Google Chrome can't access folders\files in the computer

[MrAccident]

FossaPup64 9.0.5, LiveUSB; NTFS external-drive, with SaveFile. Chrome: the latest deb file.
Trying to save a file, or upload a file: in the window that opens ― I can't see the mounted partition where my files are; even going into mnt folder. In fact, in mnt - are only the partitions of the LiveUSB flash card; and they appear to be empty.
Dragging a folder onto the places in the window ― makes "New Bookmark" appear ― but nothing happens when I drag it there and let go.

[Feek]

Are you running google chrome as spot?
If so, you can only download to the spot folder, and similarly, uploading is only possible if you place the files in the spot folder (/home/spot).

[MrAccident]

@Feek - it seems this way. I moved the files to /home/spot - and was able to see them (only after dragging the folder onto the window, to create a New Bookmark).
So how do I enable it to access the drive?

[sonny]

Drag the file from spot to desktop, then run it there

[MrAccident]

@sonny - I don't understand, what file? I meant - how do I get Chrome to be able to see and access folders and files in the drive? I was able to upload some files to Google Drive - by moving them to spot folder; I just don't want to do that every time.

[mikeslr]

Run a different web-browser, one which doesn't run as Spot. Spot is designed with limited privileges among which are that it can not access anything other than its own folder. If you can't, neither can any hacker.

But sometimes Spot isn't all its cracked up to be. With Google-Chome open, have you tried pressing Ctrl-o? As I don't use google-drive, I don't know if that helps.

FWIW, for general web-browsing I use MikeWalsh's Brave-portable. For secure web-browsing I use his firefox-portable* hardened per this post, viewtopic.php?t=2335&sid=93f0c6ee5730b9 ... 2b634d3e70. But that provided a valuable lesson in being careful what you wish for. In my desire to prevent anyone from accessing my financial communications I quickly discovered that included among the 'anyone' was the bank I was trying to communicate with. IIRC, I had to 'allow third party cookies'.

--=--=---=-=-
* There's an addon for firefox-quantum named 'Shortcuts for Google™ Products", https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... ent=search included among which are Google-drive. To access it you have to sign in. I'm almost certain that Google will insist that you allow 3rd party cookies if you want to access.

[williams2]

You can mount an ntfs file system so that it is readable and writable by a user like spot.
The whole point of spot, is that it is unprivileged so it can not damage the file systems.

But you have your save file on that ntfs file system.
Many file systems like ext3 allow it to be remounted with different parameters,
but ntfs-3g does not.

Code: Select all

# ntfs-3g /dev/sda4 /mnt/home -o remount
 Remounting is not supported at present. You have to umount volume and then mount it once again.

You would need to edit the init script to mount the ntfs file system accessible by spot.

I boot with no save file (my save file is a readonly and compressed adrv.sfs file)
Jf I want to mount my ntfs partition, I click a desktop icon to do that.

This is one way to mount an ntfs file system that spot can write to.

Code: Select all

ntfs-3g /dev/sda4 /mnt/home -o umask=0002,no_def_opts,noatime,rw,silent,allow_other,gid=100

[MrAccident]

@mikeslr:

With Google-Chome open, have you tried pressing Ctrl-o?

That opens the file-browser window; the same one I was talking about.

I'm using Chrome because everything works there, cause it's the most popular browser. I use it for YouTube and a very few other sites. So now I'll use another browser, just for Drive? :-\
Well, for now I hardly need to upload much stuff. We'll see.

@williams2 - I didn't understand what I can do.

[01101001b]

it seems this way. I moved the files to /home/spot - and was able to see them (only after dragging the folder onto the window, to create a New Bookmark).
So how do I enable it to access the drive?

Hi! This is not a solution, just a workaround:
In /home/spot, create a link to the folder you're interested to access to.
Now, from Chrome, see if you can access your folder through the link you created.
It might not work, but hey, if so at least you tried

Hope it helps.

[MrAccident]

@01101001b - already tried... didn't work :-J.

[williams2]

@williams2 - I didn't understand what I can do

I don't think you can do much.

The point of running as spot, is to limit the damage that spot can do.

If you run as root, you can save files anywhere, any time.

I boot without a save file (pfix=ram)
Usually, i want to save to the hard drive.
So i mount the hard drive

You can mount an ntfs partition so that spot can save files to like this:

Code: Select all

ntfs-3g /dev/sda4 /mnt/home -o umask=0002,no_def_opts,noatime,rw,silent,allow_other,gid=100

This is one way it can be done.
this mounts the file system in /dev/sda4 on /mnt/home/.

umask=0002 sets the permissions so that users that are members of that group can write to it,.
gid=100 makes the ntfs belong to the disk group.
The mount command requires the allow_other option.

To make this work with a save file on an ntfs partition, would require editing the init script file.
But you could mount an ntfs that your save file is NOT on. so that spot is able to save on it.

So, yes you can mount the file system so that spot can write to it.

.

[MrAccident]

@williams2:

But you could mount an ntfs that your save file is NOT on.

I don't have that .

[Feek]

@01101001b - already tried... didn't work :-J.

It probably can't work because of permissions.

I used to run Firefox as root and could access all drives on my computer from the browser. But it seems to be less secure.
Now I run browsers as spot.
I don't see a problem with downloading the file(s) to the spot folder and then moving them where needed.
And in the same way, when uploading files, I first copy them to the spot folder and then they can be uploaded via the browser. After uploading, I delete them from the spot folder.

