Windows NTFS Partitions Read/write support made easy in Ubuntu Feisty
Posted by admin on April 5th, 2007 
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Current Stable 0.5.5
Project Home page :- http://flomertens.free.fr/ntfs-config/
Requirements
windows with Feisty dual-boot installation and external hard drive (Optional)
Install NTFS-config in Ubuntu Feisty
Now You can install NTFS-config from Ubuntu Feisty repositories
sudo apt-get install ntfs-config
This will install all the required packages for ntfs-config including ntfs-3g
Using Ntfs-Config
If you want to open this application go to Applications—>System Tools—>NTFS Configuration Tool
Now it will prompt for root password enter root password and click ok
It will show the available NTFS partition as follows in this example /dev/sda1 in NTFS partition
You need to select the partitions you want to configure,add the name of the mount point and click on apply.In this example i have ticked the check box next to /dev/sda1 and click under mount enter the name you want to use i have entered as windows now the mount point showing as /media/windows and click on apply.
Select the NTFS Write support which is suitable for you i.e internal or external
In this example i have tick the check box next to Enable write support for internal device because i am using dualboot with windows.If you are using external hard drive select external option and click on ok
Once it finished you should see the mount point on your desktop as follows
You can see the windows mount point files as follows
If you want to unmount you should be root to unmount and then right click on mount point select Unmount Volume
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April 6th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
thanks a lot
April 6th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Great article for the most part.
In the seventh step though, you advice being root to unmount via the desktop as shown in the screenshot. This is not advised! You can alt+f2 and run gksudo umount /dev/sda1 or whatever your /dev of the ntfs drive is, but won’t sudo kick in when you try to unmount from the desktop icon as a normal user?
April 24th, 2007 at 6:22 am
hi, i used ntfs-3g before on edgy, i could mount and unmount as normal user. but in feisty i can’t do it. know why?thanks..
April 28th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Thanks for the tip/overview on how to do this - here’s one for you… ‘Windows’ is spelt wrong in the title of the page
Regards
Matthew
April 28th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
thanks matthew i have corrected that now
May 1st, 2007 at 12:11 pm
I just started with Ubuntu: Feisty Fawn a couple of days ago (complete n00b). When I connected my external NTFS harddisk (via USB) it mounted automatically. I haven’t installed NTFS-config manually, so does that mean that it is part of the standard installation? Or is it because I connected it with USB?
PS My first entry in a non-windows forum! Started with Linux Slackware nine years ago, but couldn’t get it to work properly, so I stopped. But now I got Ubuntu to work I can finally stop using XP
May 2nd, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Creat job! Thank you
May 3rd, 2007 at 1:35 am
I never get a screen for drive detection because one of my two drives fails to (re)mount:
$MFTMirr does not match $MFT (record 0).
Failed to mount '/dev/disk/by-uuid/8610670D10670391': Input/output error
NTFS is inconsistent. Run chkdsk /f on Windows then reboot it TWICE!
The usage of the /f parameter is very IMPORTANT! No modification was
made to NTFS by this software.
Then I: [apt-get remove ntfs-config] and did a reboot which did not fix the drive mounting error. I then re-installed through automatix - same error appears - then uninstall through automatix. But now re-start allows me read-only on the faulting drive.
I don’t have a working copy of windows on this computer though. Any suggestions?
May 3rd, 2007 at 6:56 am
hey there..
i get this screen when I’ve typed in the command line:
buhl@bsb:~$ sudo apt-get install ntfs-config
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
E: Couldn’t find package ntfs-config
I don’t know what went wrong?
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:12 am
@buhl
you need to make sure you have enables universe,multiverse repositories in /etc/apt/sources.list file and then update the source list
sudo apt-get update
and now try to install
May 6th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
I think I figured out my error (from above). My ntfs partition is huge - like 163 gb huge. I recall a limit for max size of like 120 gb.
May 8th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Hi.
I am using kubuntu Feisty. I have an external (usb) 2.5 hdd and a partition on it is nfts. when i try to mount the ntfs partition, i get
“hal-storage-removable-mount-all-options refused uid 1000″
any ideas? thanks in advance!
May 9th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Yeah, a really great program, although ntfs-3g worked like a charm on edgy.
Thanks for the tip!
May 9th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Tip for kde users: to be able to run the program from the menu, edit the item and chage gksu to kdesu
May 9th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
I can mount the same physical drive sda using the above method, however when trying to mount a second sdb it will not allow me to mount. I can however manually mount/umount just fine (although not in rwx).
Feisty Fawn
ntfs-3g
2.6.20-15-generic #2 SMP (64 AMD) Dual core
Am I missing anything here….
May 10th, 2007 at 4:13 am
Brill, mate. Absolutely brill!
Thanks a million for that!
Now, I can throw dratted Windows out of the window. 
