USB devices is not being automounted after connect it

[JrBenito]

Hi

I updated from 8.04 as soon as 8.10 become available and now updated from 8.10 to 9.04. After update finishes the USB devices stopped to automount. Since this worked pretty well on late releases this should be a regression. My machine is a HP nv2225nr Notebook (AMD64 X2).

Steps to reproduce:

-login
-insert a USB device like pen drive or a SD Card (my notebook has a ricoh card reader).

Expected results:

-The device shall be mounted as in Ubuntu 8.10

Actual results:

-No device is mount
-Device is listed in the "Places" menu but clicking on it does not mount the device
-Dmesg shows normal USB device connection
-A manual mount (as root) works fine (without the goods from a automount to a normal user who has no access to root)

The logs suggested on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingRemovableDevices are attached.

---------------------
root@bisonho:~/log# ck-list-sessions
Session6:
 unix-user = '0'
 realname = 'root'
 seat = 'Seat6'
 session-type = ''
 active = FALSE
 x11-display = ''
 x11-display-device = ''
 display-device = '/dev/pts/0'
 remote-host-name = ''
 is-local = TRUE
 on-since = '2009-04-28T22:14:45.255742Z'
 login-session-id = '4294967295'
 idle-since-hint = '2009-04-29T00:55:32.012213Z'
Session2:
 unix-user = '1000'
 realname = 'Josenivaldo Benito Junior,,,,'
 seat = 'Seat2'
 session-type = ''
 active = FALSE
 x11-display = ':0'
 x11-display-device = '/dev/tty7'
 display-device = ''
 remote-host-name = ''
 is-local = TRUE
 on-since = '2009-04-28T22:02:09.100916Z'
 login-session-id = '4294967295'
Session14:
 unix-user = '0'
 realname = 'root'
 seat = 'Seat14'
 session-type = ''
 active = FALSE
 x11-display = ''
 x11-display-device = ''
 display-device = '/dev/pts/1'
 remote-host-name = ''
 is-local = TRUE
 on-since = '2009-04-28T22:41:10.668470Z'
 login-session-id = '4294967295'

----------------------------
id haldaemon
uid=111(haldaemon) gid=123(haldaemon) groups=123(haldaemon)

----------------------------
uname -a
Linux bisonho 2.6.28-11-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17 01:58:03 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[comintern (brent-mckibbin)]

I have the exact same problem in 8.04 (I think it started after the last hal update, but I'm not sure). Also, CD media will not mount -- the only media I can mount are the ones in fstab. My logs are attached as well.

[luca_ing (luca-ingianni)]

I, too, see this as a regression form 8.10.

I'm using a 9.04 fresh install, and none of my USB devices automount anymore even though this worked flawlessly in 8.10. Behaviour is exaclty as described by the original reporter.

I've attached the requested logs.

[Rich Carroll (rc-palos)]

I also reported this in bug report Bug #372496. My bug report is still open, and I believe the two bugs are so similar that mine is actually a duplicate. I'll keep following this bug report also. I have another friend that this is happening to also, but he refuses to fill out a bug report. My wife's Ubuntu 9.04 and my son's Ubuntu 9.04 work well, and do recognize USB sticks when inserted.

[JrBenito (jrbenito)]

Rick,

Thanks for collaborate.

Feels here the information about machines that are working. The developers
can cross information to find out what is going wrong.

Thanks again.

Regards.
Benito

On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 7:59 PM, Rich Carroll <email address hidden> wrote:

