Mounting Windows Partitions in Ubuntu

Mount Windows through the file browser
Mount Windows through the menu
Install NTFS Config
Mount an NTFS drive permanently
Editing the /etc/fstab

Ubuntu will automatically mount external drives, but for some reason it will not automatically mount internal drives. So this will show you how to mount (or make available for use) internal NTFS-formatted (i.e., Windows) drives in Ubuntu.

Mount Windows through the file browser

If you have your file browser window open, you should be able to double-click on the drive in the sidebar to mount it (or make it available for use). Unfortunately, at least as of Ubuntu 8.04, the drive is identified by its size (in this case, 2.0 GB), so that's how you'll have to figure out which one is the drive you're looking for.

You may have to authenticate the first time, but if you check (or tick) the Remember authorization box, you shouldn't be bothered for it again.

Mount Windows through the menu

If you don't already have your file browser open, you can also mount Windows drives through the menu.

Go to Places and find your drive (again, by its size).

Whether you mount the drive through the file browser sidebar or through the menu, you can unmount the drive by right-clicking it and selecting Unmount Volume.

Install NTFS Config

But let's say you don't want to manually mount the Windows drive every time you boot up Ubuntu. If you want it permanently mounted, a little utility called NTFS Config can help you.

To install it, go to Applications and select Add/Remove

Make sure All available applications is showing.

Search for ntfs, check (or tick) the box next to NTFS Configuration Tool. Then click Apply Changes in the bottom right of the window and confirm by clicking Apply in the resulting dialogue box.

Enter your password when asked.

Wait for NTFS Config to install.

Mount an NTFS drive permanently

Now that NTFS Config is installed, let's use it.

Go to Applications > System Tools > NTFS Configuration Tool

Check (or tick) the box next to the drive (here called /dev/sdb1—what Windows would probably called D:\)

Click in the mount point box to name a folder you use to access the Windows drive once it's mounted.

If you want it to be mounted at /media/windows, type

windows

Do not type /media/windows or you'll get an error message.

When you're done, click Apply

Check (or tick) the appropriate boxes, and then click OK

Editing the /etc/fstab

This tutorial has shown you how to mount Windows partitions and drives graphically. If you are either having trouble doing this or you would like a little more control over the details of the process, you can do so by manually editing the /etc/fstab file, which controls the mounting of drives and partitions at boot time.

For more details on this process, check out this other tutorial.