[MULTI BOOT] Is it possible to make my Windows drive writable?

[Steve the Pocket]

I have a number of things I'd like to do that would call for regularly transferring files between Linux and Windows, and it seems like the smoothest way to do that would be if I could simply drag files into the Windows disk while it's mounted in Linux. But so far I've only been able to get it to mount as read-only, as far as I can tell; the Paste Files option is grayed out and literal dragging just pops up a generic "could not write to so-and-so" message. I've been told to disable quick shutdown; I tried that. I've been told to disable disk caching on the drive from the Windows Control Panel; I tried that and rebooted twice just to be sure. No dice. I was able to have success writing from Linux to my NTFS-formatted external drive back when that still worked (long story) without any extra effort at all, but it seems internal drives, or possibly just system drives, have some kind of extra protection I can't bypass. Any ideas?

[hallergard]

Do you have the correct entry for the Windows drive in /etc/fstab? https://goo.gl/XDHCQ7

Is Windows hybernated? If yes, enter "powercfg /h off" in a Windows administrator terminal!

[shag00]

I have the same issue, though I think it worked on earlier versions. I am on 19.10.

scott@scottubuntu:/media$ ls -al
total 36
drwxr-xr-x   8 root root 4096 Dec 29 18:38 .
drwxr-xr-x  21 root root 4096 Dec  2 10:17 ..
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4096 Dec 29 18:38 cdmount
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root   45 Nov 30 17:53 .directory -> /etc/kubuntu-default-settings/directory-media
drwxrwxrwx   1 root root 8192 Dec 28 21:13 disk0
drwxrwxrwx   1 root root 4096 Dec 28 21:13 disk1
drwxrwxrwx   1 root root 4096 Dec 28 21:13 disk2
drwxrwxrwx   1 root root 4096 Dec 28 21:13 disk3
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root   42 Nov 30 17:53 .hidden -> /etc/kubuntu-default-settings/hidden-media
drwxr-x---+  2 root root 4096 Dec 18 08:36 scott
scott@scottubuntu:/media$ sudo chown scott:scott disk1
scott@scottubuntu:/media$ sudo chown scott:scott disk1 --verbose
changed ownership of 'disk1' from root:root to scott:scott

Says ownership has changed but it actually has not.

[jlittle]

To explain, in a default install, Windows "shutdown" doesn't shut down fully, it "hibernates", or "hybrid hibernates" (contracted to "hybernates'). This leaves the NTFS marked as "in use" so that Linux makes it read-only. This is called "fast boot", or "fast startup" in Windows 10. I used to tell people with this problem to disable "fast boot" or "quick boot" in the firmware (aka "BIOS" or "UEFI") settings.

Is Windows hybernated? If yes, enter "powercfg /h off" in a Windows administrator terminal!

This is better than fiddling with firmware settings. I might dig out a Windows box from somewhere to try this.

[claydoh]

To explain, in a default install, Windows "shutdown" doesn't shut down fully, it "hibernates", or "hybrid hibernates" (contracted to "hybernates'). This leaves the NTFS marked as "in use" so that Linux makes it read-only. This is called "fast boot", or "fast startup" in Windows 10. I used to tell people with this problem to disable "fast boot" or "quick boot" in the firmware (aka "BIOS" or "UEFI") settings.

This is better than fiddling with firmware settings. I might dig out a Windows box from somewhere to try this.

You need to disable 'fast startup" from within Windows settings, not the bio/firmware settings. This is not the same as fast boot, which of course is highly confusing

[Steve the Pocket]

I don't have a listing for the drive in fstab; it mounts when I access it through Dolphin's left panel. Is that a problem?

Also, when I said I disabled "quick shutdown", fast startup is what I was talking about.

[shag00]

You need to disable 'fast startup" from within Windows settings, not the bio/firmware settings. This is not the same as fast boot, which of course is highly confusing

Claydon, this is not correct, just tried it on my Windows 10 (Settings>Power Options). Also, my system does not have a BIOS entry for fast start or similar.

[Don B. Cilly]

Well, why not try one or both:

Do you have the correct entry for the Windows drive in /etc/fstab?

Is Windows hybernated? If yes, enter "powercfg /h off" in a Windows administrator terminal!

If the second one doesn't let you mount the drive with Dolphin, the first one might just mount it read-write at boot.

[shag00]

The drives can/are be mounted and can be read they just cannot be written to despite appearances to the contrary.

My fstab:

/swapfile                                   none            swap    sw                  0       0
UUID=C100-521F                              /boot/efi       vfat    umask=0077          0       1
UUID=98913ab1-6347-4a71-99ae-fea6aa5fbca7   /               ext4    errors=remount-ro   0       1
UUID=8068D5D368D5C854                       /media/disk0    ntfs    defaults            0       2
UUID=7872060B7D3B8B8A                       /media/disk1    ntfs    defaults            0       2
UUID=744CF41C4CF3D738                       /media/disk2    ntfs    defaults            0       2
UUID=22C8783D7121C3B5                       /media/disk3    ntfs    defaults            0       2

My ls -al from above post:
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 Dec 28 21:13 disk1

My blkid entry for disk1
/dev/nvme1n1p1: LABEL="Data 1" UUID="7872060B7D3B8B8A" TYPE="ntfs" PTTYPE="dos" PARTUUID="03f3f3cf-7b2a-41b6-910c-f106fddcf8c8"

Hybernate is disabled as well as any combination of hibernate or sleep, refer https://www.windowscentral.com/how-d...0-fast-startup

[Don B. Cilly]

Well, I guess if there is no way to write to a windowized disk, copying the files to an external drive, or from Windows itself (with a linux-filesystem-reading utlity) would be the next best thing then.

One would not be able to use the stuff in Windows unless they've booted it, right?

[shag00]

Ooops, let me retract most everything I have said. It's the ownership I can't change and the Windows disks on remote PCs in my LAN I have write issues with. I can read and write to my local Windows disks. Apologies to all.

[Don B. Cilly]

I can read and write to my local Windows disks.

By mounting it in fstab, disabling hybernate, either, or both?

[hallergard]

Cannot see why you cannot have read/write one the LAN. My android devices can access my PC's SMB shares with read/write. But that is a different topic

[Steve the Pocket]

OK, I was playing around with some stuff, and by accident I discovered something interesting. I currently have two internal Windows drives plugged in, my current one and my old one that I quit using because it started showing signs of hardware failure. (As for why it's plugged in right now, it's complicated.) Turns out, I can actually write to the old drive, but not the new one. This is especially weird because when it was my active boot disk, I definitely remember that I was not able to write to it from Linux. Again, both drives were mounted after boot by clicking them in Dolphin. Neither drive is listed in fstab. And if I right-click on either disk and hit Properties, then Permissions, both drives are showing "Can View and Modify Content" in all categories. If there's any other procedure I could use that would show that there's some difference between them, I'd love to know it.

[hallergard]

For a start, why not add to /etc/fstab!