> I also reported this in bug report Bug #372496. My bug report is still
> open, and I believe the two bugs are so similar that mine is actually a
> duplicate. I'll keep following this bug report also. I have another
> friend that this is happening to also, but he refuses to fill out a bug
> report. My wife's Ubuntu 9.04 and my son's Ubuntu 9.04 work well, and
> do recognize USB sticks when inserted.
>
> --
> USB devices is not being automounted after connect it
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/368959
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Ubuntu: New
>
> Bug description:
> Hi
>
> I updated from 8.04 as soon as 8.10 become available and now updated from
> 8.10 to 9.04. After update finishes the USB devices stopped to automount.
> Since this worked pretty well on late releases this should be a regression.
> My machine is a HP nv2225nr Notebook (AMD64 X2).
>
> Steps to reproduce:
>
> -login
> -insert a USB device like pen drive or a SD Card (my notebook has a ricoh
> card reader).
>
> Expected results:
>
> -The device shall be mounted as in Ubuntu 8.10
>
> Actual results:
>
> -No device is mount
> -Device is listed in the "Places" menu but clicking on it does not mount
> the device
> -Dmesg shows normal USB device connection
> -A manual mount (as root) works fine (without the goods from a automount to
> a normal user who has no access to root)
>
> The logs suggested on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingRemovableDevicesare attached.
>
> ---------------------
> root@bisonho:~/log# ck-list-sessions
> Session6:
> unix-user = '0'
> realname = 'root'
> seat = 'Seat6'
> session-type = ''
> active = FALSE
> x11-display = ''
> x11-display-device = ''
> display-device = '/dev/pts/0'
> remote-host-name = ''
> is-local = TRUE
> on-since = '2009-04-28T22:14:45.255742Z'
> login-session-id = '4294967295'
> idle-since-hint = '2009-04-29T00:55:32.012213Z'
> Session2:
> unix-user = '1000'
> realname = 'Josenivaldo Benito Junior,,,,'
> seat = 'Seat2'
> session-type = ''
> active = FALSE
> x11-display = ':0'
> x11-display-device = '/dev/tty7'
> display-device = ''
> remote-host-name = ''
> is-local = TRUE
> on-since = '2009-04-28T22:02:09.100916Z'
> login-session-id = '4294967295'
> Session14:
> unix-user = '0'
> realname = 'root'
> seat = 'Seat14'
> session-type = ''
> active = FALSE
> x11-display = ''
> x11-display-device = ''
> display-device = '/dev/pts/1'
> remote-host-name = ''
> is-local = TRUE
> on-since = '2009-04-28T22:41:10.668470Z'
> login-session-id = '4294967295'
>
>
> ----------------------------
> id haldaemon
> uid=111(haldaemon) gid=123(haldaemon) groups=123(haldaemon)
...

[luca_ing (luca-ingianni)]

I wonder if this is caused by two automounters fighting over the devices?

It's a long shot, but I have both the ubuntu and kubuntu metapackages installed, and perhaps this is the root cause. Mind you, only one user is logged in at all times, so KDE and Gnome never run in parallel - except for the fact that I use some KDE programs all the time.

For reference, I'm pasting the output of ps ax, in the hope that it might provide a clue.

luca@godzilla:~$ ps ax
  PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
    1 ? Ss 0:00 /sbin/init
    2 ? S< 0:00 [kthreadd]
    3 ? S< 0:00 [migration/0]
    4 ? S< 0:00 [ksoftirqd/0]
    5 ? S< 0:00 [watchdog/0]
    6 ? S< 0:00 [migration/1]
    7 ? S< 0:00 [ksoftirqd/1]
    8 ? S< 0:00 [watchdog/1]
    9 ? S< 0:00 [events/0]
   10 ? S< 0:00 [events/1]
   11 ? S< 0:00 [khelper]
   12 ? S< 0:00 [kstop/0]
   13 ? S< 0:00 [kstop/1]
   14 ? S< 0:00 [kintegrityd/0]
   15 ? S< 0:00 [kintegrityd/1]
   16 ? S< 0:00 [kblockd/0]
   17 ? S< 0:00 [kblockd/1]
   18 ? S< 0:00 [kacpid]
   19 ? S< 0:00 [kacpi_notify]
   20 ? S< 0:00 [cqueue]
   21 ? S< 0:00 [ata/0]
   22 ? S< 0:00 [ata/1]
   23 ? S< 0:00 [ata_aux]
   24 ? S< 0:00 [ksuspend_usbd]
   25 ? S< 0:00 [khubd]
   26 ? S< 0:00 [kseriod]
   27 ? S< 0:00 [kmmcd]
   28 ? S< 0:00 [btaddconn]
   29 ? S< 0:00 [btdelconn]
   30 ? S 0:00 [pdflush]
   31 ? S 0:00 [pdflush]
   32 ? S< 0:00 [kswapd0]
   33 ? S< 0:00 [aio/0]
   34 ? S< 0:00 [aio/1]
   35 ? S< 0:00 [ecryptfs-kthrea]
   38 ? S< 0:00 [scsi_eh_0]
   39 ? S< 0:00 [scsi_eh_1]
   40 ? S< 0:00 [scsi_eh_2]
   41 ? S< 0:00 [scsi_eh_3]
   42 ? S< 0:00 [scsi_eh_4]
   43 ? S< 0:00 [scsi_eh_5]
   44 ? S< 0:00 [scsi_eh_6]
   45 ? S< 0:00 [scsi_eh_7]
   46 ? S< 0:00 [scsi_eh_8]
   47 ? S< 0:00 [scsi_eh_9]
   48 ? S< 0:00 [scsi_eh_10]
   49 ? S< 0:00 [scsi_eh_11]
   50 ? S< 0:00 [scsi_eh_12]
   51 ? S< 0:00 [scsi_eh_13]
   52 ? S< 0:00 [kstriped]
   53 ? S< 0:00 [kmpathd/0]
   54 ? S< 0:00 [kmpathd/1]
   55 ? S< 0:00 [kmpath_handlerd]
   56 ? S< 0:00 [ksnapd]
   57 ? S< 0:00 [kondemand/0]
   58 ? S< 0:00 [kondemand/1]
   59 ? S< 0:00 [krfcommd]
  778 ? S< 0:00 [kdmflush]
  783 ? S< 0:00 [kdmflush]
  788 ? S< 0:00 [kdmflush]
  849 ? S< 0:00 [kjournald2]
  972 ? S<s 0:00 /sbin/udevd --daemon
 1747 ? S< 0:00 [kpsmoused]
 2351 ? S< 0:00 [kjournald]
 2352 ? S< 0:00 [kjournald]
 2356 ? Ss 0:06 /sbin/mount.ntfs /dev/sda1 /dos -o rw,nls=utf8,umask=
 2357 ? S< 0:00 [kjournald2]
 2604 ? S<s 0:00 /sbin/portmap
 2613 ? ...

