filesystemsymbolic-link
When I want to transfer files from my local hard drive to my thumbdrive, I keep getting this error:
Filesystem does not support symbolic links.
I don't know what this is, I need help with transferring files.
Dragging and dropping, does not work for me, the error appears. Right-click on the file and select copy, and then right click on the thumbdrive and select Paste does not work, I am still getting the same error.
The problem is due to the security policies of the web browsers. More detailed explanation is provided here. The good news is that there is a couple of available extensions that could solve this problem. For example:
For Firefox prior to Firefox Quantum:
The extension LocalLink will add an entry (called Open Link in Local Context) into the right click context menu.
The extension Local Filesystem Links will open these links (file:///) into the default File Explorer - in my case it is Nautilus.
For Chrome/Chromium:
file:///) as if they are 'normal' links.While the extension Local Filesystem Links could serve within Firefox according to the question's requirements, I couldn't found an analogical extension for Chrome/Chromium. But I found the following workaround.
1. Add the extension Open in Firefox to Chrome/Chromium. Follow the installation guide and setup the extension.
2. Once the extension works properly, right click on its icon and go to the Options menu. Fill in /usr/bin/dolphin for "Path to executable" and Save.
3. Now you could open these links via the option Open Link in Firefox Browser from the right click context menu.
Here is a demo how the mentioned extensions for Chrome work (together):
FAT32, unlike NTFS, does not support symlinks, as per https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/blog/the-dsc-472367/not-even-linux-can-create-symlinks-on-fat32-36281/ and https://superuser.com/questions/216332/is-there-anything-like-a-link-or-shared-mount-point-for-fat32-folders-in-linux-a
Therefore, if you want symlinks on a Windows-readable drive, use NTFS.
Mac OS X requires additional work to enable writing to a USB flash drive as per http://osxdaily.com/2013/10/02/enable-ntfs-write-support-mac-os-x/ and https://techsviewer.com/write-ntfs-drives-macos-high-sierra/ but is able to read NTFS natively.
Best Answer
A symbolic link is a file that points to another file, a kind of alias for a filepath. It is not compatible with the FAT-32 filesystem commonly found on USB drives.
To find the symbolic link, you can open the terminal and do an
ls -alin the directory you are having problems with - the symbolic link will have anlas the first character in the listing (where directories have ad). Or else, you can do afind DIR -type lwhereDIRis a directory that might (indirectly) contain symbolic links (.is ok too).If you want to copy the content:
ls -al LINK, whereLINKis your link, will tell you where it points to (ifLINKis a directory you will have to remove the final slash in case you have one). Just copy that.N.B.:
ls -lis normally sufficient, I just added theain order to display hidden files, whose name starts with a dot - for the case where the link is a hidden file.But, if you are afraid of the terminal: in Nautilus (the file browser), the icons of links are marked by a small arrow on the bottom right (but not all icons marked like that are links). If you right click on the icon and select
Properties, if it is a link, itsTypewill start withLink to, and itsLink targetwill tell you where the real stuff is (unless that is a link itself, in which case you will have to follow the chain).