Fix Unable to mount Windows (NTFS) filesystem due to hibernation on Linux

This problem is very common among windows users dual booting it with Ubuntu. At times when you boot to your Ubuntu, Debian or any of its derivatives, you may get a message that it cannot mount your windows partition, and you have to choose to either wait, skip or manually mount the partition.

I have a working solution for this error. It’s easy to use and works like charm. Here is a short tutorial on how to.

For this fix we’ll use ntfsfix. Ntfsfix is a utility that fixes some common NTFS problems. ntfsfix is NOT a Linux version of chkdsk.

It only repairs some fundamental NTFS inconsistencies, resets the NTFS journal file and schedules an NTFS consistency check for the first boot into Windows.

Install ntfsfix

Install ntfsfix tool on your Linux distribution:

Ubunut / Debian:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ntfs-3g

Fedora / CentOS:

sudo yum install ntfsprogs

Arch Linux / Manjaro:

sudo pacman -S ntfs-3g

Fix Unable to mount Windows (NTFS) filesystem due to hibernation on Linux

1) First identify the mount point for the partition that fails to mount by using gparted or just lsblk.

$ sudo lsblk

If you want to use gparted and not currently installed on your system, you can install it by:

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt update
sudo apt install gparted

# Fedora / CentOS
sudo yum install gparted

Then launch it with the command:

$ sudo gparted

Use Gparted interface below:

It will appear as either /dev/sdax or /dev/sdbx e.t.c.Take note of  the partition to fix.

2) Now fix the error without booting into windows by executing the following command:

sudo ntfsfix /dev/sda2

In the above example, my hibernated partition is /dev/sda2. Replace it with your appropriate partition.

If you want to achieve this within Windows environment, the easiest way is to turn off hibernation completely. Open an elevated Command Prompt (right click on the shortcut, click on “Run as Administrator”), and type:

powercfg /h off

That’s all.

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