Linux @lemmy.ml piratekaiser @lemm.ee 1w ago

New SSD requires password to mount

I installed an additional SSD on my pc. Everything works ok, except I need to unlock it with my root password on every session so that it mounts.

I've tried formatting it to change the 'owner', tried adding it to the user group, and I can't find any other solutions. Any ideas?

This happens irrelevant of DE (happens on KDE and hyprland). I'm running tumbleweed, though this looks like a config problem rather than a distro problem.

24 comments

I have had the issue of having to enter a password to access an additional drive on my Manjaro PC.

I was pointed to this as a possible solution and it worked for me.

It may or may not work for you though.
I know a lot of people are recommending fstsb entries, but since you're using a DE, you can have the credential stored in the wallet / session manager for your DE. KDE and Gnome should both have an automount option using keys from there. Then you also can find a preference somewhere to unlock your wallet / session keys thing on login. Bing bang boom you should have it mount and unlock automatically without having to enter any extra stuff with the added benefit of not leaving the key around (though since it seems you have FDE anyway that's a minor issue depending on your threat model)
Generally, they enforce in Linux using root permissions to mount internal hard drives unlike USB drives that can be mounted by the user If you want to mount it automatically in every boot, you could modify the /etc/fstab to add an entry for it
- I have a related issue. Mine is a network share and it's in fstab, but I have Linux boot without waiting for wifi, so the mount fails and then asks for root password when I try to mount it later.
  I think I just need to add "user" to the options field, right?
  
  I believe systemd after targets work tho I have never tried them Try adding this to mount options
  
  x-systemd.after=network-online.target
  
  You may be right, but I worked around this using https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NetworkManager#Network_services_with_NetworkManager_dispatcher
  
  I added the CIFS shares to my fstab with the _netdev option and created /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/30-nas-shares.sh containing (got the WiFi UUID using nmcli con show):
  
  #!/bin/sh WANTED_CON_UUID="UUID-OF-MY-WIFI" if [ "$CONNECTION_UUID" = "$WANTED_CON_UUID" ]; then case "$2" in "up"|"vpn-up") mount -a -t cifs ;; esac fi
  
  This waits for my WiFi to come up, ensures it's my home WiFi, and then mounts my shares.
  
  There are probably other and better ways to do it, but it works.
  
  Try adding the nofail and _netdev options in your fstab entry. I have this on a few computers that connect to nfs shares including my laptop that obviously can only connect when I'm at home or on VPN. Example:
  
  server:/path /mnt/path nfs4 defaults,nofail,_netdev 0 0
sudo mkdir /media/NewSSD # the name you like lsblk -f # look for UUID of new ssd

then add it to fstab https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Fstab

Something like

UUID=<insert drive UUID> /media/NewSSD ext4 defaults 0 2

Make sure you use the correct filesystem (e.g. ext4 or other)
- If its encrypted, you can also decrypt the drive automatically once booted by adding an entry in /etc/crypttab
  
  This will make it so you don't have to type the password.
  
  This never worked for me…
As you mentioned elsewhere it's encrypted.

Take a look at /etc/crypttab and creating and adding a key file that can unlock the drive.

Essentially your additional SSD will have both a password and a file containing a password that can unlock the drive. When you unlock your root filesystem (I'm guessing at boot) it will then have the key file that can unlock the SSD.

Something like cryptsetup luksAddKey /dev/pathtossd --new-keyfile /etc/newpassword

Systemd might make this easier to setup nowadays.

Edit: Also, yes, the password to unlock your SSD is just sitting in a file in your root drive. Be sure to restrict it to only be readable by root.
- Be sure to restrict it to only be readable by root.
  
  sudo chmod 400 /etc/newpassword
Encrypted volume? If so, that's why.
- Right. Wouldn't it make sense to unlock it along with my root drive when I log in though? There should be a way to do that
  
  You could set the password to be the same. It'll attempt to use all known methods when unlocking it.
  
  You can also probably store a key on the root drive instead of using a password, but I've never done that.
- No
KDE has option to automount during login. I found that to be the best solution.

Edit: I am mainly a PCLinuxOS user, so not sure if that would work for you.
Add it to /etc/fstab. Tons of guides everywhere online.

24 comments