How to Change Permissions on Mounted Drive in Linux

If you have a mounted drive, you might run into some issues. You may not be able to read, write or execute files on your drive properly. And most of the time the problem is associated with permissions and you require to change the drive permissions. In this article, I will explain how to change permissions on a mounted drive in Linux.

Key Takeaways

• Changing permissions of a mounted drive.
• Getting familiar with chmod, chown
• In-depth knowledge of permissions and ownership.

Requirements

• Require root/sudo privileges.
• Pendrive for this section.

Process Flow Chart

Distro Used Throughout the Tutorial: Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS

Watch to Change Permissions on  Mounted Drive in Linux

3 Steps to Change Permissions on A Mounted Drive in Linux

In this section, I will show you all the steps to change the permissions of a mounted drive in Linux. First, I will check all the available drives, then change the permissions of a drive and finally verify whether the process worked. The last step is optional. Go here to know more related to this topic.

Step 01: View Current Permissions of Mounted Drives in Linux

Firstly, I will list all the mounted drives. Then I will print permissions of a particular mounted drive. To do that, follow the steps below:

Steps to Follow >

➊ At first, launch an Ubuntu Terminal.

➋ Insert the following command in the command prompt:

df

❸ Hit ENTER.Here “/dev/sda” refers to physical disks as HDD(Hard Disk Drive) or SSD(Solid State Drive). On the other hand, “tmpfs” are virtual file systems used to store temporary files.

➌ Write the following command to view permissions of mounted drive “/dev/sda3”:

ls -l /dev/sda3

❹ Press ENTER from the keyboard.

Step 02: Change permission on Mounted Drive in Ubuntu

Now I will change the permissions of the mounted drive “/dev/sda3”. I will provide reading, writing and executing permissions to the “owner” and “group”. Now do the following:

Steps to Follow >

➊ Press CTRL+ALT+T to launch an Ubuntu Terminal.

➋ Copy the following command in the command prompt and hit ENTER:

sudo chmod u=rwx,g=rwx,o= /dev/sda3

➌ Give your password.

❹ Press the ENTER button on your keyboard.

Step 03: Verify Permissions of Mounted Drive

Finally, I will verify whether the permissions have changed or not. You can do that by following the simple steps below:

Steps to Follow >

❶ Firstly, open an Ubuntu Terminal.

❷ Type the following command in the Terminal:

ls -l /dev/sda3

❸ Hit the ENTER button.

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Complementary Information

Here I have added some extra information on how to change permissions on a mounted drive in Linux.

How to Change Ownership of Mounted Drive from Root in Ubuntu

To change the ownership of a drive, you need to use the chown command. For instance, the Owner of the drive “/dev/sda3 ” is “root” and I want to change it to “walid “. I can do it by doing the following:

Steps to Follow >

❶ Open a Ubuntu Terminal by pressing CTRL+ALT+T.

❷ Copy the following command in the Terminal and press ENTER:

sudo chown walid /dev/sda3

❸ Provide your password and hit ENTER again.❹ Finally, to check the new Owner, write the following command and press ENTER:

ls -l /dev/sda3

As you can see, the new Owner is “walid” instead of “root”.

How to Mount with Write Permissions in Linux

Every drive has a mount point. Here I will unmount a drive first. Then I will mount it with write permissions to another point. Follow the steps below with me:

Steps to Follow >

❶ At the beginning, launch a Terminal in Ubuntu.

❷ Insert the following command to view mount points and hit ENTER:

df

I will choose the drive “/dev/sda2” which is mounted on point “/boot/efi” for demonstration purposes.

❸ Copy the command below to unmount point “/boot/efi” and press ENTER:

sudo umount /boot/efi

❹ Now write the following common to mount “/dev/sda2” to “/mydirectory” with reading and writing permissions and press ENTER:

sudo mount -o rw /dev/sda2 /mydirectory

❺ Finally to check the permissions of the mount point, type the command below and hit ENTER:

mount -v | grep /mydirectory

Change File Permissions in Linux

You need to use the chmod command to change the permissions of a regular file as well. The steps are simple, do the following:

Steps to Follow >

❶ Press CTRL+ALT+T to open a Terminal in Ubuntu.

❷ Write the following command to give writing permissions to the user:

sudo chmod u+x myfile.txt

❸ Now insert the command below to see new permissions:

ls -l myfile.txt

In the image, it is showing “x” in place of “–” for the user permissions. This indicates that the user has execution permission now.

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How to Change Permission to an External Hard Drive in Ubuntu

The second hard drive in Linux is an additional disk drive that provides extra storage. Its name goes like “/dev/sdb”. Here I have used a pendrive as a second hard drive and I will change its permissions. You can do that by following the steps below:

Steps to Follow >

❶ At first, open an Ubuntu Terminal.

❷ Copy the following common to print all the drives and hit ENTER:

df

There are two second hard drives here, sdb1 and sdb2. I will change the permissions of sdb1.

❸ Insert the following command to view permissions of drive “/dev/sdb1” and press ENTER:

ls -l /dev/sdb1

No one has any permissions here.

❹ Write the command below to provide reading, writing and executing permissions to the user and hit ENTER:

sudo chmod u=rwx /dev/sdb1

❺ Give your password and press ENTER again.

❻ Finally, to check new permissions, copy the following command and press ENTER:

ls -l /dev/sdb1

See, it is showing “rwx” instead of “—”. That means the user has r(reading), w(writing) and x(executing) permissions now.

Conclusion

In this article, I have shown you how to change permissions on a mounted drive in Linux. I have also provided some complimentary information for your benefit. I hope everything was useful to you.

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