K3b Permissions – K3b: cdrecord Has No Permission

Fixing the 'burning group' error:

I can confirm this issue with Ubuntu 14.04 and k3b run as either ordinary user or running with sudo k3b. The solution on my system was to manually create the group from the commandline before opening k3b, demonstrated on my system as follows:

andrew@corinth:~$ sudo addgroup burning
[sudo] password for andrew: 
Adding group `burning' (GID 1001) ...
Done.
andrew@corinth:~$

After this add yourself to the new 'burning' group:

sudo usermod -a -G burning $USER

And then going to the k3b configuration screen:

k3b -->  Settings --> Setup System Permissions

and checking all of the following boxes:

1. Use burning group: burning (this should work now)
2. Devices: (Select the device you wish to use)
3. External Programs: Found Programs (select the applications you wish to use)

Press 'Apply' and all should now be well :).

Further Error Messages?

If however you managed to create the required group but continue to get odd burning problems and errors consider adding Brandon Snider's CDRTools PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:brandonsnider/cdrtools
sudo apt-get update

And then installing Jörg Schilling's cdrtools and friends (this will safely replace the Debian fork burning tools):

sudo apt-get install cdda2wav cdrecord mkisofs

And finally returning to:

k3b -->  Settings --> Setup System Permissions 

to setup the new applications with the appropriate permissions.

Another few things to try if problems persist:

1. Try a different brand of disk and if using DVD -R try DVD +R and the reverse.
2. Experiment with turning Nautilus 'auto-mount' off and on. The k3b FAQs implicate auto-mount in a variety of errors when burning.

Finally here is a screenshot showing the final settings on my own system:

Try attempting the following commands:

sudo chmod 4711 /usr/bin/wodim; sudo chmod 4711 /usr/bin/cdrdao

This will set the UID bit on the necessary binaries. It is illustrated in Settings -> Configure k3b -> programs -> Permissions "tab".