KDE Partition Manager/ext4 mount cannot access Help.

[mxlance]

This is much more complicated than I realized.
And I went into this project expecting drives to work the way they did on a mac.
I had no idea or understanding of how things really work.
So I created problems for my self. Thank god you have been willing to bail me out.

So I am beginning to see mounting a drive, permissions to access the drive and how and where the mount and unmounted are each handled in specific steps and procedures.
Learning is easy unlearning and learned expectations are the problem.

I am slowly seeing the light.
Thank you

[Snowhog]

I could be wrong, but I'm thinking that the issue with USB pluggable drives now, is with the security change made to Dolphin (and Kate) that made running it as root (kdesudo dolphin) not possible. Before that change was made (some time back now), accessing a plugged in USB drive wasn't an issue; the user had access just by clicking on the entry in Dolphin. Not so now. One workaround I've used in the past, is to create a file and save it to the USB drive 'as root'. So, launching Kate, typing anything into the blank document and then saving it with some name to the USB drive. You'll be prompted for your password, and the file will be saved and owned by root on the drive. Once that is done, in a konsole change the ownership of that file to yourself. With that done, you have effectively given yourself access to the USB drive; you can click on it from Dolphin and it will open and you have full access to the contents.

[mxlance]

i saved a Kate file to the USB Hard Drive but it did not ask for a password.
Just to be clear i can read from and write to the drive and i can unmount it from Dolphin and remount it just fine.
but if i reboot with the drive disconnected or off the system boots to a black screen
thank you

[Snowhog]

Ah. Okay.

(The following requested information may already have been provided earlier in this thread, but it's getting quite long so....)

With the system up and running (you booted with the USB Hard Drive plugged in), open a konsole and type: sudo blkid
Then type: cat /etc/fstab

Copy the output of both commands in your next reply.

And while you are at it, launch System Settings (click anywhere on a blank area of your Desktop and then just start typing: system settings and press Enter. Look for and click on Startup and Shutdown then Desktop Session and under On Login ensure that Start with an empty session is checked.

Next, still in System Settings, click on Removable Storage. Take a screen shot and include it in your reply.

[mxlance]

deepcat2@deepcat2:~$ sudo blkid
[sudo] password for deepcat2:
/dev/sda1: UUID="b9bc9f85-85f2-46c3-9830-38d7cd68cf01" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="436b584b-01"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="VaultA" UUID="a4634c14-ea7c-45f2-b6fb-6fa4bec25a47" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="08cf33c0-01"


deepcat2@deepcat2:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=b9bc9f85-85f2-46c3-9830-38d7cd68cf01 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
/swapfile none swap sw 0 0
# UUID=a33862f3-45dd-42da-a88b-14a7d8a6e21a none ext4 users 0 0
# UUID=0fe989be-76d7-49c4-8aed-2c6e0625c470 /media/deepcat2 ext4 defaults 0 0

/dev/sdb1 /media/deepcat2/VaultA ext4 defaults 0 0
deepcat2@deepcat2:~$ ^C

[mxlance]

My intention was to learn how to add an external hard drive to my system.
I thought that that drive once added could be written to and unmounted any time.
I was completely unaware of the steps needed to accomplish this.
Trying to fix the mess I made has made it harder to learn what is really needed.
I have been keeping notes and hope to sort this out.


I apologize and Thank you for all the help

[Snowhog]

So, the reason you are getting a blank screen when booting without the USB Hard Drive attached, is that you have an entry for it in /etc/fstab (/dev/sdb1 /media/deepcat2/VaultA ext4 defaults 0 0). Oshunluver already addressed that I believe.

The blank screen should be happening before you ever see the sddm login screen (what you see to type in your user password before you get to the Desktop). If you waited long enough, you should still be presented with the sddm login screen. No matter.

Pluggable USB devices should never have an entry in /etc/fstab (IMO). There are use cases for doing so, but as you have the options for it in the entry, the system is expecting the device to be present; to be plugged in. This is why, with it plugged in, you have no problems booting up. IF it isn't your intent to always have the device plugged in when you boot, then either remove the entry in /etc/fstab; comment it out; or change the options on the entry, again, as Oshunlvr has already mentioned.

[mxlance]

got it. thank

[Snowhog]

As to the System Settings > Removable Devices settings, I would uncheck Only automatically mount removable media that has been manually mounted before and then uncheck Enable Automatic mounting of removable media and then click Apply. These are my settings on my laptop, and plugging in a USB device works as expected.

[Snowhog]

And as you didn't provide a screen shot of System Settings > Startup and Shutdown > Desktop Session, verify that On Login has Start with an empty session checked.

[mxlance]

i did include the screenshots but they did not load.
not sure why

[Snowhog]

Those are Removable Devices screen shots, not Startup and Shutdown > Desktop Session

[mxlance]

misunderstood. got it all is working again.
if there is anything i can do to help, i am fair at graphics and would be happy to give back in some way.
thank you again

[Snowhog]

More than welcome. Even those of us here who are, or give the impression that they are, 'experienced' where, at one point, just like everyone else who first ventures in to the (sometimes wacky) world of Linux.