# External drive with ntfs-3g/fuse - problem mounting as user

## agent_jdh

Hi,

Got an external caddy for a 40GB drive I had lying about, ideally I'd like to be able to use it rw in both Windows and Linux.

Only reasonable solution seems to be ntfs-3g/fuse combination.

Emerge'd ntfs-3g which pulled in fuse, added /etc/init.d/fuse to default runlevel, as it's an external drive, I don't want it to mount at boot, just when I power the drive on.

Edited /etc/fstab a per the instructions, and it can mount as root, also edited /etc/fuse.conf and added user_allow_other so I can mount it under my normal account (or rather, hal/dbus will automount it under KDE when I power the drive on).  Getting this error message when I try to mount as normal user -

 *Quote:*   

> fusermount: option blkdev is privileged
> 
> Failed to create FUSE mount point.
> 
> Retry to create FUSE mount point ...
> ...

 

Trying to mount on /media/Portable (the disk was formatted under XP with the name Portable).  /etc/fstab line looks like this-

```
/dev/sdb1               /media/Portable ntfs-3g rw,noauto,locale=en_GB.utf8,gid=6,umask=002,user 0 0
```

Anyone know how I can it to mount from my user account (gid=6 is the disk group, my user a/c is in that group)?

----------

## but4er

same problem, probably broken fuse

 :Sad: 

----------

## agent_jdh

 *but4er wrote:*   

> same problem, probably broken fuse
> 
> 

 

Looking through the fuse changelog's on its website, the priviliged blockdev thing seems deliberate.

----------

## lindegur

I run ntfs3g for quite a while but now after some updates it failed with the same error messages.

ntfs3g is not marked as stable, additionally it depends on certain versions of fuse.

Finally I found a combination that works

sys-fs/ntfs3g-0.20061031  

sys-fs/fuse-2.6.0

/etc/portage/package.keywords 

 :Laughing: 

----------

## irgu

 *lindegur wrote:*   

> sys-fs/ntfs3g-0.20061031  
> 
> 

 

Only the latest ntfs-3g safe during umount, and the fix required the partition being mounted as root. But I hope this won't be needed in the future versions.

----------

## agent_jdh

 *lindegur wrote:*   

> I run ntfs3g for quite a while but now after some updates it failed with the same error messages.
> 
> ntfs3g is not marked as stable, additionally it depends on certain versions of fuse.
> 
> Finally I found a combination that works
> ...

 

Thanks, will look into this.

----------

## Bitspyer

Also works for me...

THANKS!!!!!!!   :Very Happy: 

----------

## agent_jdh

Yay!  New ntfs-3g dated 20070118 supports user(s) option in /etc/fstab for non-root mounting if you emerge it with the suid USE flag.  Confirmed works here.

----------

## gentunian

 *Quote:*   

> Yay! New ntfs-3g dated 20070118 supports user(s) option in /etc/fstab for non-root mounting if you emerge it with the suid USE flag. Confirmed works here.

 

It worked for me too. Without the 'suid' in the USE flag doesnt work, and with the flag 'suid' in the USE variabe yes. 

But, what about this?:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
>  * You have chosen to install ntfs3g with the binary setuid root. This
> 
>  * means that if there any undetected vulnerabilities in the binary,
> ...

 

I mean, is there other kind of solution without exposing the system like that?

----------

## irgu

 *gentunian wrote:*   

> But, what about this?:
> 
>  *Quote:*   
> 
>  * You have chosen to install ntfs3g with the binary setuid root. This
> ...

 

No because FUSE requires root. However ntfs-3g drops the root privilege after mount,  so it's much more secure then any other in-kernel filesystems. 

Of course you should also set the ntfs-3g file permissions so that only the trusted users have execution ability.

----------

