Linux Execution Guide (Permission Denied)

If you encounter a Permission denied error (error 13) when attempting to run Blender from the IDE, particularly when using a downloaded version on a separate partition (like /mnt/data), the cause is likely a filesystem-level restriction rather than simple file permissions.

Symptoms

When starting a Run Configuration or detecting Python info, the IDE reports:

Cannot run program ".../blender" (in directory "..."): error=13, Permission denied

Even if you run chmod +x on the binary, the error persists.

Root Cause: The noexec Flag

On Linux, filesystems can be mounted with the noexec flag, which prevents any binary from being executed directly from that partition. This is a common security feature.

A frequent cause of this is the users (or user) option in your /etc/fstab file. On many Linux distributions, the users flag automatically implies several restrictive flags: * noexec: No programs can be executed. * nosuid: Set-user-identifier bits are ignored. * nodev: Device files are not interpreted.

Verification

To confirm if your partition has the noexec flag, run:

mount | grep "/mnt/data"

Look for noexec in the parentheses. Alternatively, check your mount configuration:

cat /etc/fstab | grep "/mnt/data"

If you see users without an explicit exec, then noexec is active.

Solutions

Option 1: Update /etc/fstab (Permanent Fix)

Modify your mount options to explicitly allow execution by adding the exec flag after users. NOTE: nvim, micro, vim, or any other TUI text editor can be used in place of Nano

  1. Open /etc/fstab as root:

    sudo nano /etc/fstab

  2. Locate the line for your partition and change users to users,exec:

    UUID=...  /mnt/data  btrfs  nofail,users,exec  0 0

  3. Save the file and remount the drive:

    sudo mount -o remount /mnt/data

  4. Restart the IDE to ensure it picks up the updated mount state.

Option 2: Use the Home Partition

If you cannot or do not want to change mount options, move the Blender downloads to your home directory (usually on the / partition), which typically allows execution.

  1. Go to Settings/Preferences > Blender Extensions.

  2. Change the Downloads Path to a directory within /home/your-user/.