nemo and caja says vfat/fat32 usb flash drive are read-only - not so...

[Jim Coleman]

Running Linux Mint 15 "olivia" / Cinnamon 64-bit

I cannot copy files to vfat/fat32-formatted USB flash drives using nemo file manager. Nemo always reports drives are read-only but they aren't.

Failed with 2 different vfat/fat32 drives... I can read and write to the drives perfectly via terminal and I've confirmed there aren't any any funky permissions issues. Can also access read-write from Windows 7. Ext4-formatted usb drives are fine.

Have reformatted the drives both from within Linux Mint and Windows 7, makes no difference. Nemo still says drives are read only. Drives were read-write under Linux Mint 14.

me@mymachine:~$ mount | grep media
/dev/sdb1 on /media/me/5C64-700A type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,uid=1000,gid=1000,shortname=mixed,dmask=0077,utf8=1,showexec,flush,uhelper=udisks2)

[Sergey A. Borshch (sb-sf)]

Same issue here

[Barry Rueger (barry-rueger)]

I'll also call this a bug. I've got a couple of USB drives that have been formatted as FAT using the included Gnome Disks app https://wiki.gnome.org/Design/Apps/Disks.

Mint 15 Cinnamon 64 bit

What I expect: that after formatting a USB drive I can copy files to and from it.

What happens: if I attempt to copy a file to the drive an error pops up:

Error while copying to "New Volume"
The designation is read-only.

In order to move files to the formatted USB drive I need to open Nemo is SU mode.

1) When a drive is formatted it should be accessible to the user that is formatting it, not just to root.
2) The formatting tools included (in "Disks" app) should include an option to select the level of permissions to be applied.
3) There should be some reasonably obvious route that will allow a user to change the ownership and/or permissions on a USB drive.

[Gabriel_P (gabp)]

Same as Barry above. Amazingly frustrating not being able to perform such a simple task.

[Francesco Galgani (francesco-galgani)]

I confirm the bug on Linux Mint 16 Petra Cinnamon 64bit.
A just formatted usb stick, appears as read-only on nemo (?!), but I can copy files from terminal.

/dev/sdb1 on /media/francesco/PENNA USB type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,uid=1000,gid=1000,shortname=mixed,dmask=0077,utf8=1,showexec,flush,uhelper=udisks2)

[Gabriel Diosan (gabsd84)]

I have the same issue:

USB Hard Drive connected through a caddy, Nemo claims that the drive is read only and therefore can not copy files to it. Copying files through the terminal works fine and the drive is not read only when checking its permissions via terminal.

Linux Mint 16 Cinnamon 64Bit.

[Myk Robinson (myk-robinson-kingdomcomputer)]

Same problem on LM16 64bit Cinnamon edition. Everything has been working fine since initial install some months ago. As of yesterday, I am no longer able to write to ANY usb drive, whether it be NTFS of VFAT. I can from terminal as the regular user or with sudo privileges. Tried a few things from the forum but can't seem to get it repaired. Would hate to have to do a reinstall over something this simple...

Granted, its nice to know I can copy or rsync in terminal, but what about new(er) users who don't know how to use the terminal?

I tried creating the udev rule as specified here:
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=34951

no luck.

little help?

thanks

[Greg (cebif)]

The same bug is still present in Mint 17.

[Greg (cebif)]

I plugged my USB stick into another computer and found I could write to it there. This is not the computer I formatted it on. I then unplugged and plugged into the first computer where I had originally formatted it. It became wrietable in this computer as well. Both computers are running Mint 17. The only difference been hardware.
The computer 1 hardware is where it was formatted. I will add attachments for computer 1 and 2 hardware devices.

[Jean-Francois Moulin (jean-francois-moulin-b)]

Same problem for me as of today. On a new Mint 17 Cinnamon Install.
I am almost positive I was able to write to usb drives from nemo in the last two days. Now I am no longer.
When checking the properties, the usb drive appears as mounted for root.
from the command line I can read and write...

[Ciprian Tomoiaga (cipri.tom)]

I believe we cannot write to it from nemo because it doesn't mount with the correct permission settings. If you look under permissions, you'll see only the owner has permisions, whereas the group has none. That's why you can copy to it from command line but not from nemo.

I believe the problem is addressed here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/17540/how-do-i-set-executable-permissions-on-a-removable-drive/17550#17550

However, on LM17 Cinnamon, that file doesn't exist and creating it makes no difference. Does anyone know where the similar file is?

[Barry Rueger (barry-rueger)]

Just installed Mint 17 Cinnamon. Same problem.

Formatted a USB drive using the right click menu in Nemo.

Accepted the FAT32 defaults for everything.

Find that I can't actually use it as it's "Read Only".

This is seriously idiotic. If I, as a regular non-SU user format the damned thing, then I, as a regular non-SU user, should be able to write a file to it.

It's insane that I need to open Nemo as SU in order to just copy a file onto a USB stick.

