[tlug] Mysterious change of Windows files to read-only file system

[Charles Muller <acmuller@example.com>]

I have been running a dual-boot system with Debian-Etch and Windows XP 
for some time now, within which an odd problem has recently arisen.

Basically, up to now, I have had full working access in Linux to all 
of my files in the FAT32 areas--not just for editing, but archiving, 
synchronizing, etc. Recently, however, for reasons I have unable to 
determine, when I try to edit or manipulate files in the FAT32/Windows 
areas, I get "read-only file system" error messages.

But according ls -al, and according to the settings in /etc/fstab, 
these file systems are *not* read-only, and I should be able to work 
with them. Sometimes, when I re-boot, I will have access to these file 
systems for a short time, and then they will change to read-only, and 
then sometimes (like at this moment) I will have no access at all.

I have try to change this by doing such things as

root# chmod -R +w /mnt/win_d

...but this will still generate errors such as "cannot change 
read-only file system."

Given the fact that I have not made any changes in my Linux system, 
other than the regular Debian upgrades, I am wondering if it might be 
possible that there has been some sort of XP security update that is 
responsible for this?

Or, in any case, are there any recommendations as to how I might begin 
to try to track this down? Below I am pasting in the contents of 
directory information under / and /mnt as well as /etc/fstab

TIA,

Chuck

1. Root directory

chuck@example.com:/$ ls -al
drwxr-xr-x    4 root  root   4096 2006-01-26 00:21 home
drwxr-xr-x    2 root  root   4096 2006-01-25 23:58 initrd
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root  root     28 2006-01-26 00:02 initrd.img -> 
boot/initrd.img-2             .6.12-1-686
drwxr-xr-x   16 root  root   4096 2006-01-25 17:46 lib
drwxr-xr-x    2 root  root  49152 2006-01-25 23:54 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x    5 root  root   4096 2006-01-25 23:54 media
drwxr-xr-x    7 chuck chuck  1024 2006-01-25 15:22 mnt
drwxr-xr-x    2 root  root   4096 2006-01-25 23:58 opt
dr-xr-xr-x  106 root  root      0 2006-01-31 00:28 proc
drwxr-xr-x   11 root  root   4096 2006-01-25 17:53 root
drwxr-xr-x    2 root  root   4096 2006-01-27 15:49 sbin
drwxr-xr-x    2 root  root   4096 2006-01-25 23:58 srv
drwxr-xr-x   10 root  root      0 2006-01-31 00:28 sys
drwxrwxrwt   12 root  root   4096 2006-01-30 15:43 tmp
drwxr-xr-x   11 root  root   4096 2006-01-25 15:24 usr
drwxr-xr-x   14 root  root   4096 2006-01-25 17:49 var
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root  root     25 2006-01-26 00:02 vmlinuz -> 
boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-


2. Mnt directory (despite the permissions you see /mnt/usbdrv is 
presently unwritable from Linux, even as root).


chuck@example.com:/mnt$ ls -al
drwxr-xr-x   7 chuck chuck  1024 2006-01-25 15:22 .
drwxr-xr-x  21 root  root   4096 2006-01-30 16:02 ..
drwxr-xr-x   2 root  root  12288 2006-01-25 23:54 lost+found
drwxrwxrwx   8 chuck chuck 32768 2006-01-30 15:31 usbdrv
drwxr-xr-x   2 chuck chuck  1024 2006-01-25 15:22 win_c
drwxr-xr-x   6 chuck chuck 16384 1970-01-01 09:00 win_d
drwxr-xr-x   2 chuck chuck  1024 2006-01-25 15:22 win_e


3. mnt/usbdrv directory, which is usually the target of all of my 
backups and archives.

chuck@example.com:/mnt/usbdrv$ ls -al
total 3584801
drwxrwxrwx   8 chuck chuck      32768 2006-01-30 15:31 .
drwxr-xr-x   7 chuck chuck       1024 2006-01-25 15:22 ..
drwxrwxrwx   8 chuck chuck      32768 2006-01-30 15:35 backups
drwxrwxrwx   4 chuck chuck      32768 2006-01-10 19:24 clevo
dr-xr-xr-x   3 chuck chuck      32768 2005-12-05 12:52 MSOCache
drwxrwxrwx  34 chuck chuck      32768 2005-11-15 18:30 Recycled
drwxrwxrwx   6 chuck chuck      32768 2005-11-12 18:44 System Volume 
Information
-rwxrwxrwx   1 chuck chuck 2135915958 2006-01-29 17:28 xp-basic.img.000
-rwxrwxrwx   1 chuck chuck 1428175311 2006-01-29 17:37 xp-basic.img.001



FSTAB

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
/dev/hda7       /               ext3    defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 
      1
/dev/hda8       /home           ext3    defaults        0       2
/dev/hda9       /mnt            ext3    defaults        0       2
/dev/hda10      none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/hdc        /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0
/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto  0       0
/dev/sda        /media/usb0     auto    rw,user,noauto  0       0
/dev/hda1	/mnt/win_c	vfat 
noauto,users,uid=chuck,gid=chuck,exec,umask=000 0 0
/dev/hda5	/mnt/win_d	vfat	auto,user,uid=chuck,gid=chuck 0 0
/dev/hda6	/mnt/win_e	vfat 
noauto,users,uid=chuck,gid=chuck,exec,umask=000 0 0
/dev/sda1       /mnt/usbdrv     vfat 
auto,users,uid=chuck,gid=chuck,exec,umask=000 0 0










---------------------------
Charles Muller

Toyo Gakuen University
Faculty of Humanities
1660 Hiregasaki, Nagareyama-shi
Chiba 270-0161 JAPAN
Mobile Phone: 090-9310-1787

Web Site: Resources for East Asian Language and Thought
http://www.acmuller.net

<acmuller[at]jj.em-net.ne.jp>