Go to the Linux NTFS Home Page, the NTFS FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) or back to the Information Page.
If you are a RedHat user and you simply want NTFS support, you now need only install an RPM to get it. See our RedHat Page for more details.
To do this you need to compile your own kernel. This isn't as hard, or scary, as it sounds. If you have problems after reading the help and the HOWTOs you can ask question on our help forum.
Your linux distribution should come with the kernel source. It's probably a good idea to start with the same version as the kernel you are already running.
These instructions are written using Linux 2.4 as a guide, but they should be almost the same for Linux 2.2. This isn't a tutorial on how to build the Linux kernel, only on how to add NTFS support.
In the source directory, in the file Documentation/Changes, there is a list
of the Current Minimal Requirements
to compile and run Linux. If you
are upgrading to a new version, it might be wise to check these.
The latest kernel source code is available from: http://www.kernel.org At the time of writing, the latest stable kernel is 2.4.18 and it can be found at: http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/
Many linux distributions will help you start the next job. The key to
building the kernel is the .config
. The kernel is very modular and
you only build what you need to run.
There's a HOWTO explaining how to configure and build the kernel. It lives at: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO.html
If you are lucky, your distro left a copy of the .config for your kernel in the source directory. If not, you will just have to think a bit more.
Start with:
make config
You should be able to accept the defaults for a lot of the options. For NTFS, choose either 'y' to build it into a kernel or 'm' to build a loadable module.
N.B. DO NOT enable write support for NTFS. It isn't finished and is potentially very dangerous.
If you make any mistakes, simply rerun the make config
and try again.
Each time you run it, it will remember all the values you typed last time
and should be a bit quicker.
Next:
make dep
If you want to just build some modules, do:
make modules
Otherwise:
make bzImage modules
Now copy the modules into /lib/modules with:
make modules_install
This is complicated and depends on you bootloader. Both lilo and grub come with detailed instructions. Also there is help online at:
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/mini/LILO.html
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub-documentation.en.html
If you are just building modules, ignore this section.
Cross your fingers and reboot. Good luck. If everything went well then
uname -a
: should tell you about your new kernel.
If you built NTFS into the kernel, not as a module, ignore this section.
Now add the NTFS module to the running kernel:
/sbin/modprobe ntfs
First try this command and check that ntfs
is listed:
cat /proc/filesystems
Then:
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows -t ntfs -r
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