Jul
18
2006
NTFS-3G – Read & Write NTFS in Linux plus specific Ubuntu Dapper install instructions
Posted by luna6 43 Comments
A cool little app has been released which allows you to safely read and write to your Windows NTFS drives directly in your Linux machine. Previously it was only possible to read from NTFS drives. The driver can be downloaded here. Your Linux distro should have Fuse installed, before NTFS-3G is installed. After downloading the NTFS-3G driver you can do the familiar “./configure” then “make” then as root “make install” to compile NTFS-3G. Afterwards it should be as easy as mounting the drives via fstab.
ntfs-3g /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows
or for full access for all users :
ntfs-3g /dev/(your partition like hda1 or sda1) /mnt/(mount point) -o silent,umask=0,locale=en_US.utf8
For Ubuntu users an easier method than compiling your own driver is provided below. Click the read the rest of the entry link for specific console commands to get your Ubuntu box working with NTFS-3G.
***Note new drivers are available and from the ubuntu forums easy directions are : ****
1. Installation :
First you will need to add a repository to your source.list. Open a terminal and type:
gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
At the end of the file, just add one of the following mirror:
deb http://ntfs-3g.sitesweetsite.info/ubuntu/ dapper main main-all
deb http://flomertens.keo.in/ubuntu/ dapper main main-all
or if you are running Edgy Eft
deb http://ntfs-3g.sitesweetsite.info/ubuntu/ edgy main main-all
deb http://flomertens.keo.in/ubuntu/ edgy main main-all
Then add the reposotry keys by typing the terminal :
wget http://flomertens.keo.in/ubuntu/givre_key.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
Now install everything in a one command (ok, in fact three):
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install ntfs-config
2. Configuration :
gksu ntfs-config
Thats it….
* The gnome Trash don’t support neither ntfs filesystem nor fat32 filesystem, so when you delete files with nautilus, they don’t go in the trash, but in an hidden directory, at the root of the partition, call .Trash-
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Comments
43 Comments so far
“The gnome Trash don’t support neither ntfs filesystem nor fat32 filesystem, so when you delete files with nautilus, they don’t go in the trash, but in an hidden directory, at the root of the partition, call .Trash-. So to ‘empty the trash’, you’ll have to show hidden files () and use the suppr function of nautilus on this directory (”
Can’t you just do a Shift+Del to permanently delete the files?
Great! thanks Sean Hodges it worked.
All 3 of the above mentioned Dapper repositories are offline as of 21 January, 2007…
You must use this instead:
deb http://flomertens.free.fr/ubuntu/ dapper main main-all
and to install the authentication key:
wget http://flomertens.free.fr/ubuntu/givre_key.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
DON’T FORGET TO APT-GET UPGRADE as per the instructions, I forgot to upgrade and nearly broke my system as a result.
For those who want to install NTFS-3G and have Ubuntu, there are some repositories that you can add in the /etc/apt/sources.list file, just add this line in the end:
deb http://flomertens.keo.in/ubuntu/ dapper main
deb-src http://flomertens.keo.in/ubuntu/ dapper main
Now, just install the package with Synaptic or some installer program.
…And mount the Windows partition.
Thank you very much, I need that =D
thank you very much!!!
Here is a Ubuntu 7.04 screencast : http://wikisos.org/wiki/Ubuntu_7.04:How_to_enable_NTFS_write_mode
where i can find free download fuse-2.5.3.tar.gz…
Coz i was know when i want install ntfs-3g i must have fuse-2.5.3.tar.gz…
please give me clarification, Thank’s…..
how can i install ntfs-3g.tar.gz file in my ubuntu lts 6.01.
Hey Roger,
This applies only if you installed Ubuntu’s latest release “Feisty Fawn” :
Launch Synpatic.
Click the “Search” button
type “ntfs-3g”
once the search results appear check the box next to “ntfs-3g” and “ntfs-config”, then hit “Apply” and close synaptic.
Then from the Gnome menu on the top right of the desktop, click Applications–>System Tools–>NTFS Configuration
You will get a pop-up window, check the two boxes for enabling write support for internal and external devices
Then your NTFS partitions should be mounted automatically with an icon on the desktop.
