip this step.If not,move your mouse cursor to the end of the line that's just above the line for your cdrom drive and press enter to open a new line.Then type:
/dev/hda1 /mnt/win98 auto noauto,user,umask=0, 0 0 <enter>
then:
/dev/hda4 /mnt/xtd auto noauto,user,0 0 <enter>
then:
/dev/hda5 /mnt/xp1 auto noauto,user,umask=0,0 0 <enter>
then:
/dev/hda6 /mnt/xp2 auto noauto,user,umask=0,0 0 <enter>
Now save this file and close the text editor.
The next thing to do is log out of the root desktop and login again as a regular user.Once you do that,you can make icons to mnt and access your windows partitions.
The next question I have is: Are you using KDE or Gnome as your window manager.If you're using KDE,just right-click on an empty part of the desktop and choose create new>hard disc...When the window appears,click on the device tab and,from the device drop-down menu,choose hda1 or one of the others.Click okay and you should get an icon you can l-click to mount and access the win98 partition.Repeat the process to make the other partitions except /mnt/xtd:I dont think you need an icon for that.
If you are using Gnome then creating the icons is most likely very simliar but I really dont know.I dont like or use Gnome.
I hope this is what you needed to know.I gave you the basic fstab entries to make those partitions accessable.You can tweak them more to your liking later.
I know this will work because I did it on my Mandrake 8.2 test system this morning just to make sure I remembered how to do it
You may have to add the "umask=0" option in order to read the windows files as a regular user.
lynch
EDIT: fixed typo in filename

[busterdog]

Ta lynch

Will try tonight

BD

[busterdog]

lynch
Everything was going fine until:

cp /etc/fstab /ets/fstab.bak
cp: cannot create regular file `/ets/fstab.bak': No such file or directory

Any ideas?

BD

[lynch]

Sorry That's a typo.It should read /etc/fstab.bak.
I just missed my misspelling.
lynch

[busterdog]

Btw:

Be sure that you have a backup copy of /etc/fstab before.......

If I hav'nt asked too much already, how do I do this?

BD

[lynch]

Ask all the questions you like ,I dont mind.
If you did this at the terminal:
cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak
You should be fine.Just to be sure open your desktop file manager and open the /etc directory.Scroll down past the folders and look for fstab and fstab.bak.They should be next to each other.Open each one and have a look:they should be identical.Redhat may make a copy of that file when you begin to edit the original /etc/fstab.That's okay,too.
What window manager are you using? Is it Gnome or KDE?To open a file manager in either,there should be an icon on the desktop labeled Home.When you click on that,a two-paned window (sort of like windows explorer)will open.In the left hand pane is the directory tree.Look for etc and click on that.
HTH
lynch

[busterdog]

Thanks lynch

At work now so I will try when I get home and get back to you.

Cheers

BD

[lynch]

NP
I keep forgetting were about 5 hours apart:it's 6:00 AM here and I'm just now leaving for work.Be back on the boards in about 11 or 12 hrs.
lynch