WSL Bash Permission denied to create files and directories - bash

Question

I've set up WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) on my Windows 10 to utilize Bash. I've created a Linux user, installed the latest updates and upgrades, and I know how to access the Windows files through /mnt/c/Users etc. When I try to create a new file on my desktop, it denies permission:
rupert#DESKTOP-GT4APR9:/mnt/c/Users/zolta/OneDrive/Desktop$ touch
file.txt touch: cannot touch 'file.txt': Permission denied
How can I grant my Linux Bash user permission to create and modify files and directories on my Windows user desktop? Is that possible at all?

Answer 1

I would use sudo, i.e. sudo touch file.txt. Works for me in WSL2 Ubuntu (which is Debian based)

Answer 2

The path with which you are having problems,
rupert#DESKTOP-GT4APR9:/mnt/c/Users/zolta/OneDrive/Desktop
appears to live on OneDrive: While I am not a OneDrive expert, my understanding is that to access it from the command line, the remote data stored on OneDrive has to synced locally.
If you cd rupert#DESKTOP-GT4APR9:/mnt/c/Users/zolta, can you touch file.txt there?
What about accessing these folders from cmd or pwsh?

Answer 3

By default, on a brand new Windows 10 install, the user sub-directories (Desktop, Documents, etc...) are located within the OneDrive directory, inside the home directory (that is troublesome in my opinion).
It will allow synchronisation between devices.
I do not know if WSL is able to access such a directory, like it cannot access USB storage for exemple.
You may want to ls first in order to see if you can access:
ls -alh /mnt/c/Users/zolta/OneDrive/Desktop
If you can see your files, that is a write access issue. You might correct it by changing the owner or the directory and it's content:
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /mnt/c/Users/zolta/OneDrive/Desktop
If you cannot, try using sudo:
sudo ls -alh /mnt/c/Users/zolta/OneDrive/Desktop
If nothing can be seen, or an error raise, that probably means WSL cannot access this directory.
In that case, I suggest you change default directory as stated in the Microsoft documentation.