You may want to read this article for some more tips :
http://lunapark6.com/ubuntu-704-feisty-fawn.html
Glad to hear you switched to Linux…cheers
Hi,
Could you provide instructions for a first time user to Linux.
I have recently gotten Ubuntu, and it installed like a dream. I found the Synaptic Package Manager and was able to install applications from there. But I am having a hard time doing installs based on commands.
Is there a way I could install NTFS-3g from the Synaptic Package Manager? Or an instruction set for dummies, that walks through every single step (i.e. I need to search around on every single instruction for specifics, i.e. how to open a terminal, where to type in commands…)
I really appreciate Linux, but unfortunately have been locked into Windows for 20 years.
I have an external USB HDD that is NTFS, Linux can read and not write. I understand that NTFS-3G will fix this.
Cheers,
Roger
Thanks a whole lot for this!
“* The gnome Trash don’t support neither ntfs filesystem nor fat32 filesystem,”
gah? I don’t think that sentence means what you think it means.
Its been updated….thanks for the head-up, (hard to keep these articles current with all the changes that occur)
None of the download sites above work..
Hey those are commands you would paste in the terminal. Kind of like the Windows equivalent of a dos box. In Ubuntu the terminal would be located in Applications/Accessories/Terminal (look at the top of the gnome menu). Click terminal and it will open up. From there copy and paste those commands you have. The first line should be “tar -xvf fuse-2.5.3.tar.gz” and not “ar -xvf fuse-2.5.3.tar.gz”
It may seem weird or confusing first time around but its actually a lot more efficient when you have to do certain things.
tar -xvf (is a command to extract files – like winzip in windows)
cd (change directory)
sudo (command to gain administer privileges)
apt-get (is name of a package manager that installs programs for you – it will literally go out to the internet and download & install the program for you)
the next three commands
./configure
make
sudo make install
are the typical way you would install packages if it is not available as binary package from apt-get. Hope that helps.
I am trying to install fuse but what does all the following mean:
ar -xvf fuse-2.5.3.tar.gz
cd fuse-2.5.3.tar.gz
sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get build-dep fuse
./configure
make
sudo make install
am I meant to type this in somewhere?
Sorry if its a stupid qu. but iv just installed my first linux os today, but dont have a clue on installing applications.
Thanks
Is it possible to configure dapper, so that all automounted USB-drives get mounted with ntfs-3g?
I got this working in my dual boot Ubuntu machine and have had no problems. I wonder if anyone has tried to get it working on an intel Imac running Windows with Boot Camp. I own one and am tempted to try, it would be great to write to my NTFS Windows partition from OS X. You can see the partition and mount points from the System Profiler. Has anyone accomplished this? Can it be done?
Thanks
I compiled ntfs-3g with my amd_64 distro of Ubuntu and it works fine. Why do you say that there is some time for 64 bit microprosessor owners?
This is all “Chinese” to me, don’t you have just a program, NOT FOR GEEKS, which simply permits to read and write Windows NTFS under Linux ?? This should be possible !!
Hanns
I’m new to Linux as well. I am currently running SuSE 10.1 and KDE 3.5. I can get my NFS partitions to mount automaticly through Linux, but no permissions to write or delete. I tried to use the NTFS-3g and got a little responce. I got the error that the resource was in use. Tried the -o force option after that and got a simular responce. I then tried to unmount them in KDE and try to mount wit the ntfs-3g. It gives me the error along the lines of can’t mount, Windows was not shut down properly. Restart and try again. And when I do I go back to square 1. Any ideas?
ntfs-3g appears to compile and work just fine on 64 bit, even though it says here that it is not supported. NOTE*** I haven’t tried writing with it yet.
Fedora core 5 64 bit
Kernel 2.6.17-1.2174_FC5
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 2800+
I’m happy to see that my deb package are popular in the blog planet, but to make the upgrading to the futur stable version easier, i put all that in a repo now, you should change your howto in that way, i will not maintain the old link anymore. See the original howto for more info : http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=217009
the two debian packages (fuse and ntfs-3g) on http://www.4shared.com seem to work
had same problem
just found a copy of the ntfs-3g package on
http://www.4shared.com
there is also a fuse package with correct version numbers (not the two mentioned here). Did not check whether it works, yet.
