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I have Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

I've noticed recently every file in my Hard Drive get executable privilege even every text files so when open it a pop-up window asks me what to do(run in terminal-Display-Cancel-Run).

I tried to change permission in terminal as sudo chmod a-x -Rv /media/D/* it shows me that privilege has been changed as 666 which means rw-rw-rw but actually nothing has been done, it's still as executable privilege given.

I tried to move some files to Desktop then did as above and it was successful.

My Hard Drive is formatted as "FAT32".
What would be the problem ??

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2 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

FAT32 formatted drives do not support file permissions. The permissions for everything are determined by how the drive is mounted.

So, you can change the permissions on all the files on the drive by mounting it differently, but not dynamically like you are describing.

See http://askubuntu.com/a/96929/6161 on how to remount using different permissions.

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I dont think so ,because I can set permission in ntfs ans fat32 in ubuntu 10.04 ,but it wont work in 10.10 onwards . – Tachyons Apr 2 '12 at 14:45
@tachyons in 10.04, you can change the permissions of a file in a FAT32 drive, unmount the drive, remount the drive, and have the permissions change you did still be there? Are you sure? I just tried changing setting permissions on a fat partition from my 10.04 box - it didn't work. If it does work for you, please provide details on what you did... – David Oneill Apr 2 '12 at 14:47
I am sure ,but it works in 10.04 only ,and it wont work with 10.10 11.04 and 11.10 , – Tachyons Apr 2 '12 at 14:51
@tachyons please give a detailed list of how you did it - I have a 10.04 box I'd like to try what you're doing on. – David Oneill Apr 2 '12 at 14:52
1  
@wisdom dmask is what permissions are applied to directories, and fmask is what permissions are applied to files. As to doing it each time, if there is a certain set of permissions you need, you'll need to edit them into the fstab (I think?) file which contains the default mount settings. If you need more details than this, search for 'default mount permissions' or something along those lines, there are a bunch of related questions – David Oneill Apr 2 '12 at 20:23
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up vote 0 down vote

NTFS and FAT32 hard drives don't support file permissions in linux.
Please follow the guide to enable the function

I have used this for NTFS partition. Never tested with FAT32 .

References: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=11254598&postcount=2

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what this guide is ?!! "How to mount !!" not is my problem ! – wisdom Apr 2 '12 at 19:15
Ownership and permissions of vfat / ntfs are set at the time of mounting. Please refer ubuntu forum link – Web-E Apr 3 '12 at 10:50

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