May 14th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Hi guys,
NTFS works beautifully for me. Only problem is it always ask for the password. Is there anyway to by pass this? I have all my data in an ntfs partition which is shared between feisty and xp. So as you can imagine, untill I enter the password, Amarok starves without songs, Open office cannot find any of my docs and simply my system paralyses! Any ideas?
May 17th, 2007 at 7:54 am
many many thanks
May 17th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Will this work with Kubuntu-Feisty?
May 17th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
yes it should work in kubuntu feisty also
May 27th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Hi! Nice Guide.
I have the same problem as Larry. While my first ntfs partition 30 GB (on the same hd with ubuntu) gives me read/write permission, the other one 250 GB (on a separate hd) doesn’t give me write permission. About the max size of 120GB that Larry mentioned, I read some posts on ntfs-3g forum that speak about TB!!!.
So, before trying re-partioning & splitting has anynone a clue about the actual max size of ntfs partitions? Or is it any configuration that I have to make to solve the problem?
Thx
May 27th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Doesn’t work for me at all in feisty. When I try to mound /media/windows it says “/media/windows contains an invalid character. you must choose a name, not a directory.”
Then it happily goes to the next page for enabling write support but the internal drive is grayed out.
I tried creating the windows directory under /media but I get the same error. Glad it worked for some but I’ll just go back to the fairly simple manual method outlined in the Unofficial Ubuntu Guide: http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#How_to_Mount_NTFS_Partitions
May 28th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
I just tried to install on kUbuntu feisty using the standard package manager. It appeared to install with no problems and shows as a menu item under “System”, but when I select it nothing happens.
Any suggestions?
May 29th, 2007 at 12:50 am
@JimM
Paulie’s entry from above:-
“Tip for kde users: to be able to run the program from the menu, edit the item and chage gksu to kdesu”
May 30th, 2007 at 2:06 am
If I delete a file from my NTFS drive, will it go to some “trash” directory or will it be permanently deleted?
thanks in advance,
- Jaime
June 1st, 2007 at 4:45 am
In Response to Larry’s Comment on May 3rd. There is a really great program called BART PE. Which is a bootable windows Pre-installation environment CD which can be used to run chkdsk /f as instructed. This saved me from a physical drive failure once. This should solve the problem on the drive so that Linux will be willing to mount it.
You will need a working windows system to create this CD.
Good Luck.
September 20th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
RE: Jaime
When I delete a file on my NTFS from Ubuntu, it creates a trash file on the NTFS and puts the file in it. Don’t know if this will change by configuring the trash bin on Ubuntu to delete instead of trash. It’s like when you delete something on another partition using windows, and it creates a recycle bin on that partition. I had to log into the windows partition and show hidden files to see it.
September 20th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Can some one tell me how to stop my Ubuntu from auto mounting my windows partition? I’ve read a few things about how to make it automount but nothing about how to stop it, and still allow me to use sudo to mount. I don’t want other users to see it. I just want to use “sudo mount” and “sudo unmount” (I mean umount, don’t know where the logic is in removing the “n” from unmount but oh well.) from my user account. I know how to do that but at reboot or startup, it automounts so every user can see it.
September 20th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
This is very similar to the problem with windows where so many people just use the admin account as their regular account. Until I can figure out all of the sudo commands, I have to keep going back and forth between my user account and root so I had to allow root login from the welcome screen.
October 1st, 2007 at 3:35 pm
I also get the grayed out internal box (but external is okay). No password prompt, but the mounted NTFS drive is read only. Apparently i dont have the ability to change it in properties, but there is only one login.. (just switched to ubuntu 2 days ago from winxp…so i’m still very new)
thanks for any help!
February 6th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Format partition with ext3 and use ext3 windows driver (search google) in windows 2000/XP.
Works great..
Just don’t make it system/boot windows partiton. use fat32 for that.
This way all your drivers are read/write accessible from both linux and windows.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Good!
Thanks!
May 20th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
thanks!!!
May 26th, 2008 at 9:28 am
hi
i followed the how to and did install ntfs-config
but when i open NTFS Configuration tool , its asks for password after i type in , it shows enable write for internal /external –the 5 th image you showed , it doesnt show me the available drives , any suggestions ??
June 19th, 2008 at 3:03 am
Hi.. i had installed ntgs-config,ntfs-3g and ntfs-progs on my ubuntu 7.04. i also have windows vista installed on c drive.
Before the c drive used to get mounted automatically and i could cut and delete its files but i don’t know what happened now i have to mount it as su and that too its read only.
the d drive that contains my recovery data is aceessible. Is the problem because ‘windows’ is installed in c drive??..
Also I can’t change the permissions as “its a read-only disc”.
…!!!Please help!!!…
June 19th, 2008 at 3:08 am
PS also when i click on application>>system tools>>ntfs config tools i am NOT asked for any password and i directly get that “enable write support for internal/external device” window.
PS earlier also i the c drive would get mounted as “sda3″ and not as any “Windows” drive.
I am quite new to linux and i’m not sure what to do….