Allowing user to read only parts of NTFS filesystem

Question

After installing ntfs-3g I have an option in nautilus to mount a Windows directory but I need to give root password. While I have no objection to giving root password I would prefer to be restricted to permission of corresponding Windows user (i.e. disallowing modification of system files). Is is easily achievable or do I need to post feature request?

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 04 '11 at 19:30

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There IS a way to recognize Windows permissions on a ntfs-3g mount. You have to create a user-mapping file. See here.

This can be done from within Linux too, with the ntfs-3g.usermap utility. See the manual pages for mount.ntfs-3g and ntfs-3g.usermap. (I use Fedora 14.)

EDIT: I don't know what effect enabling this will have on Nautilus' mount feature. Me, I like to mount the partitions in /etc/fstab and leave it at that.

answered Mar 04 '11 at 19:30

JCCyC

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It uses default i.e. `.NTFS-3G/UserMapping` with respective to NTFS partition. – Maciej Piechotka Mar 06 '11 at 01:25

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 26 '11 at 17:14

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Disclaimer: I did not try this, so it may or may not work; I don't have an NTFS volume around.

Mount the whole FS with permissions that prevent target users from reading it.

Mount a directory of the resulting tree at an accessible mount point with mount --bind and subsequent mount --o remount with different uid and umaks that allow target users to read it.

answered Feb 26 '11 at 17:14

9000

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I meant rather a automated solution. I rarely access the NTFS partition (since I hardly have anything on it - however I sometimes need to use Windows). – Maciej Piechotka Feb 26 '11 at 17:40
If you are only interested in the same NTFS folders every time, e.g. 'Documents and Settings', you can wrap this logic into a simple script, or even an udev script if your NTFS drives are portable. – 9000 Feb 26 '11 at 17:44

Allowing user to read only parts of NTFS filesystem

2 Answers2