How to Program Access to USB Ports With Linux

Mount a drive in Linux to view its contents.

Although some excellent Linux flavors are on the market today with easy-to-use graphical interfaces, some still rely on the command prompt. To access a USB device on a Linux machine, the drive must first be mounted. Navigating to the command prompt should not be difficult, as it’s readily available in most versions of Linux and visible in the menu system. After you have mounted the USB drive, you’ll have access to all of the files on the device.

Instructions

1. Open the command prompt in Linux. Every version of Linux is different, but take a quick look around and you're sure to find it. The command prompt is key to running a Linux machine, so it is conspicuously located for convenient access.

2. Plug your USB stick into the computer. Linux will name the device for you and place it in the /dev/ directory.

3. Type “fdisk –l” and press the "Enter" key on your keyboard. The available devices attached to the computer will be listed. The USB device will appear on this list, so take note of its name.

4. Type “mkdir /mnt/****” without the quotes and replace the “****” with the name assigned to the USB drive by your Linux system. For example, you may type something like “mkdir /mnt/sdb1”. Press "Enter." A directory is created where the USB device will be mounted.

5. Type “mount –a” and then press “Enter” to mount the USB device into your Linux environment. The USB device should be displayed on the desktop as ready to be viewed.

References

• Linuxconfig.org: How to Mount USB Drive in Linux

Resources

• Linuxconfig.org: Home Page