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Thread ID: 39870 2003-11-20 09:04:00 Linux - ability to read NTFS agent (30) Press F1
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193345 2003-11-20 09:04:00 With my current operating system set-up, I have all my multimedia stored on a FAT32 partition. This enables me to access it using either Windows or Mandrake.

However, I have just recently done some maintenance in Windows to beef up security and create a [currently disabled] account for remote guest access. The large part of this involved denying this account a local login, and applying security permissions to various folders on NTFS formatted drives.

My problem lies with the ability to deny this guest account write access on my multimedia partition. FAT32 has no such abilities within Windows, so I am considering converting it to NTFS.

Hence lies my problem, the fact that, even when logged in as root in Mandrake, I still can't access my NTFS partitions. I know the kernel has the ability to do so, so is there any way I can get read permissions only for my multimedia partition, when it is converted to NTFS? 		agent (30)
193346 2003-11-20 09:23:00 Not sure about Mandrake but Redhat & Fedora now have NTFS support with the installation of an rpm; see linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net JohnD (509)
193347 2003-11-20 09:53:00 > With my current operating system set-up, I have all
> my multimedia stored on a FAT32 partition. This
> enables me to access it using either Windows or
> Mandrake.
>
> However, I have just recently done some maintenance
> in Windows to beef up security and create a
> [currently disabled] account for remote guest access.
> The large part of this involved denying this account
> a local login,

So you have a guest account to log into what?

and applying security permissions to
> various folders on NTFS formatted drives.
>
> My problem lies with the ability to deny this guest
> account write access on my multimedia partition.
> FAT32 has no such abilities within Windows,

If you'ved denied the guest account a local login haven't you done just that? 		mark.p (383)
193348 2003-11-20 10:20:00 This product may help regarding accessing ntfs in Linux- http://www.ntfs-linux.com/ mark.p (383)
193349 2003-11-20 10:25:00 My default install of Mandrake 9.0 allowed me to access all NTFS partitions on the other drive, what did you do to break it? :) If you check the security permissions you should have something set for 'Everyone' and 'System'. aroc (3256)
193350 2003-11-20 10:34:00 Just keep in mind that Write support is still in its Alpha stage.... I'd stick to ro for the time being personally.... Chilling_Silently (228)
193351 2003-11-20 20:30:00 *Sigh*. Fifth thread I've posted this week in which I feel scorn being aimed at me.

> [currently disabled] account for remote guest access

You might like to take note of the word "remote". Hence the reason why I denied the account local logon privileges, because it is to be used for remote access only. I have set up OpenSSH for Windows so that it checks permissions for users logged in before allowing them to traverse directories and list files, etc, but this obviously won't work in a partition where no permissions can be set.

The install I did of Mandrake 9.0 was pretty much default, and the only permissions I had to muck around with previously was adding my user to every group (couldn't be bothered going through ~40 groups to find out which one allowed me to read the FAT32 mount that held my multimedia), but that was in the second installation of MDK - both the first and current ones gave me those permissions out-of-the-box.

So I'll check out some permissions, but considering even root can't read those partitions; maybe it's the kernel version... though my understanding was that NTFS read support (I only want read support) had been in the kernel for quite some time. 		agent (30)
193352 2003-11-20 21:14:00 Correct, but when I was using NTFS and Redhat, I had two options:
1. Install an rpm
2. Re-compile the kernel

As a Linux b00b, what do you think I chose?
I'm still yet to re-compile a kernel that works :p Its just not my thing..... Hopefully that'll change on Tuesday.. :D 		Chilling_Silently (228)
193353 2003-11-20 21:42:00 1. Noone can access files on a partition unless the partition is mounted on a mount point. The mount command, or the entry in /etc/fstab can give permissions to that partition.

2. You can't mount NTFS partitions unless there is support for the NT File System.

3. You can get support for NTFS either by compiling the kernel, with NTFS support enabled, or by having the module present. When the partition is mounted, the module is automatically loaded.

4. Mandrake or not, Linux is Linux. The module is available. If there isn't an RPM (or deb for the Debian enthusiasts) binary for your version of your diistribution, the source is available, and easy to compile. (So's the kernel. B-))

5. It's wise to keep the access to read-only. It can be tricky writing to a foreign OS's file system without full (or any) documentation. Especially when the owner of that OS would not be above putting traps in the system. :D Reading files can't do any damage. Writing files is fine; it's making sure that all the directory entries, etc, are exactly right is not so easy. If they are not exactly right, the disaster might not be immediate. ;-)


6. Don't be too sensitive. If you don't feel "criticism" is fair or true, ignore it. It might not even be meant, or meant for you. 		Graham L (2)
193354 2003-11-20 21:42:00 1. Noone can access files on a partition unless the partition is mounted on a mount point. The mount command, or the entry in /etc/fstab can give permissions to that partition.

2. You can't mount NTFS partitions unless there is support for the NT File System.

3. You can get support for NTFS either by compiling the kernel, with NTFS support enabled, or by having the module present. When the partition is mounted, the module is automatically loaded.

4. Mandrake or not, Linux is Linux. The module is available. If there isn't an RPM (or deb for the Debian enthusiasts) binary for your version of your diistribution, the source is available, and easy to compile. (So's the kernel. B-))

5. It's wise to keep the access to read-only. It can be tricky writing to a foreign OS's file system without full (or any) documentation. Especially when the owner of that OS would not be above putting traps in the system. :D Reading files can't do any damage. Writing files is fine; it's making sure that all the directory entries, etc, are exactly right is not so easy. If they are not exactly right, the disaster might not be immediate. ;-)


6. Don't be too sensitive. If you don't feel "criticism" is fair or true, ignore it. It might not even be meant, or meant for you. 		Graham L (2)
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