[solved] Unable to unmount USB Disk/Stick as user (hal/dbus)

Message

Attila · Post by **Attila** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 7:41 am

Hiho,

I trie to use the hal/dbus "features" of kde to mount/unmount via KDE as normal user. So i set hal in my USE-Flags, emerge dbus and hal, add's both into the default runlevel and reemerge using --newuse. I add my user into the plugdev group and tried it ...

So ... mounting my USB Disks & Sticks works fine, but i'm not able to unmount the devices ("Safely Remove") them without the root-account.

I'm searching around for a while, but i can find any hint.

Can anybody help? - I have reproduced this problem on 3 (of 3) gentoo installations (one is a refesh one - installed from scretch a described in the KDE-Install doc).

Atti

Roman_Gruber · Post by **Roman_Gruber** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 8:23 am

whats the output of lsusb and /var/log/messages when you plug in your usb stick?

You should see something like: /dev/sda or sdb or sda1 or sdb2

this is the mountpoint to mount your device.

If not I would look first in the kernel configs and recompile with the proper settings.

Attila · Post by **Attila** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 10:38 am

Hiho,

Mounting works without a problem - i just can't unmount it as user.

Code: Select all

$ lsusb
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 05e3:0760 Genesys Logic, Inc. Card Reader
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0ea0:2168 Ours Technology, Inc. Transcend JetFlash 2.0 / Astone USB Drive
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Code: Select all

$ cat /var/log/vereything/current
Mar 31 12:31:33 [kernel] usb 3-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4
Mar 31 12:31:33 [kernel] usb 3-2: Product: Flash Disk
Mar 31 12:31:33 [kernel] usb 3-2: Manufacturer: USB
Mar 31 12:31:33 [kernel] usb 3-2: SerialNumber: 241F1E405AA6619F
Mar 31 12:31:33 [kernel] usb 3-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Mar 31 12:31:33 [kernel] scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Mar 31 12:31:38 [kernel] scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access     VMAX     128MB            2.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Mar 31 12:31:39 [kernel] ready
Mar 31 12:31:39 [kernel] SCSI device sda: 256000 512-byte hdwr sectors (131 MB)
Mar 31 12:31:39 [kernel] sda: Write Protect is off
Mar 31 12:31:39 [kernel] sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Mar 31 12:31:39 [kernel] SCSI device sda: 256000 512-byte hdwr sectors (131 MB)
Mar 31 12:31:39 [kernel] sda: Write Protect is off
Mar 31 12:31:39 [kernel] sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Mar 31 12:31:39 [kernel] sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sda
Mar 31 12:31:39 [kernel] sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0

When i plug in a Desktop-Icon apperars! - Now i right-click on the icon and "Mount" it - everything fine.

Now i try to unmount it (Right-Click->Safely Remove) - nothing happens. I notice that i did not have the choice "unmount" in the context-menu as on the CDRom (which is a "normal" device, which i put into the fstab).

Then i mount or try to unmount ("Safely Remove") - no messages appear in the syslog. When i try to unmount it via commandline:

Code: Select all

umount: /media/disk-1 is not in the fstab (and you are not root)

Sure, this is logical for me.

Is there any Howto for those things?

Atti

Attila · Post by **Attila** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 7:07 pm

Hiho,

OKay, i've solved it by try & error!

I emerge pmount and everything is fine. STrange that thare is no hint in any FAQ or Howto i found on Gentoo.

To make a short overview what i've done to enable Mounting USB Devices in KDE as normal user:

- set USE flag "hal" (i think this is already done in the "desktop"-Profile, but i put it into the make.conf to be sure)
- emerge hal & dbus (already emerged on my system, but sure is sure

)
- "rc-update add dbus default"
- "rc-update add hald default"
- emerge pmount
- Enabling the device-Icons in the kde (Control Center->Desktop->Behavior->Device Icons)
- Plug in a USB-Stick and have fun!

Atti

Bobnoxous · Post by **Bobnoxous** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:32 pm

Thanks for providing the fix. I'm having trouble unmounting my USB stick (it mounts fine). I'm emerging pmount now, so hopefully that fixes it.

trawler · Post by **trawler** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 9:18 pm

Attila wrote: OKay, i've solved it by try & error!
I emerge pmount and everything is fine.

Wow, thank you so very much for this thread - I've looked everywhere for a solution and couldn't find anything, but your solution did the trick instantly!
Good job, and thanks!

VinzC · Post by **VinzC** » Wed May 09, 2007 7:12 pm

May I take the opportunity to ask why on earth pmount is needed for just unmounting plugable devices although KDE alone succeeds in mounting them? Is it a bug in KDE/HAL/DBus?

(I've run into the same situation and your post sure helped - thanks a lot. However I can't be satisfied as I'm puzzled.)

albright · Post by **albright** » Wed May 09, 2007 7:24 pm

at the risk of muddying the waters, I have no trouble mounting
and unmounting usb sticks/drives etc. and I do NOT have
pmount installed.

I think there is another problem lurking here (are you sure you
have the right kde services running?).

VinzC · Post by **VinzC** » Wed May 09, 2007 8:14 pm

albright wrote:at the risk of muddying the waters, I have no trouble mounting
and unmounting usb sticks/drives etc. and I do NOT have
pmount installed.

I do believe you as I have another KDE machine which unmounts fine without pmount... But I didn't want to pour gas where water is needed

.

albright wrote:I think there is another problem lurking here (are you sure you
have the right kde services running?).

I wish I knew which ones...

janiskr · Post by **janiskr** » Wed May 09, 2007 8:56 pm

i changed some udev rules, as result i have mounting and unmounting working very well

dunno if it is good solution but works like a charm

VinzC · Post by **VinzC** » Wed May 09, 2007 9:06 pm

janiskr wrote:i changed some udev rules, as result i have mounting and unmounting working very well

dunno if it is good solution but works like a charm

Look, I like that way as I perceive the current evolution of plugable devices to be independent from fstab. What are the rules that you have changed and what are these changes?

Bobnoxous · Post by **Bobnoxous** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:18 pm

My setup still isn't working quite right, but I've worked around it. When I stick in a USB device, I can see it in rhythmbox, but if I just drag files over, the files get corrupted. I'll start to play a file, and it'll suddenly switch to an old file, as if the complete file didn't get written. Strange. And, I cannot unmount the device in rhythmbox.

But, if I mount the flash manually, remove old files and add new ones, and then unmount it, it works fine, so it only seems to be a problem when it's "mounted" automagically by rhythmbox, or whatever it is that actually handles accessing the device. I just don't know enough of what goes on underneath to troubleshoot this.

VinzC · Post by **VinzC** » Thu May 24, 2007 8:25 am

Bobnoxous wrote:My setup still isn't working quite right, but I've worked around it. When I stick in a USB device, I can see it in rhythmbox, but if I just drag files over, the files get corrupted. I'll start to play a file, and it'll suddenly switch to an old file, as if the complete file didn't get written. Strange. And, I cannot unmount the device in rhythmbox.

But, if I mount the flash manually, remove old files and add new ones, and then unmount it, it works fine, so it only seems to be a problem when it's "mounted" automagically by rhythmbox, or whatever it is that actually handles accessing the device. I just don't know enough of what goes on underneath to troubleshoot this.

You could run fuser -m <path to the mount point of your USB drive> to see which process uses files on the drive. Typically, used files prevent any mounted filesystem from being dismounted.