[luca_ing (luca-ingianni)]

BTW, calling gnome-mount from the shell works as expected, the device is mounted and the usual "what would you like to do?" window is displayed. So it doesn't seem to be a permissions problem or something like that, just the information about newly inserted devices gets stuck somewhere.

luca@godzilla:~$ gnome-mount -vbd /dev/sdc1
gnome-mount 0.8
** (gnome-mount:7412): DEBUG: Mounting /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/volume_uuid_B80C_3D37
** (gnome-mount:7412): DEBUG: read default option 'shortname=mixed' from gconf strlist key /system/storage/default_options/vfat/mount_options
** (gnome-mount:7412): DEBUG: read default option 'uid=' from gconf strlist key /system/storage/default_options/vfat/mount_options
** (gnome-mount:7412): DEBUG: read default option 'utf8' from gconf strlist key /system/storage/default_options/vfat/mount_options
** (gnome-mount:7412): DEBUG: read default option 'umask=077' from gconf strlist key /system/storage/default_options/vfat/mount_options
** (gnome-mount:7412): DEBUG: read default option 'exec' from gconf strlist key /system/storage/default_options/vfat/mount_options
** (gnome-mount:7412): DEBUG: read default option 'flush' from gconf strlist key /system/storage/default_options/vfat/mount_options
** (gnome-mount:7412): DEBUG: Mounting /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/volume_uuid_B80C_3D37 with mount_point='', fstype='', num_options=6
** (gnome-mount:7412): DEBUG: option='shortname=mixed'
** (gnome-mount:7412): DEBUG: option='uid=1000'
** (gnome-mount:7412): DEBUG: option='utf8'
** (gnome-mount:7412): DEBUG: option='umask=077'
** (gnome-mount:7412): DEBUG: option='exec'
** (gnome-mount:7412): DEBUG: option='flush'
/dev/sdc1 ist an »/media/disk« eingehängt

[luca_ing (luca-ingianni)]

One more data point:

My USB harddrive (formatted with ext3) now automounts as expected. It didn't do that before.
Other USB devices still don't.

I suspect this change is connected with software updates I did yesterday, but I haven't found an obvius package. I'm attaching the apt-log.

[luca_ing (luca-ingianni)]

Yet more info:
I've now discovered that while my harddrive automounts, it can't be unmounted through nautilus. Instead it tells me "Device to unmount is not in /media/.hal-mtab so it is not mounted by HAL", and indeed, /media/.hal-mtab is empty.

Odd.

