Can't access from ubuntu to windows 8 drives that install along side it

Question

I installed Ubuntu 13.04 alongside Windows 8 but when I want to access Windows drives I see this error massage:

Error mounting /dev/sda1 at /media/xalid/3A56A42656A3E0BD: Command-line `mount -t "ntfs" -o "uhelper=udisks2,nodev,nosuid,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmask=0077,fmask=0177" "/dev/sda1" "/media/xalid/3A56A42656A3E0BD"' exited with non-zero exit status 14: Windows is hibernated, refused to mount.
Failed to mount '/dev/sda1': Operation not permitted
The NTFS partition is in an unsafe state. Please resume and shutdown
Windows fully (no hibernation or fast restarting), or mount the volume
read-only with the 'ro' mount option.

As a workaround I tried this:

mkdir /media/sd4
mount -t ntfs-3g -o ro /dev/sda1 /media/sd4

This allows me to access the partition, but I am unable to change anything on the drive since it was mounted as read only.

How can I access to my Windows drives whenever I login to Ubuntu?

Solution

Windows 8, by default, hibernates instead of fully shutting down (read: to allow for fast boot). It's a pain but I believe if you tell windows to reboot into the special "Advanced Options" mode in the settings then you could potentially tell windows to shutdown fully. Check out this link to shut down your windows 8 pc fully (link to another question click here for their tutorial they found to disable fast boot).

Running the command mount -t ntfs-3g -o ro /dev/sda1 /media/sd4 makes it read only hence the ro. Change that command to mount -t ntfs-3g -o rw /dev/sda1 /media/sd4 for writing.

Comments

[RPiAwesomeness]

By the looks of it your Windows 8 installation is hibernating. Can you boot windows and then Shutdown, or is it currently shutdown?

[bsara]

possible duplicate of Unable to mount Windows (NTFS) filesystem due to hibernation

[RPiAwesomeness]

I recognized the fact that Windows was hibernating, thus the inaccessible partition, but I didn't know Windows 8 automatically hibernates. +1 for that and the solution.

[Cole Busby]

@RPiAwesomeness Yeah, my girlfriend has Windows 8. Fast boot is a great feature but it comes at the cost of making the PC mostly usable for Windows only.

[RPiAwesomeness]

Is this safe? I mean, Ubuntu automatically not mounting the windows partition is probably done for a reason.

[Cole Busby]

@RPiAwesomeness In order to keep from being to chatty, I'm just going to say that it's the user's preference. If the user enjoys the experience then so be it. I hated unity for the same reasons as some hate 8. It's a crapshoot either way. Ultimately, Fast Boot makes up for the Linux Pro of being able to load in 5 seconds from a complete shutdown.