Permission problems with applications writing on/accessing exFat formatted USB Stick
I use this 128GB Samsung USB Drive (exFat formatted) on Kubuntu 20.04 (and occasionally on Windows and Linux Mint). I use the drive on a daily basis and store all my work-related files on it. It mounts on both, Kubuntu and Linux Mint and I can drag and drop (most) files using the file browser.
However I cannot perform the following actions (besides others)
- whenever I drag and drop files into a Skype-Chat it fails to upload them. If I copy those files into any folder on my disk (e.g. into /Documents) drag-and-dropping to Skype works just fine
- it fails to run "npm" commands, such as "npm install tailwindcss...". However if I run the same command in any folder on my disk, everything works fine.
- same for drag-and-dropping file attachments FROM Thunderbird TO the drive. It won't work. On the other hand: drag and dropping files FROM the drive TO Thunderbird works.
Additionally the following actions work as well on the drive:
- opening, editing and saving .tex Documents with TexStudio
- opening, editing and saving files with IntelliJ
- opening, editing and saving files with LibreOffice, -Calc etc.
So far I tried to add an fstab entry, which does not solve the problem. (UUID=... /media/.../WorkStick exfat defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0)
I assume there is something wrong with permissions (some applications have permissions that the others do not have or belong to different groups), however I am no Linux Pro and hopefully anybody here is able to help me.
Thank you very much in advance!
As exfat was created for windows, it is not a POSIX compliant filesystem and is missing a number of features that are expected on unix filesystems, such as symlinks, hard links, file locking, case sensitivity, and permissions. Any permissions you see on exfat are derived from mount options, not from the filesystem.
A number of other questions have covered this for specific applictions:
- https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40691251/npm-install-fails-on-fat32-sile-system
- LibreOffice and Thunderbird likely fail due to lack of file locking