Luca

[JrBenito (jrbenito)]

I could not reproduce scenario described by luca_ing. I formatted a external harddrive (usb-storage device) as ext3 and tried but it is not auto mounted neither I can mount it through Place menu. I can mount it if I log as root and know about mount command... this, unfortunately, is not the case for my wife, my mother and many people that I know to use Ubuntu. All my USB / CD-ROm are still unmountable.

--- Words in the wind ---
Sometimes I ask myself when Linux distributions will really focus on end user. I have a dream of a day when any user can use Linux without any technical skills, I have a dream of a day when Linux can really fights with other commercial OS in the final user computer. Nowadays this is impossible. Imagine you my mother trying to load her pictures took with a digital camera... impossible. Try imagine my wife reading her pendrive with a lot of tests from her classes... impossible *(in this case I helped her to avoid install windows on our computer)*.

The fact is: no one care about this bug and this bug affects direct end user not the experienced users. The fact is yet: Linux is not for everyone... And this fact makes me think about worth of really carry the Linux flag. Ubuntu was a hope and are proofing does not provide any hope.

Regards,
Benito.

[JrBenito (jrbenito)]

Hi,

Here the problem looks like related to policy:

[10145.181679] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] 156301488 512-byte hardware sectors: (80.0 GB/74.5 GiB)
[10145.183618] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[10145.183626] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 38 00 00
[10145.183631] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[10145.184483] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] 156301488 512-byte hardware sectors: (80.0 GB/74.5 GiB)
[10145.190757] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[10145.190769] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 38 00 00
[10145.190775] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[10145.190789] sdb: sdb1
[10145.224244] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
[10145.224413] sd 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0

jrbenito@bisonho:~$ gnome-mount -vbd /dev/sdb1
gnome-mount 0.8
** (gnome-mount:14829): DEBUG: Mounting /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/volume_uuid_e7e00a7d_f340_4f6f_b7ad_ee4d0d1d4d33
** (gnome-mount:14829): DEBUG: Mounting /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/volume_uuid_e7e00a7d_f340_4f6f_b7ad_ee4d0d1d4d33 with mount_point='', fstype='', num_options=0
** Message: Mount failed for /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/volume_uuid_e7e00a7d_f340_4f6f_b7ad_ee4d0d1d4d33
org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.PermissionDeniedByPolicy : org.freedesktop.hal.storage.mount-removable no <-- (action, result)

** (gnome-mount:14829): DEBUG: pk_action='org.freedesktop.hal.storage.mount-removable' pk_result='no'
** (gnome-mount:14829): DEBUG: gained privilege = 0

See line:

org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.PermissionDeniedByPolicy

I noticed that after update to 9.04 things like update notifier, cpu frequency scale monitor and "Users and Groups" seem to have not enough permission to work well. For instance:

-Update notifier do not run automatically
-Frequency scale monitor does not change CPU frequency just monitors it.
-"User and Groups" does not have "unlock" button enable and I cannot modify my user and other users groups (I have root password but "unlock" is disabled.

Any clue about why this permissions gone after update?

Thanks and regards.

[luca_ing (luca-ingianni)]

An interesting observation:
I use kmail for mail, and its Save Attachment dialog displays my USB drive as an external device. If I click on it, it gets mounted as expected, and at that instant, gnome acts as if it just realized it had been plugged in and pops open an action dialog. It is then listed in the sidebar as an external drive, just as I would expect in the first place, and is accessible (and unmountable) through nautilus.

Suspicion:
I now have the impression it the reason might be KDE and GNOME fighting over the USB devices.
Will try and investigate further.

Luca

[JrBenito (jrbenito)]

SOLVED FINALLY

I did a "sudo polkit-gnome-authorization" and noticed I lost all permissions I had in old releases. This includes the ability to mount things, change CPU frequency with gnome applet, shutdown machine and click "unlock" buttons to manage network config and other system wide things (clock, timezone, etc). In summary I become "nobody" in my own computer. I solved bug # 337780 #242435 and this one just giving me back permissions that were revoked during system upgrade (from 8.10 to 9.04).

Guys, go and do "sudo polkit-gnome-authorization" look form "mount file system from removable devices", grant yourself permission and be happy.

@Luca, this explains why KDE can mount and Gnome cannot in your case! Gnome policies were changed and permissions were revoked from users that used to have them.

Regards,
Benito.