This bug has been here since more than year ago - probably longer.

Can we PLEASE get it fixed?

[Spetsnaz (paul-praet)]

Yes, this is really an annoying problem !

[Constantine (iamvfx)]

The year is 2014 and we still can't format USB stick. Sigh.

[Greg (cebif)]

I am now able to write to a USB stick after installing kernel 3.13.0-36 in Linux Mint 17. I tried before installing with kernel 3.13.0-24. It did not work there. There are a few kernels in between. I am not certain where it was fixed. Fixed at least for me.

[Barry Rueger (barry-rueger)]

Still running 3.13.0-24. I think I'll leave the jump to -36 until I'm not doing critical work.

Fortunately writing files to USB is not "critical." :)

OTOH - really impressed that you can update kernels from the regular update manager.

[Greg (cebif)]

@Barry Rueger, you should be able to use synaptic to update your kernel if you are using Mint 17.

[Greg (cebif)]

It has stopped working for me "I am now able to write to a USB stick after installing kernel 3.13.0-36 ". It must have been some updates that bought back the bug. In that comment #16, I had just reinstalled Linux Mint 17 and updated the kernel because I tried PCBSD and PCLinux.

[Greg (cebif)]

It has started working again for me after some more updates I received yesterday October 7. In /tmp/mintUpdate/ according to file "F7pqnz" , these updates were installed:
++ Found 8 recommended software updates
++ Refresh finished
++ Install requested by user
++ Will install bsdutils
++ Will install libblkid1
++ Will install libmount1
++ Will install libuuid1
++ Will install libuuid1:i386
++ Will install mount
++ Will install util-linux
++ Will install uuid-runtime
++ Ready to launch synaptic

(synaptic:14219): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_hide: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
++ Return code:0
++ Install finished

[ddreamer (ddreamer)]

I am running Archlinux with kernel 3.17.6 and using Cinnamon 2.4.5 with Nemo 2.4.4. It's too bad that the bug has persisted for so long. It is just the bug with Nemo, which is showing improper permission error message even though the permission setting is alright. The alright permission setting is evidenced by the successful running of "cp" command.

[immortel (immortel32)]

I'm having this problem with Mint 17.1 . The kernel is 3.13.0-37-generic.

I don't think it is the kernel because I can write on the USB drive with a terminal but Nemo keeps saying it is in read-only.

[thornyninja (thornyninja)]

I'm having the same problem with Mint 17 using MATE. I have write access from a terminal but not Caja.
I've worked around it by using Midnight Commander (mc in Synaptic).

[Butterfly (kelebek333)]

Check usbmount package for read-only problem.

dpkg -l | grep usbmount

If usbmount installed your system, you can try to remove it.

sudo apt-get purge usbmount

[Michael Härtl (h-mh)]

I can confirm this problem in Linux Mint 17.1 with Kernel 3.13.0-24-generic.

It has nothing to do with mount options or permissions or such, because - as mentioned before - everything works fine on the command line. But nemo doesn't let me write on the stick. Deleting works fine, though.

[Ricardo Cardante (ricardocardante-deactivatedaccount)]

Just experienced the error. Suppose it's an error with kernel 3.13/Nemo.
[SOLVED] I've updated kernel to version 4.0 and problem is finally solved.

[Mason Mouse (masonmouse)]

I just upgraded to Mint 17.2 with Cinnamon 64-bit and kernel 3.16.0-38-generic and I'm getting this error now. But it only occurs on 32G Sandisk Glide sticks. No other USB sticks are having the issue. Reformatting them under Mint had no effect for me either.

[Greg (cebif)]

I am still having the problems in Mint 17.2. It seemed to be fixed for me, with updates to later kernels or updates from update manager but keeps coming back. It is a bit confusing why it keeps been solved then not solved if it has nothing to do with kernels or other updates. I'm not arguing because it probably is nemo where the bug is. Maybe it will work if another file manager is installed. It is just confusing. Surely its about time it was fixed now getting near the end of 2015. If it is confusing for me is it also confusing for programmers? Sure it will be much less.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Eric nevertells (poetfreak)]

Can't believe this bug is still so prevalent and yet hasn't really been looked at. :/
It's definitely Nemo.

[ElTomoLoco (tomaspartl)]

I just ran into it right now with Mint 17.2. I could copy stuff on the usb flash disk with Midnight Commander without using sudo but Nemo refused to do it.

[Yves-Gwenael Bourhis (yves-gwenael-bourhis)]

I confirm this in Linux mint quiana with CAJA (mate desktop) and an NTFS formated USB hard drive.

Now the most weird thing of all is : if I open a terminal anc cd to the mounted folder, I can write anything from command line, permissions show it's writeable and I CAN WRITE using CLI. BUT only CAJA refuses tu write to it and says it's read only.
How can there be a permissions discrepancy between the GUI's file manager and fusermount's (and CLI) permissions which allow writing and show the destination as writeable?

