[SOLVED] Dolphin issue

[Qqmike]

OK, tonight, a fresh install of 18.04.1.
I open Dolphin.
Click Root on the left side bar.
Double-click to open Boot folder.
Double-click to open efi folder ...
... and I get the message: could not enter folder /boot/efi.

Right-click folder /boot/efi, click Properties, and I don't see how to change the permissions (no active options).

What am I forgetting to do here? It just works in 14.04, as I recall. I read that kdesudo doesn't work to open Dolphin as root -- as that's OK. I shouldn't have to open Dolphin as root to just get into my /boot/efi, right? Also, I don't recall that I needed any "root actions" add-ons to open /boot/efi in 14.04.

[chimak111]

Related reading:
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...anager-problem
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1044...su-not-working

[Qqmike]

Thanks, chimak111, I read it. Something changed going from Dolphin in 14.04 to Dolphin in 18.04. I have noticed all the postings recently. I'll study your two links -- tomorrow after resting!

[chimak111]

Oops!

I can get in without any special effort. Just double-clicking:

[chimak111]

And from konsole (without elevated privileges):

chimak ~ $ cd /boot
chimak /boot $ ls
abi-4.15.0-24-generic     efi                           memtest86+.bin               retpoline-4.15.0-29-generic   vmlinuz-4.15.0-29-generic
abi-4.15.0-29-generic     grub                          memtest86+.elf               System.map-4.15.0-24-generic
config-4.15.0-24-generic  initrd.img-4.15.0-24-generic  memtest86+_multiboot.bin     System.map-4.15.0-29-generic
config-4.15.0-29-generic  initrd.img-4.15.0-29-generic  retpoline-4.15.0-24-generic  vmlinuz-4.15.0-24-generic
chimak /boot $ cd efi
chimak /boot/efi $ ls
boot-repair  boot-sav  EFI  en-us
chimak /boot/efi $ cd EFI/
chimak .../efi/EFI $ ls
Boot  dell  Microsoft  ubuntu
chimak .../efi/EFI $ cd ubuntu/
chimak .../EFI/ubuntu $ ls
BOOTX64.CSV  fw  fwupx64.efi  grub.cfg  grubx64.efi  mmx64.efi  shimx64.efi
chimak .../EFI/ubuntu $

[Qqmike]

chimak111: Oops! I can get in without any special effort. Just double-clicking:

Lucky duck. My folder efi has a padlock on it, I double-click it, and get a red-box message that I can't open folder. Just woke up, trying to fix my Thunderbird first, but any other ideas welcome. Not sure why I should have to change/elevate permissions on that ESP partition or its mount point ... (This is a fresh 18.04.1 install, btw.)

[Rod J]

I noticed that inability to enter /boot myself soon after I installed K18.04. Had me scratching my head as I was sure K14.04 didn't do that. I use Krusader exclusively and it does the same as Dolphin when accessing that folder. A bit "over-the-top" security (if that's the reason) IMHO.

In the same vein: Another little gripe I have is why do you need to put your password in to simply view system logs? No need for that as far as I can see. I either click "Ignore" when the password popup comes up or edit the K menu entry for KSystemLog and untick "Run as a different user" to stop that nonsense. Better yet, install glogg which I find suits me better.

[Qqmike]

This is a serious problem IMO: Not having full access to /boot/efi !!! That controls how your computer boots, or doesn't boot. I've not had this problem before.

I thought that changing permissions should do the trick:

[SIZE=3]sudo chmod -v -R 777 /[I]boot[/I]/efi[/SIZE]

 [FONT=monospace][SIZE=3][COLOR=#54ff54][B]mike@mike-All-Series[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#5454ff][B]~[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]$ sudo chmod -v -R 777 /boot/efi [/COLOR]
[sudo] password for mike:  
mode of '/boot/efi' changed from 0700 (rwx------) to 0777 (rwxrwxrwx)[/SIZE][/FONT]

But it didn't, not at CLI, not in the Dolphin GUI:

 [FONT=monospace][SIZE=3][COLOR=#54ff54][B]mike@mike-All-Series[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#5454ff][B]/[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]$ cd boot [/COLOR]
[/SIZE][/FONT]
 [FONT=monospace][SIZE=3][COLOR=#54ff54][B]mike@mike-All-Series[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]:[/COLOR][COLOR=#5454ff][B]/boot[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]$ cd efi [/COLOR]
bash: cd: efi: Permission denied [/SIZE][/FONT]

I have to believe that this is fixable. I installed Krusader, have no experience withit, must be a way to open it as root and fix this, somehow. Wonder what I'm doing wrong at the CLI with chmod? I have things pulling on me this morning and so will be in and out, but I have to fix this.

Thanks for your input Rod.

[chimak111]

Lucky duck. My folder efi has a padlock on it, I double-click it, and get a red-box message that I can't open folder. Just woke up, trying to fix my Thunderbird first, but any other ideas welcome. Not sure why I should have to change/elevate permissions on that ESP partition or its mount point ... (This is a fresh 18.04.1 install, btw.)

One possible explanation for why I don't have the padlock is that I've not gone for "secure boot".

[Qqmike]

I don't have secure boot on either.

[Snowhog]

Just a thought, but can you boot into single-user mode and access the folder from the CLI?

[kubicle]

The mountpoint /boot/efi contains the EFI system partition, which is FAT32 formatted and therefore doesn't support posix permissions (you can change the permissions/ownership of the mountpoint with chmod/chown, but that doesn't affect the FAT32 filesystem that is mounted there).
For FAT32 filesystems, the permissions/ownerships are set at mount time. On my system, /etc/fstab includes the line that mounts the EFI system partition with umask=0077 (which will only give read/write access to root).

I'll note that it is like that for a reason, modifying boot configuration is clearly an administrative task that should not be permitted for regular users.

If you wish to browse efi graphically, I'd suggest using krusader with kdesu. You can also remount the efi partition with a different umask (or permanently change the mount options, but I strongly recommend against that).

You can also use 'sudo -i' to get a root terminal, if you prefer to work with the command line.

[Qqmike]

kubicle: /etc/fstab includes the line that mounts the EFI system partition with umask=0077 (which will only give read/write access to root).

Could I not just change that permissions line then?

You can also use 'sudo -i' to get a root terminal, if you prefer to work with the command line.

I'll just note that I had no problems with this in 14.04: I had three ESPs and nine operating systems (various Kubuntu's, two Mints, Debian), and I freely did whatever I wanted to do with any and all the ESPs and their contents.

(Gotta run and try to make a little $, then be back.)

[kubicle]

Could I not just change that permissions line then?

You could, that's why I said "or permanently change the mount options", but the permissions are there for a reason, and I'd recommend against it (but ultimately it's of course your call).

You usually don't need to edit them very often...and then it's usually fairly easy to elevate your own privileges for that. Certainly better than opening security issues by making them world writable (which is really not a good idea at all).

If you really wish to change the permissions, you could make them readable for group "sudo" (which would allow your admin users to browse the /boot/efi filesystem)...I stress that that making them outright writable is not a good idea.

I'll just note that I had no problems with this in 14.04: I had three ESPs and nine operating systems (various Kubuntu's, two Mints, Debian), and I freely did whatever I wanted to do with any and all the ESPs and their contents.

I believe the permissions were changed around 15.10 (or possibly 16.04), before that it was readable (but not writable) for all...IIRC.

[Qqmike]

Is it safe to use sudo -i to open a graphical; e.g.,

sudo -i
krusader

?

(I did it, explored /boot/efi, it does work, then I got out of it.)