[luca_ing (luca-ingianni)]

> SOLVED FINALLY
>
> I did a "sudo polkit-gnome-authorization" and noticed I lost all
> permissions I had in old releases. This includes the ability to mount
> things, change CPU frequency with gnome applet, shutdown machine and
> click "unlock" buttons to manage network config and other system wide
> things (clock, timezone, etc). In summary I become "nobody" in my own
> computer. I solved bug # 337780 #242435 and this one just giving me back
> permissions that were revoked during system upgrade (from 8.10 to 9.04).
>
> Guys, go and do "sudo polkit-gnome-authorization" look form "mount file
> system from removable devices", grant yourself permission and be happy.

I had already tried this, my permissions made sense.

I have finally given in and reinstalled Ubuntu from scratch some days ago. Now
everything works as expected.

Still strange stuff.

Luca

[Rickard Närström (riccetn)]

JrBenito: Good to see you found a solution, what bugs me is what caused you to lose your permission to begin with?

luca_ing: As your permissions where correct you had an other bug. If you still have enough information about the problem for an developer to be able to figure out what caused it please open a new report.

I am now closing this as incomplete, if someone can give us information as of why the permission settings is lost please leave that information in a comment and set this reports status back to new.

[luca_ing (luca-ingianni)]

Rickard:

Thanks a lot for taking the time to look into this.
As I stated, I reinstalled my system from scratch, thus the original setup is lost. I've tried attach all the data I could, but since it seems to be insufficient, I agree to closing as Incomplete.

I won't file a new bug.

[JrBenito (jrbenito)]

Hi Rickard,

Thanks for look this bug.

In my case I had upgraded from previous version and after it lost
permissions. After grant all permissions again everything became work as
expected. Some weeks later my HD had crash and I was forced a fully
reinstall everything... I was really upset with that but now Ubuntu 9.10 is
perfectly fit on my notebook.

Regards,
Benito.

On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 15:47, Rickard Närström
<email address hidden>wrote:

> JrBenito: Good to see you found a solution, what bugs me is what caused
> you to lose your permission to begin with?
>
> luca_ing: As your permissions where correct you had an other bug. If you
> still have enough information about the problem for an developer to be
> able to figure out what caused it please open a new report.
>
> I am now closing this as incomplete, if someone can give us information
> as of why the permission settings is lost please leave that information
> in a comment and set this reports status back to new.
>
> ** Package changed: ubuntu => policykit (Ubuntu)
>
> ** Changed in: policykit (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
> --
> USB devices is not being automounted after connect it
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/368959
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in “policykit” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> Hi
>
> I updated from 8.04 as soon as 8.10 become available and now updated from
> 8.10 to 9.04. After update finishes the USB devices stopped to automount.
> Since this worked pretty well on late releases this should be a regression.
> My machine is a HP nv2225nr Notebook (AMD64 X2).
>
> Steps to reproduce:
>
> -login
> -insert a USB device like pen drive or a SD Card (my notebook has a ricoh
> card reader).
>
> Expected results:
>
> -The device shall be mounted as in Ubuntu 8.10
>
> Actual results:
>
> -No device is mount
> -Device is listed in the "Places" menu but clicking on it does not mount
> the device
> -Dmesg shows normal USB device connection
> -A manual mount (as root) works fine (without the goods from a automount to
> a normal user who has no access to root)
>
> The logs suggested on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingRemovableDevicesare attached.
>
> ---------------------
> root@bisonho:~/log# ck-list-sessions
> Session6:
> unix-user = '0'
> realname = 'root'
> seat = 'Seat6'
> session-type = ''
> active = FALSE
> x11-display = ''
> x11-display-device = ''
> display-device = '/dev/pts/0'
> remote-host-name = ''
> is-local = TRUE
> on-since = '2009-04-28T22:14:45.255742Z'
> login-session-id = '4294967295'
> idle-since-hint = '2009-04-29T00:55:32.012213Z'
> Session2:
> unix-user = '1000'
> realname = 'Josenivaldo Benito Junior,,,,'
> seat = 'Seat2'
> session-type = ''
> active = FALSE
> x11-display = ':0'
> x11-display-device = '/dev/tty7'
> display-device = ''
> remote-host-name = ''
> is-local = TRUE
> on-since = '2009-04-28T22:02:09.100916Z'
> login-session-id = '4294967295'
> Session14:
> ...

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for policykit (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]