I have been getting problem with mounting my ntfs disk partition after upgrading my Ubuntu from verstion 7 to 8.

I though I could be problem with the upgrade that stuff things up and something could went wrong while upgrading.

After a few research, I’ve found it’s likely not because of the upgrade. The problem could possibly be: the disk partition hasn’t been completely released from window processes.

What I did was, force mount with the following command:

manet@netubuntu:/$ sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /media/sda1 -o force
manet@netubuntu:/$ sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/FIXED250G -o force

They are mounted successfully with the following warning message

$LogFile indicates unclean shutdown (0, 0)
WARNING: Forced mount, reset $LogFile.

which can be ignored, but again this is done at your own risk.

On command line, type

EDITOR=gedit sudo visudo

Append the following line at the end of file

system_username ALL=(ALL) ALL

If you don’t prefer the above step, you can add user to to admin group which has permission to use sudo. User the following command to add user to admin group.

sudo adduser a_username admin

This appends the admin group to the user’s supplementary group list. They will now have sudo access.

Preparation

• 1 CD and ISO Burning Software (eg. Nero)
• Download this CD Image (zip file 2.85MB)
• Unzip it using your favourit tool (eg. Winzip, 7-zip)
• Burn the .iso file to CD. Using Disc Copy mode and point source drive to iso image and destination to CD Burner drive.
• After it’s completed, you should have a bootable CD
• Now, change your System CMOS to boot from CD ROM

Reset Password

• Put that bootable CD in the drive
• Reboot your computer from CD ROM
• You should get this message

  Disks:
  Disk /dev/sda: 2147 MB, 2147483648 bytes
  NT partitions found:
  1 :   /dev/sda1    2043MB  Boot
  
  Please select partition by number or
  a = show all partitions, d = automatically load new disk drivers
  m = manually load new disk drivers
  l = relist NTFS/FAT partitions, q = quit
  Select: [1]

• Disk partition 1 is selected by default. If there is more than one listed, chose the right one and Press Enter.
• It will ask for path to registry directory

  Mounting on /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1
  NTFS volume version 3.1.
  Filesystem is: NTFS
  
  =========================================================
  . Step TWO: Select PATH and registry files
  =========================================================
  What is the path to the registry directory? (relative to windows disk)
  [windows/system32/config] :

  You notice the text in [ . . ] is the default value, if this is not right enter the right one according to which Operating system you are using.

  winnt35/system32/config - Windows NT 3.51
  winnt/system32/config - Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000
  windows/system32/config - Windows XP/2003

  then press Enter

• A few options will be listed

  Select which part of registry to load, use predefined choices
  or list the files with space as delimiter
  1 - Password reset [sam system security]
  2 - RecoveryConsole parameters [software]
  q - quit - return to previous
  [1] :

  Options 1 is selected by default, just Press Enter to resent Password

• Another options list will display

  Loaded hives:
  
  1 - Edit user data and passwords
  2 - Syskey status & change
  3 - RecoveryConsole settings
  - - -
  9 - Registry editor, now with full write support!
  q - Quit (you will be asked if there is something to save)
  
  What to do? [1] -> 1

  Press Enter to edit user data and passwords

• List of System user will display

  RID: 01f4, Username:
  RID: 01f5, Username: , *disabled or locked*
  RID: 03e8, Username: , *disabled or locked*
  RID: 03eb, Username:
  , *disabled or locked*
  RID: 03ea, Username: , *disabled or locked*
  
  Select: ! - quit, . - list users, 0x - User with RID (hex)
  or simply enter the username to change: [Administrator]

  Administrator is selected by default, just Press Enter

• Now it comes to an End

  * = blank the password (This may work better than setting a
  new password!)
  Enter nothing to leave it unchanged
  Please enter new password: *

  Enter new password for Administrator or Enter * if you don’t want any password

  Do you really wish to change it? (y/n) [n]

• Confirm the question by enter “y” and Press Enter
• Now enter “!” then “q” to quit the menue
• A confirm message will display before it make change to the system

  About to write file(s) back! Do it? [n] : y

  Enter “y” then Press Enter

• Great, you’ve done it!
• Reboot your computer now ( Ctrl + Alt + Del ) and don’t forget to take off the CD

Thanks to the Author of the great software.

Reference:

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/cd070409.zip