Error using mkdir but not using !mkdir

I'm running Matlab 2019b on a MacOS Catalina (10.15.5) and I am connected to a University Network drive which is mapped using Samba ('smb://') to

/Volumes/research-data/PRJ-dasa

I'm using a Matlab application (Brainstorm) which must create new directories within this project dir. However, when it tries to do so it results in the following error

>> cd /Volumes/research-data/PRJ-dasa
>> mkdir somepath
Error using mkdir
Read-only file system

However when I try to create the directory using either of the two following lines, the directories are created just fine.

>> !mkdir somepath
>> system('mkdir someotherpath')

So, my question is why does Matlab think the drive is read-only, when the system can create new directories without issue?

Your help is very much appreciated.

Rick

[Zoe Hughes]

I have the exact same question. I am running 2021b on Monterey 12.4 but have the same issue with the smb server. Any insights, anyone?

[sshr]

Similar issue on mac running R2023b on Sonoma 14.2.1 connected to network drive mapped using smb

Answer 1

[Samay Sagar]

Hi @Rick @Zoe Hughes @sshr,

The above issue can occur if MATLAB is running with different permissions compared to the terminal. Verify that MATLAB has necessary permissions to modify the network drive.

You can use the following command to check file system permissions for the network drive within MATLAB:

fileattrib /Volumes/research-data/PRJ-dasa

You can try starting MATLAB with "sudo" command to see if this resolves the issue:

sudo matlab

If this doesn't work, you can try mounting the Samba server to the local filesystem hierarchy. Then MATLAB can access and write files in the mounted folder/drive like regular local filesystem files.

A related issue has been discussed here: https://superuser.com/questions/696248/linux-matlab-not-able-to-access-windows-files-through-smb-drive