2ndary HD not mounting as executable so Steam for Linux can't use it

[steve7233]

I have a HD with two partitions that I had been using with my Steam games. I have a lot of Steam for Linux games that have worked properly in the past. Now Steam can not install to it because it is not mounting as executable. I just bought a new game via the Steam summer sale but I cant install it. Steam says the partition is not mounted as executable. Kubuntu has worked in the past is this a Ubuntu bug and is there a work around?

[claydoh]

Are you sure the partition needs to be executable?

It sure need to be writeable by your user, however.

[steve7233]

Your submission could not be processed because the token has expired.

[steve7233]

I am not sure that's the error message that Steam gave.

[steve7233]

Wouldn't it need to be executable to execute the games executable file?

[claydoh]

Folders are not executable, but files can be. You probably need to make sure that the folder where steam wants to put things on that drive is owned by your user account, or read/writeable , else steam can't write the files to the disk.


Is the disk your steam things are on part of another OS? How is it mounted?

[steve7233]

It was working just fine. It must be a problem with Kubuntu 15.04. There is another thread on here about a 2ndary drive that won't auto mount. Maybe there is a problem in the source code someplace. Maybe the auto mount isn't working properly and we have to wait for the maintainer to fix the source code. To even get it to mount in the first place I have run Dolphin and click on the partition then it get mounted but it is mounted in correctly.

[oshunluvr]

If it's an internal hard drive (always present) and you're installing stuff to it, using automount or Dolphin to mount the drive is the incorrect way to mount and access the drive.

Rather than waiting for a dev. to fix a perceived bug, why not mount it correctly via fstab instead?

If it's not a fixed drive, like a USB device, then I'd suggest adding a mount command in your startup scripts somewhere.

[steve7233]

It has always worked properly until a recent update. I noticed the problem after yesterdays update.I have several Steam games installed to it. Kubuntu has always auto mounted it correctly. Why only after yesterdays update is it not working correctly? Perhapes Ubuntu uses a new method that wasn't properly checked before making the update?

[claydoh]

I doubt it. I have my steam running off a secondary drive, I've had no problems with it at all for as long as I have had it set up this way - quite a while now, across at least three Kubuntu upgrades.

You might want to describe your exact steps, including which game, and the full path to where you are trying to install the game to, and the exact error messages you see. Attach screenshots if you think they will help.

[steve7233]

All my Linux games are installed to same drive and after yesterdays upgrade Steam for Linux can't access the games. If I open dolphin I can click on the drive and then it gets mounted but Steam still cant use it as its mounted as not executable.I didn't do anything just updated using Muon update. and rebooted when told. I even tried rebooting a second time in case the first reboot messed up I do remember that I had to drop to a konsle to do the first reboot as KDE got messed up..

[claydoh]

I know it may be annoying and tedious, but a more precise listing of the steps you are taking to try and install the game are needed, along with exact errors and messages you see. This will give a better place for us to begin looking, and a better idea of where to look.

[steve7233]

I click the install button in Steam and steam dose not list any other partitions as none are automatically mounted due to the problem. I close Steam. I launch Dolphin. I select the drive then Dolphin mounts it. I open Steam and try again. Now Steam lists the other drive but it wants to create a new library even tho there is a Steam Library on the partition with many games already installed. even If I select it it says the file has to be executable. I can try to install to my system drive but there is not enough space on it.

[claydoh]

Is this the exact error message?

New Steam Library Folder must be on a filesystem mounted with executable permissions.

Typing out exact messages are very helpful when researching problems.
If this is the exact error message, please mount the drive as you normally would, and then in a terminal, enter the following command exactly as given:

df -h


Copy and paste the output here. We are looking for the actual mounting point of the disk with your Steam games.
The line we are looking for most likely will look somewhat similar like this:

/dev/sdb1 4.0G 3.0M 4.0G 1% /media/lark/F185-7C35


Above, lark is my username, this is what it looks like when I click on a drive to mount it using Dolphin. Things mounted this way are done in /media/<your-username>

Next, we need to see the ownership of the directory, so you will need to go to that folder in Dolphin, right-click on it, go to Permissions, and look at the ownership.

A good way to get this info is to open that folder in Dolphin, hit your f4 key to open a terminal there, and then enter this command:
ls -l.
This will give us some permission/ownership info on the folders and files inside, and is a nice and easy thing to copy and paste here.



If this is the exact error message, I suspect this as the outcome of having run Dolphin or other program using sudo, then mounting that drive from it, thus changing the permissions, but can't know for sure until we take a look-see.

[steve7233]

Is this the exact error message?

New Steam Library Folder must be on a filesystem mounted with executable permissions.

Typing out exact messages are very helpful when researching problems.
If this is the exact error message, please mount the drive as you normally would, and then in a terminal, enter the following command exactly as given:

df -h


Copy and paste the output here. We are looking for the actual mounting point of the disk with your Steam games.
The line we are looking for most likely will look somewhat similar like this:

/dev/sdb1 4.0G 3.0M 4.0G 1% /media/lark/F185-7C35


Above, lark is my username, this is what it looks like when I click on a drive to mount it using Dolphin. Things mounted this way are done in /media/<your-username>

Next, we need to see the ownership of the directory, so you will need to go to that folder in Dolphin, right-click on it, go to Permissions, and look at the ownership.

A good way to get this info is to open that folder in Dolphin, hit your f4 key to open a terminal there, and then enter this command:
ls -l.
This will give us some permission/ownership info on the folders and files inside, and is a nice and easy thing to copy and paste here.



If this is the exact error message, I suspect this as the outcome of having run Dolphin or other program using sudo, then mounting that drive from it, thus changing the permissions, but can't know for sure until we take a look-see.

The dive should be mounted at boot time but it no longer does. Some update mus thave changed this. This is why I use dolphin. perhapes that is why it dosn't mount correctly. Yes what you said was the exact error message that Steam gave.

steve7233@steve7233-EP45-UD3P:~$ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /dev
tmpfs           396M  6.7M  389M   2% /run
/dev/sda1       180G  166G  4.9G  98% /
tmpfs           2.0G   44M  1.9G   3% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs           396M   12K  396M   1% /run/user/1000
/dev/sdb2       164G   85G   71G  55% /media/steve7233/Steam for Linux

the last line is the drive in question.

steve7233@steve7233-EP45-UD3P:/media/steve7233/Steam for Linux$ ls -l
total 20
drwxr-xr-x 2 steve7233 steve7233 16384 Sep 25  2014 lost+found
drwxrwxr-x 3 steve7233 steve7233  4096 Apr 23 11:59 SteamLibrary