Lucid Lynx: mounting Windows partition and password

[t36]

Hi,

I was just wondering, is there a reason why when mounting a Windows partition I am no longer prompted for a password?
I kinda liked this behaviour because it helped me lower the risk of doing stupid stuff to the windows partition.

Thanks in advance

[QLee]

I was just wondering, is there a reason why when mounting a Windows partition I am no longer prompted for a password?
I kinda liked this behaviour because it helped me lower the risk of doing stupid stuff to the windows partition.

Well, since none of us was looking over your shoulder and you didn't give much information, it isn't going to be easy to answer because we don't know the conditions under which it happened.

Given no further information, I would guess that you had already used a command that elevated your permissions and that you tried before the elevated permissions "time out" expired. But that's just a guess.

Otherwise, please explain a bit more about what you are asking.

[DawieS]

Open a terminal and enter:

sudo gedit /var/lib/polkit-1/localauthority/10-vendor.d/com.ubuntu.desktop.pkla

Change the first occurrence of 'ResultActive=yes' to 'ResultActive=auth_admin_keep' and save. The behaviour should now revert to the default of requiring a password when mounting internal disks.

[t36]

I was indeed referring to mounting internal disks. In 9.10 whenever I wanted to browse my windows partition via places -> WinXP partition I would get a prompt asking for authentication. Now in 10.04, that doesn't happen any more (I'm pretty sure I didn't change any thing). And that just feels a bit weird and unsafe.
I will try DawieS's solution once I get home.

Thanks.

[t36]

Thanks! DawieS's answer did the trick .

[chanakyakv]

Thanks! DawieS's answer worked for me too.

But, now even mounting a External pen drive / flash drive / usb drive requires authentication. !!

Can I get help in getting Authentication on mounting drives as exactly in KarMic.
i.e. Authentication for mounting Windows partitions but no authentication for mounting external usb drives.

[DawieS]

Thanks! DawieS's answer worked for me too.

But, now even mounting a External pen drive / flash drive / usb drive requires authentication. !!

Can I get help in getting Authentication on mounting drives as exactly in KarMic.
i.e. Authentication for mounting Windows partitions but no authentication for mounting external usb drives.

I have done some experimenting with authorization settings. It seems as if the settings in the file mentioned in post #3 overrides settings of the /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.udisks.policy file (probably for compatibility reasons for other lighter versions of Ubuntu).

To achieve what you want, open a terminal and enter:

sudo gedit /var/lib/polkit-1/localauthority/10-vendor.d/com.ubuntu.desktop.pkla

Cut and paste the first 4 lines into another text file, for your own backup purposes (should you want to revert later):

[Mounting, checking, etc. of internal drives]
Identity=unix-group:admin
Action=org.freedesktop.udisks.filesystem-*;org.freedesktop.udisks.drive-ata-smart*
ResultActive=auth_admin_keep

After deleting these first 4 lines, save and exit the editor. Then enter in a terminal:

sudo gedit /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.udisks.policy

For USB disks and flash-drives:
Under the first heading: <action id="org.freedesktop.udisks.filesystem-mount">
Change <allow_active>auth_admin_keep</allow_active> to <allow_active>yes</allow_active>
For Internal (and External eSata) disks:
Under the second heading: <action id="org.freedesktop.udisks.filesystem-mount-system-internal">
Leave the same <allow_active>auth_admin_keep</allow_active> (unless you want to change the behavior)

Save and exit the editor. The behavior should now default to auto-mounting for USB drives, but require a password for mounting internal (and external eSata) disks.

Please note that these changes may be overwritten with an update, and may need to be redone thereafter.

[chanakyakv]

Thank you Very Much !!

That Worked !!