Alternate method that I use:
Download Fuse from here http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/fuse/fuse-2.5.3.tar.gz?download
tar -xvf fuse-2.5.3.tar.gz
cd fuse-2.5.3.tar.gz
sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get build-dep fuse
./configure
make
sudo make install
Then download NTFS-3G from here http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfs-3g-20070714-BETA.tgz
tar -xvf ntfs-3g-20070714-BETA.tgz
cd ntfs-3g-20070714-BETA
./configure
make
sudo make install
Then add it to your fstab
/dev/hda1 /mnt/windows ntfs-3g silent,umask=0 0 0
Check to see if you have write permissions
sudo modprobe fuse && sudo umount -a && sudo mount -a
Now to make fuse load at bootup
echo fuse | sudo tee -a /etc/modules
Done.
Host appears to be down. Does anybody have a mirror so that it starts working again.
I try ntfs-3g with mandriva 2006 and kaella 3.0 Beta (french knoppix 5.0). This driver works fine. To load ntfs partition at boot it is necessary
1 to add a script in /etc/rc5.d to load fuse
exemple S02fuse
#! /bin/sh
modprobe fuse
2 to add a ligne in /etc/fstab
exemple (ntfs partition = hda1, fr_FR = french)
/dev/hda1 /mnt/windows ntfs-3g silent,umask=0,locale=fr_FR.utf8 0 0
Many Thanks Mr Szakacsits Szabolcs
Thanks, great tutorial.
When I followed it I had one slight problem with adding fuse to /etc/modules. I put “Fuse”, as it’s states in the article, instead of “fuse”, which meant it didn’t load in the with the other modules at boot up. I just re-edited /etc/modules and enter “fuse”, worked a treat. I’m sure this is just because I’m fairly new to Linux and haven’t done much tinkering with the terminal.
BTW I think this is what caused the problem Ali had.
this works so great, it is nearly unbelivable…
a big thank you goes to the developers of the ntfs-project for their great work!!
To Alexander – The developers of NTFS-3G do not have 64 bit hardware to write their code for it.
Out of curiousity, why isn’t 64-bit Linux supported? Is it in progress? Does it use Wine in some way?
I nic,
I will be really happy to know how did you get it running on 64 bit environnement.
Did you use a chroot or did you simply do nothing.
givré
You should really add a printable version to this site!
I’ve got it working on my 64bit version of SUSE 10.1
Couldn’t mount device ‘/dev/sda2′: Operation not supported
Windows did not shut down properly. Try to mount volume in windows, shut down and try again.
Mount failed.
Apparently you must shut down windowz which I never do as it takes to freakin long to boot. I generally just suspend-to-disk as a resume takes a lot less time then a full boot.
If you are using a custom kernel then FUSE support may not be enabled in the kernel, and you’ll need more than just libfuse. If you get ‘fusermount: failed to open /dev/fuse: No such file or directory’, you probably don’t have the kernel module.
Just download the FUSE source package from fuse.sourceforge.net, compile (./configure ; make ; make install) and your module is set to modprobe (modprobe fuse). (Don’t forget your kernel source, headers, and compiler!)
And for dapper, the full HowTo is there http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=217009 ;)
load fuse before : modprobe fuse
Hi
When did like what you said and it worked but when I resart it is not mounted, when I try to mount I get this:
$ sudo ntfs-3g /dev/hda5 /winhome
Password:
fusermount: failed to open /dev/fuse: No such file or directory
fuse_mount failed.
Unmounting /dev/hda5 (HOME)
please help.
“so the people using 62 bit distro’s are out of luck.”
I know anyone reading this know what you meant, but it is 64 bit.
PS. NTFS support, w00t!
“Previously it was only possible to read from NTFS drives.”
You’ve forgotten about Captive NTFS and Paragon. While not perfect, they did allow reading and writing to an NTFS drive under Linux.