Gentoo Linux Resolving the Read Only NTFS Issue

If you run into the problem of mounting an NTFS share, drive, USB, etc. where the mount reads as (rw) but the "dmesg tail" gives you a message like the following:

NTFS-fs error (device sdxx): load_system_files(): $LogFile is not clean. Mounting read-only. Mount in Windows.

Here's the fix for enabling write functionality under Gentoo specifically and more than likely similar in other flavors as well.


First emerge ntfs3g
Next go to your kernel source fire off a make menuconfig and enable:


File systems --->
<*> Filesystem in Userspace support


or in later kernels


File systems --->
<*> FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) support


Next do a make clean && make
If you're using modules then also do a make modules_install && update-modules.

Next mount your boot partition mount /dev/sdxx /boot (where sdxx is your drive specific device - in my case /dev/sda1)

Copy your new kernel into the boot partition (ie. cp arch/x86/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel)

Unmount the boot partition and reboot loading the new kernel.

Now to mount the NTFS partition with write support use the following:

mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdxx /mnt/xxx (where sdxx and xxx are your specific device and mount points - in my case /dev/sdc1 /mnt/usb)

You should be golden from this point forward. If you get an error stating that the drive is not clean or the like use the force option the clean it up mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdxx /mnt/xxx -o force.