Failed to mount NTFS volume in Thunar

(Error mounting /dev/sdd1: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock, missing codepage or helper program, or other error.)

I have an external HD connected to the television which contains TV programmes and Films. Recently I connected it to my Debian Trixie computer to transfer an new film, and got the error dialogue above in the XFCE file manager.

Strangely, I could mount and access the HD drive using

mount /dev/sdd1 /mnt/my_drive

Unix & Linux at StackExchange

 I found the following at the Manjaro forum

The newer kernels now use the in-kernel ntfs3 driver, which often fails. When you are mounting them manually, you are using ntfs-3g as the driver, which is the one that works. By blacklisting ntfs3, you make sure that it’ll always use ntfs-3g diver.

To extend this:

ntfs3 fails if damage to an NTFS formatted drive is found; or, rather, if an indicator of damage (commonly called a dirty bit) is found.

ntfs-3g ignores this, and mounts the NTFS partition, regardless.

The important point here is that the NTFS filesystem may still be damaged, as you blissfully continue using the drive.

If an error exists, it must be corrected using chkdsk within a Windows environment. This can be achieved by launching an administrative command prompt.

That seems to explain why I could mount the HD from a command line but not in Thunar, but Uh-Oh, I don't have a Windows computer. (The HD came formatted that way, and the TV won't use any other format.)

I downloaded a Windows repair disk, but it wouldn't boot on this old computer.

Then I came across this post, also at the Manjaro Forum

Use “Disks” , find your drive and repair filesystem option. Worked for me.

Worked for me too!

Was the file system actually damaged, or was it this bug?

Whatever the reason, it seems Debian has more than one NTFS driver, and a different driver may be used by different applications. Something to bear in mind.

Authentication dialog for root privileges broken in Debian Trixie XFCE

 

Above is a screenshot of the dialog in action so you know what I mean.

The dialog appears launching Synaptic package manager, unlocking printer settings or launching LightDM Greeter settings.

Or should. On new installs of XFCE in Debian Trixie it will fail silently, and nothing will happen when clicking on the relevant menu item or button.

The reason is that the agent required to bring up this dialog (policykit-1-gnome) has been removed from Debian Testing because it's an ancient Gnome package which is no longer maintained. See this bug report.

The removal of policykit-1-gnome has affected XFCE because it is a recommended install with at least one XFCE package that I can see (Thunar) but not a direct dependency of XFCE. XFCE relies on it being there, but does not actively ensure that it is there.

Other DEs that rely on the package like Mate and LXDE have noticed that the writing was on the wall for policykit-1-gnome and produced their own version of the package, namely mate-polkit and lxpolkit.

Other Linux distributions have noticed the same thing and released a package to fulfil the same function in XFCE, for example xfce-polkit in Arch.

There is now a Debian bug report for this rather crucial to the desktop missing agent. Somebody has come up with an agent for Debian (also called xfce-polkit), but it hasn't made it into Trixie, according to this bug report.

So, at the moment, for new installs of Trixie, there are going to be issues such as Synaptic filing to launch. See this topic on the Debian forum. (Anybody with a Trixie install predating the removal will still have policykit-1-gnome installed and not experience the issue.

The solution? For the moment, install lxpolkit or mate-polkit, or compile the proposed Debian xfce-polkit package yourself. (The screenshot at the top is Debian xfce-polkit.)