Chapter 15. Troubleshooting volume management in GNOME

Following are some common errors of volume management in GNOME and ways to resolve them.

15.1. Troubleshooting access to GVFS locations from non-GIO clients

If you have problems accessing GVFS locations from your application, it might mean that it is not native GIO client. Native GIO clients are typically all GNOME applications using GNOME libraries (glib, gio). The gvfs-fuse service is provided as a fallback for non-GIO clients.

Prerequisite

  • The gvfs-fuse package is installed. 

    $ yum install gvfs-fuse

Procedure

  1. Ensure that gvfs-fuse is running. 

    $ ps ax | grep gvfsd-fuse

    If gvfs-fuse is not running, log out and log back in. Red Hat does not recommend starting gvfs-fuse manually.

  2. Find the system user ID (UID) for the /run/user/UID/gvfs/ path.

    The gvfsd-fuse daemon requires a path where it can expose its services. When the /run/user/UID/gvfs/ path is unavailable, gvfsd-fuse uses the ~/.gvfs path. 

    $ id -u

  3. If gvfsd-fuse is still not running, start the gvfsd-fuse daemon: 

    $ /usr/libexec/gvfsd-fuse -f /run/user/_UID_/gvfs

    Now, the FUSE mount is available, and you can manually browse for the path in your application.

  4. Find the GVFS mounts under the /run/user/UID/gvfs/ or ~/.gvfs locations.

15.2. Troubleshooting an invisible connected USB disk

Under certain circumstances, when you connect a flash drive, the GNOME Desktop might not display it. If your flash drive is not visible in Files, but you can see it in the Disks application, you can attempt to set the Show in user interface option in Disks.

Procedure

  1. Open the Disks application.
  2. Select the disk in the side bar.
  3. Below Volumes, Click Additional partition options (⚙) → Edit Mount Options…​.
  4. Click Show in user interface.
  5. Confirm by clicking OK.
  6. If the flash drive is still not visible, you can try to physically remove the drive and try connecting it again.

15.3. Troubleshooting unknown or unwanted partitions listed in Files

Sometimes, you might see unknown or unwanted partitions when you plug a disk in. For example, when you plug in a flash disk, it is automatically mounted and its volumes are shown in the Files side bar. Some devices have a special partition with backups or help files, which you might not want to see each time you plug in the device.

Procedure

  1. Open the Disks application.
  2. Select the disk in the side bar.
  3. Below Volumes, Click Additional partition options (⚙) → Edit Mount Options…​.
  4. Uncheck Show in user interface.
  5. Confirm by clicking OK.

15.4. Troubleshooting if a connection to the remote GVFS file system is unavailable

There are number of situations in which the client is unexpectedly and unwillingly disconnected from a virtual file system or a remote disk mount and is not reconnected automatically.

You might see the error messages in such situations. Several causes trigger such situations:

  • The connection is interrupted. For example, your laptop is disconnected from the Wi-Fi.
  • The user is inactive for some time and is disconnected by the server (idle timeout).
  • The computer is resumed from sleep mode.

Procedure

  1. Unmount file system.
  2. Mount it again.
  3. If the connection is getting disabled more often, check the settings in the Network panel in the GNOME Settings.

15.5. Troubleshooting a busy disk in GNOME

If you receive a notification about your disk being busy, determine the programs that are accessing the disk. Then, you can end the programs that are running. You can also use the System Monitor application to kill the programs forcefully.

Prerequisites

  • The iotop utility is installed: 

    # yum install iotop

Procedure

  1. Examine the list of open files.

    • Run the lsof command to get the list of open files.
    • If lsof is not available, run the ps ax command.
    • You can use System Monitor to display the running processes in a GUI.

  2. When you have determined the programs, terminate them using any of the following methods:

    • On the command line, execute the kill command.
    • In System Monitor, right-click the line with the program process name, and click End or Kill from the context menu.

Additional resources

  • The kill man page.