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I made a guide on how to setup NTFS drives for linux gaming! (popcar.bearblog.dev)
submitted 10 months ago by popcar2@programming.dev to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world
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Hey folks, I just finished writing a guide for setting up NTFS drives for Linux gaming. There's been some misinformation and questions on whether it's feasible, but if you set it up right you should be fine.

Hopefully this can help others avoid the pain I've gone through to make it work without issues!

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[-] rtxn@lemmy.world 47 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Very important! When mounting an NTFS filesystem that is also used by Windows, always specify the windows_names option, both in /etc/fstab and when using mount.ntfs.

Windows is not fully compliant with the NTFS specs, which is a bloody genius move on Microsoft's part. NTFS allows file names and paths to contain characters that are illegal in Windows, like the : character. If you create a file with such a name, it will make the volume unmountable. Ask me how I know. The windows_names option prevents that.

[-] popcar2@programming.dev 22 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

This is good info, thanks! I'll add it to the fstab entry in a bit.

Edit: I've tested it for a bit and made sure the symlinks still work with non-Windows characters. Added it to the guide :)

[-] fonix232@fedia.io 20 points 10 months ago

Fucking Windows and its filesystem fuckeries...

[-] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 14 points 10 months ago

Windows is not fully compliant with the NTFS specs

What the fuck? Insane trivia to learn about now.

[-] krnl386@lemmy.ca 4 points 10 months ago

Microsoft’s idea of a standard is a unicorn

this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2025
62 points (89.7% liked)

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