[mikeslr]

To expedite moving files into-and-out of the Spot folder, you can install MikeWalsh's Spot2Root pet. https://www.forum.puppylinux.com/viewto ... 990#p63990.

May require editing depending where the Spot folder is located. I just found Mike 'update' and haven't examined the scripts. They used to be written for the Spot folder being /home/spot. But IIRC some portables can now treat their folder --where ever it is-- as Spot.

[MrAccident]

@mikeslr - I don't understand the purpose of it. When I needed to upload a folder with a few images - I moved the folder into /home/spot, and after uploading them - moved them back. Will this change something?

BTW - AFAIK if I normally move files or folders - the hard drive doesn't actually move them (copy the file and delete the previous version; like being beemed in Star Track); just changes the location in the file-system, or something like that. In which case - it's better to move it than to copy and then delete. How will it work - moving them in & out of Spot?

[mikewalsh]

@MrAccident :-

Mm. I confess; I'm at a loss to understand why you've formatted a flash drive with NTFS. For flash memory, it truly is the worst possible choice.....even if you need Windows compatibility, using the format flash drives come with, OOTB (FAT32) would have been far preferable.

Be that as it may; if Chrome works for you - does everything you want - and you're used to it, it IS possible to run it as root. Then, everything will work as normal. However, the downside of this is that the built-in security & sandboxing no longer functions.

It's a compromise that the user has to make. Do you want ultimate ease-of-use, or do you want maximum security? As it comes, OOTB, Chrome will give you both.......but ONLY if run in a mainstream, multi-user distro, where the individual users have restricted permissions anyway. This is the scenario that the .deb package is built to work with. Unfortunately, if you directly install the .deb package into Puppy, it has a disturbing habit of resetting the permissions on the pup_rw layer of the file-system.....with the direct result that your printer will quit working.

This is why we tend to re-build Chrome in such a way as to let it work with Puppy without interfering with anything. That's what I've done with the portable version, which normally runs-as-spot.....though it's a simple matter to convert it to a 'run-as-root' package. And the portable will run from outside of the 'save', thus saving space.

Mike.

[MrAccident]

@mikewalsh:

though it's a simple matter to convert it to a 'run-as-root' package.

I don't understand - I can do that?
I'm running FossaPup64 9.0.5 from flash, with SaveFile on external HDD with NTFS (all the way back from when I switched to Puppy, 2014 I think; so I didn't know about Linux File-Systems).

[williams2]

@williams2:

But you could mount an ntfs that your save file is NOT on.

I don't have that .

I do not have a bootloader on my hard drive.

I plug in a flash stick
boot
pres F9 to get the boot manger
select the usb flaah drive
the syslinux appears
I press enter and unplug after 2 or 3 seconds.
It boots Puppy.

I have 6 partitions that came with this machine.
I installed nothing on this machine
the boot files are in my flash drive

So when I boot Puppy, all of Puppy is in ram.
all the sfs files are copied automatically to ram.
No hard drive [artitios are mounted.
No usb drive are mounted.
No drives are mounted.

I usually mount sda4, the MS Windows ntfs partition.
so I click the mouse button which runs my mount script

Code: Select all

ntfs-3g /dev/sda4 /mnt/home -o umask=0022,no_def_opts,noatime,rw,silent 

which mounts /dev/sda4 on /mnt/home/

[MrAccident]

@williams2 - I didn't fully understand that. Do you use a SaveFile with this method? Because I need to use it.

[Clarity]

@MrAccident Here is a PUP Chrome install utility that accomplishes what you ask, Out-of-the-box (OOTB). It has some very pleasant features.

DO

1. The PET will install an entry in your PUP's Menu>Internet.

2. Click the entry

3. That entry will fetch the latest Chrome for you, installed it, and launch it for you.

It is designed for users who want that freedom with your specific case(s) is covered.

Enjoy!

[MrAccident]

@Clarity great! Do I uninstall Chrome first?

[Clarity]

YES. The PET does EVERYTHING for you...except erasing an old version of Chrome.

So, go into your PUP's PPM and 'uninstall' any/all prior Chrome browser versions. Then run the Menu entry.

Hope this helps

[MrAccident]

@Clarity - doesn't work. There was a failed to install the deb file message. And now when I launch the program ― it tells me to uninstall the existing version - which doesn't exist in PPM.

[Clarity]

Get_Chrome always works so long as there is no prior Chrome + files are presently installed on the system.

I remember I had some notes on this, where some Chrome files from a prior Chrome installer (NOT the gET-cHROME pet you've installed) created and left on my drive after Chrome removal. Still trying to find my notes on where those files that need manual removal is located on your drive. Still looking for my notes ... Seem to remember that is/was some hidden files that the old installers placed such that PPM could not remove, but unsure what/where these were left.

You wont have a problem once those leftover files are found and removed.

Lastly, once resolved, remember that the Get-Chrome utility installs all you need such that the PPM removal will work to allow any subsequent Chrome additions for upgrading.

[MrAccident]

Just to make clear: first it started to download and install; then it failed; and only then, when launched again - it demands to remove the previous version, thus the one it was suppose to install, and didn't really.
And I doubt I had any other installer; it's a very new SaveFile from LiveUSB; I just installed the deb file of recent Chrome, before.