How to automatically mount a disk partition to a specific folder

I have an external USB drive that is normally assigned to /dev/sdc1 and mounted at /media2 when the system starts.. But when the laptop is bumped, it disconnects, and then /media2  is unreachable. Furthermore, the system then re-mounts it as  /dev/sdd1  instead of /dev/sdc1 so even if you have a script to remount it manually, it won’t work. Using systemd under Fedora 36, I was able to auto-re-mount it as /media2 even if it’s disconnected an re-connected. Here is how:

1) Find the UUID of the partition.

# blkid

(...)
/dev/sdc1: UUID="daa01b07-430d-40f0-8fa6-4e0a83e856c1" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext3" PARTLABEL="MYEXTERNAL" PARTUUID="bc2 822f8-6208-1bef-a88f-f2040ba12130"
(...)

 

and note the UUID of your drive partition that you want to auto-mount. It’s the thing that starts with “daa01…”.  We will need this later on.

2) Learn the vendor and product ID’s of your USB drive.

Plug in your USB drive and run this. From the long list, fish out your USB drive’s line:

# lsusb

(....)
Bus 001 Device 009: ID 1f75:0621 Innostor Technology Corporation IS621 SATA Storage Controller
(....)

In my case, the 1f75 is the vendor ID, and 0621 is the product ID.

3) Now create a new UDEV rule — this gets executed when the USB is attached:

edit /etc/udev/rules.d/99-turgut-automount.rules

ACTION=="add",ATTRS{idVendor}=="1f75",ATTRS{idProduct}=="0621",ENV{SYSTEMD_WANTS}="remount-media2.service"

You need to change the idVendor and idProduct to the ones you found in step 2. Likewise you can give it a better filename 🙂 I like to keep my changes obvious so I remember it later on.

4) Write the systemd service

Now create a file like this:

# nano /etc/systemd/system/remount-media2.service

It should contain:

[Unit]
Description=Remount Media2

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/remount-media2
StandardOutput=null

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Alias=remount-media2.service

5) Creating the executable

Now we need to create the actual script that will be run every time that USB is added to the system. Replace the UUID you see below to what your drive is..  Mine looks like this, you can change it to anything you like:

# nano /usr/local/bin/remount-media2

#!/bin/bash
echo "Remount-media2 running" >> /var/log/remount-media2.log
umount /dev/sdc1
umount /dev/sdd1
sleep 1
umount -f /dev/sdc1
umount -f /dev/sdd1
sleep 1
mount -o rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,sync,data=ordered UUID="daa01b07-430d-40f0-8fa6-4e0a83e856c1"  /media2
exit 0

(The whole long mount line is just one line.. It might have wrapped around for you)

Just make this an executable now, like:

# chmod +x /usr/local/bin/remount-media2

Conclusion

That’s it! Now reboot your computer and check the /var/log/remount-media2.log file.. try unplugging your drive and re-plugging it back.. a new line should be added to that log file, and the drive should be remounted to the same path.

 

How to set up Windows 11 without a Microsoft account

To stop Microsoft from asking you to create/use an email address during the setup, (which is irritating and infuriating to say the least):

When it asks you to create/use an email address:

  1. Use the Shift + F10 keyboard shortcut to open Command Prompt.
  2. Type the following command to release the current network configuration and press Enter:ipconfig /release
  3. Close the Command Prompt console.
  4. Click the Back button.
  5. Confirm the name of the local account.
  6. Click the Next button.
  7. Create a password for the account.

 

“This PC can’t run Windows 11” error – how to fix and circumvent this error

If you get the above error message while trying to install Windows 11 (which is a bad idea – due to its virus-like features and its insecure-yet-closed-box mentality), here is what you can do:

When you get this error message, do these:

  • Press Shift-F10 to open a command prompt window.
  • Type regedit and press the Enter-key to load the Windows Registry Editor.
    Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup in the Registry Editor window.
  • Right-click on Setup and select New > Key.
  • Name it LabConfig and press the Enter-key.
  • Right-click on the new LabConfig key and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
    Name it BypassTPMCheck.
  • Set its value to 1.
  • To disable the Secure Boot Check:
    • Right-click on LabConfig and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
      Name it BypassSecureBootCheck.
    • Set its value to 1.
  • To bypass the RAM check:
    • Right-click on LabConfig and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
      Name it BypassRAMCheck.
    • Set its value to 1.
  • Close the Registry Editor window.
  • Type exit in the command prompt window and press the Enter-key.
  • Activate the back button in the top left corner of the “This PC can’t run Windows 11” window to go back and repeat the system requirements check.
    If BACK button is not available, simply close that windows, and click on the INSTALL NOW button again.

PS: You should try LINUX now – because for the first time Linux is actually BETTER for ALL aspects of computing, even games!