After a reboot the issue disappeared. It's a totaly random issue and hard to reproduce, but it happens from time to time...

Since it's random I can't give info right now, but will next time it happens. Since there is no CLI issue (only pure GUI problem), what kind of logs can I give to help debugging?

[Ryan D (archetyperyan)]

Same problem, running mint 17.2. Essentially, Nemo thinks any USB drive I plug in is read only, regardless of reformatting. However, I can cp from the command line just fine.

While this is a perfectly acceptable workaround, this should be considered a serious problem for the Mint / Ubuntu team. There are already tons of posts about this all over the web, many of them claiming (erroneously) that the drives must have failed, that they need to be formatted, that users should try all sorts of different solutions, etc. If we're going to sell the operating system as "easy, free, and open source" users need to be able to use their flash drives and USB hard-drives without having to resort to the command line. Otherwise, why have the pretty gui and file browser to begin with?

[John Griffiths (9-john-y)]

From a newbie who doesn't think cp, chmod, chown etc is really acceptable
Agree with the comment above:
"The year is 2014 and we still can't format USB stick. Sigh."
Except it's now 2016, I have spent 2 days trying to get this to work, finding posts back to 2003!! about the same problem. It really is a deal breaker for us who have tried to come over from the dark side of XP.

[Yves-Gwenael Bourhis (yves-gwenael-bourhis)]

I don't konw if this may help for the ones who will try to fix this, but:

Since it works in command line, and there are strictly no errors in dmesg, since the device is properly mounted and writable in CLI, it's not a low level issue.

Since the issue is not really desktop dependent meaning that it happens in different ones (mate, xfce, cinamon, gnome), I suspect a messaging issue between mount events and the xsession itsself (dbus? I'm no expert).

It really looks like the GUI's file manager receives wrong permissions by some notification process (deamon) and does not check the real file permissions.

[Barry Rueger (barry-rueger)]

I honestly thought that this had been resolved a year or two back, but find today that it's STILL here!

I cannot fathom how this problem is allowed to exist for years and years. This is just plain stupid.

[W. (wva154)]

Same trouble here on a new 16.04 installation.

Facts are:

* disk image is mounted correctly RW
* CLI and Nautilus respect and allow the RW
* Nemo only allows R

Suggestion - could it have anything todo with the special ACL attributes?
The directory under which the disk image is mounted has a "+" in it's permissions.

joe@pc-joe:/home$ ll -d /media/joe/
drwxr-x---+ 3 root root 4096 Jun 5 07:53 /media/joe/

[Barry Rueger (barry-rueger)]

I cannot believe that this bug still exists this many years after it was reported. I'm running a fresh install of Mint 17.3, and just formatted a USB stick from Nemo.

Yet again, I was then unable to copy files to the stick unless I sudoed into Nemo.

Seriously folks, this is one irritating and longstanding bug.

Nemo 2.87

Mint Linux 17.3 Cinnamon 64 bit.

[Vitaly Dubyna (vettos)]

The same problem in Linux Mint 18. After formatting the usb drive I can't write to it. The same thing with 2 flash drives. The message "The designation is read-only". But they are working on other computers.

[Yves-Gwenael Bourhis (yves-gwenael-bourhis)]

I confirm for linux mint, and also with caja (changed the tittle).
The issue is random, and disappears after a reboot...

I know as a developer that random issues are extremely hard to solve as long as we don't find a way to systematically reproduce it.

[Jeremy David Parsons (ubuntu-jeremyparsons)]

I have the Caja read-only top-level directory problem and I confirm what others have seen for years with an external USB SD card reader but now in September 2016 on Ubuntu-Mate 16.04 including mate 1.12.1. I have attached my xsession errors in case there is a clue there. The last line had a g-io-error-quark. No problems with command line moves or copies.

[Elad Hen (eladhen2)]

This bug affects me.

inxi -Fz:

System: Host: UX305FA Kernel: 4.4.0-45-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 2.8.8 Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
Machine: Mobo: ASUSTeK model: UX305FA v: 1.0
           Bios: American Megatrends v: UX305FA.211 date: 07/02/2015
CPU: Dual core Intel Core M-5Y10c (-HT-MCP-) cache: 4096 KB
           clock speeds: max: 2000 MHz 1: 1264 MHz 2: 1299 MHz 3: 1195 MHz
           4: 1259 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics
           Display Server: X.Org 1.17.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.0hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 5300 (Broadwell GT2)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.5.9
Audio: Card-1 Intel Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel
           Card-2 Intel Broadwell-U Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-45-generic
Network: Card: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 272.1GB (64.3% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: SanDisk_SD7SN3Q2 size: 256.1GB
           ID-2: USB /dev/sdb model: Cruzer_Blade size: 16.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 227G used: 156G (73%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 8.49GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 44.0C mobo: 27.8C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 25500
Info: Processes: 213 Uptime: 2 days Memory: 3807.2/7411.8MB
           Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.2.28