Unable to unmount usb drives in Nautilus

[hcac]

It says authentication is required for unmounting because /dev/sdb1 is mounted by another user.
Then when I enter my password, it says error unmounting: /dev/sdb1 is not mounted. (but I check and it's still there)

I don't understand how the mounting works in gnome and so don:t know how to fix this. Any guidance would be appreciated.

 

[atanere]

Hi @hcac, and welcome to the site. Is this a new installation of gnome? Was it ever working correctly? Can you think of any new app you installed, or any other recent activity that might have caused this behavior?

Cheers

 

[hcac]

Thank you!
I'm using Kali linux and I regularly update the packages.
I've been using the root account for a couple of months and all was right until I decided to move to a normal admin user.

Now, I know Kali's not exactly appropriate for Desktop use, but it'd be painful to re install as I'll have to reconfigure all my stuff.
But yeah, everything started since I moved to an admin user.

 

[atanere]

Now, I know Kali's not exactly appropriate for Desktop use...

Ah, you've heard the lecture before. It is still true... it is a very poor choice for new users especially. But I won't nag you forever about it.... it's your computer, your choice.

Let's clear up some lingo. I admit right off the bat that I know little about Kali. Does Kali use the term "normal admin user?" Terms I know are: Admin user = root. Normal user = normal user, or regular user. So, I take it you created a regular user?

It's been my understanding (maybe wrongly) that Kali is designed to be run as root, and you ran it as root initially, without problems. Where I'm going with all this is that maybe your trouble with USB drives is only the tip of the iceberg, and other troubles may soon present themselves. (Or not... I'm not psychic.) You might consider this possibility though, if you haven't already.

So, some possible solutions....

1. Delete the regular user and use root again.

2. Find your "Users and Groups" settings and take a close look at Groups. Find which Group root is a member of (that the regular user isn't) that has access to DVD, USB, or other external media.... then make your regular user a member of that group.

3. Examine your /etc/fstab (and maybe /etc/mtab) for entries related to mounting USB drives. A modification there might fix this issue, but I'm at work on my phone and can't help research that right now.

There may be other/better solutions as well.... that's one of the great things about Linux, lots of options!

Cheers

 

[hcac]

I tried another user, same result. I even tried root with udiskie and got this:

root@test-pc:~# udiskie-umount /dev/sdb1
failed to unmount /org/freedesktop/UDisks2/block_devices/sdb1: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.UDisks2.Error.Failed: Error unmounting /dev/sdb1: not mounted
root@test-pc:~# umount /dev/sdb1
root@test-pc:~# # (Success)
root@test-pc:~# udiskie-mount /dev/sdb1
mounted /org/freedesktop/UDisks2/block_devices/sdb1 on /media/root/326c5e00-2bef-4917-a4bf-556d768a3863
root@test-pc:~# udiskie-umount /dev/sdb1
failed to unmount /org/freedesktop/UDisks2/block_devices/sdb1: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.UDisks2.Error.Failed: Error unmounting /dev/sdb1: not mounted

Also tried adding my user (which is a normal user, by admin I meant sudoers) to the plugdev group, no luck.

I think something's up with udisks2, I read somewhere that udisks and udisks2 can have conflicts. Though I checked with apt, I have udisks2 only, not udisks.
There is the fact that umount works but udiskie-umount doesn't.

P.S.: I checked now, the problem exists with the root account too.

Edit:
When I plug the usb in, open it in Nautilus, and then stop the udisks2 service, then the unmount button works! (unlike udiskie; it seems when udiskie is ran, the udisks2 service gets started again)

Edit 2:
When I run /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-udisks2-volume-monitor while the service is running, everything works well.
This must be some clue to something...
If it's volume monitor and it's not running, then udisks wouldn't know that sdb1 mounted.

Edit 3:
It's fixed!
-Ran /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-udisks2-volume-monitor and the tray icon appeared and everything went fine, rebooted and all is well.
-I also installed udevil, which included devmon, I ran devmon and it fixed things when the udisks2 service was not running. But I didn't need to use devmon in the end.

Thanks you for your time;
Hope you have fun.

 

[wizardfromoz]

I love it when they solve their own problems , I don't mind being made redundant

That's wonderful news, @hcac . And welcome to linux.org

I run 60 - 70 Linux spread over two computers, and I have a Kali on each but have hardly explored their options.It is on my New Year's Resolutions list to get better acquainted. I was going to dive into one and see if I could help, then read you had it sorted.

I will add what you have found to my own personal Wiki or Knowledge Base and that will be helpful to me.

We have a couple of people here you are well versed in Kali, no doubt you will meet them over time, and maybe you will be teaching us/them

Season's Best and enjoy your Linux.

Wizard

 

[atanere]

@hcac, Nicely done, sir. Very nicely done!

And I humbly apologize for the "new user insinuation".... a mistake that I have made before (more than once), and for which I am always glad to acknowledge my error. I hope that you'll frequent the site here often and lend a hand helping others as well.

Happy Holidays

Stan