Raw disk mode and appropriate permissions

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
Post Reply
mcarvalho
Posts: 1
Joined: 3. Mar 2018, 16:46

Raw disk mode and appropriate permissions

Post by mcarvalho »

**LINUX NEWBIE ALERT!**

I have been able to get raw disk to finally work in Linux Mint 18.3! Its great, I be in Windows 10 in a Linux world! life is sooo much better now. Anyways, I was only able to get it to work by using "sudo su" because of the rawdisk permissions. I want to be able to run it as my regular user account. Which permissions do I need to set to make this work?

Thanks!
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Raw disk mode and appropriate permissions

Post by socratis »

I'll give you a hint on what I have to do on OSX, not sure if it applies to Linux as well. Original permissions:
$ ls -al /dev/disk*
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   0  4 Mar 00:51 /dev/disk0    <-- System
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   1  4 Mar 00:51 /dev/disk0s1
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   3  4 Mar 00:51 /dev/disk0s2
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   2  4 Mar 00:51 /dev/disk0s3
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   4  4 Mar 00:51 /dev/disk1    <-- System
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   5  4 Mar 10:01 /dev/disk2    <-- That's the one I care about
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   6  4 Mar 10:01 /dev/disk2s1
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   7  4 Mar 10:01 /dev/disk2s2
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   8  4 Mar 10:01 /dev/disk2s3
Then I get in as a sudoer and run:
$ sudo chmod og+rw /dev/disk2
Password:
and afterwards I get:
$ ls -al /dev/disk*
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   0  4 Mar 00:51 /dev/disk0
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   1  4 Mar 00:51 /dev/disk0s1
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   3  4 Mar 00:51 /dev/disk0s2
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   2  4 Mar 00:51 /dev/disk0s3
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   4  4 Mar 00:51 /dev/disk1
brw-rw-rw-  1 root  operator    1,   5  4 Mar 10:01 /dev/disk2
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   6  4 Mar 10:01 /dev/disk2s1
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   7  4 Mar 10:01 /dev/disk2s2
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   8  4 Mar 10:01 /dev/disk2s3
which allows me to use /dev/disk2 as a simple user. It needs to be redone at every reboot/re-insertion (it's an external USB HD, but it shouldn't matter).
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
Martin
Volunteer
Posts: 2560
Joined: 30. May 2007, 18:05
Primary OS: Fedora other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: XP, Win7, Win10, Linux, OS/2

Re: Raw disk mode and appropriate permissions

Post by Martin »

On a Fedora Linux it is a little bit easier:

Code: Select all

$ ls /dev/sda* -lsa
0 brw-rw----. 1 root disk 8, 0  4. Mär 08:53 /dev/sda
0 brw-rw----. 1 root disk 8, 1  4. Mär 08:53 /dev/sda1
0 brw-rw----. 1 root disk 8, 2  4. Mär 08:53 /dev/sda2
0 brw-rw----. 1 root disk 8, 3  4. Mär 08:53 /dev/sda3
0 brw-rw----. 1 root disk 8, 4  4. Mär 08:53 /dev/sda4
0 brw-rw----. 1 root disk 8, 5  4. Mär 08:53 /dev/sda5
The 'disk' group has already the necessary rights, so you just need to add your normal user account to this group.
Post Reply