When i tried the direct link my laptop’s WiFi was disabled, so only the direct link Ethernet connection was present. It was first after a while that I opened the WiFi connection again and logged on to the Pi to check IP etc.

One thing though, is that my MacBook Pro is without native Ethernet port. I use a Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter from Apple. It works perfectly when connected to normal LAN and it gets an IP from the Raspberry Pi, so it should work - but it doesn’t.

Yes, that is precisely how I connect to my various pi's when I cannot do wifi. I use a usb c to ethernet dongle plugged directly into the pi and my MacBook Pro. I know that this works because I did it just a few hours ago in order to connect to my pi temporarily so that I could select the appropriate wifi network, enter my password, and get it on my home network. I'm imaging with my scope in the driveway and my laptop inside over wifi right now.

Well I am sorry to say it’s not left over from an old script, I only updated the script and re ran it yesterday and still WILL NOT recognise USB flash drives, so you have not solved this issue at all... this is ridiculous to have a system that won’t recognise USB drives, looks like I’m going to have to wipe the lot and build all from scratch then and not use the script....
Those two lines do exist and have a 1 after them and not a zero, but still will not work with any type of hard or USB drive....tried everything
Why does the file keep re creating after I delete this is ridiculous......

Well I am using a brand new script, from just yesterday...so no idea what’s going on but it’s no good to me if it won’t even see a USB drive..

OK I am not using RPI4 just a RPI3b+ BUT i am using RPI3b+ using Buster and you can certainly mount USB sticks as well as a DSLR.

Unfortunately I am using Indigo_server not Indi_server but the principle is the same as far as devices being mounted etc.

So long as the actions in the DSLR FAQ's are used INCLUDING GNOME stop automounting

jrlaffoon provided the following solution:
sudo rm /usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.gtk.Private.GPhoto2VolumeMonitor.service
sudo rm /usr/share/gvfs/mounts/gphoto2.mount
sudo rm /usr/share/gvfs/remote-volume-monitors/gphoto2.monitor
sudo rm /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.media-handling automount false

The above works everytime - so far.

As you can see from attached screen captures there is a USB stick mounted (has Ubuntu Mate on it ) , no Canon mounts (which did appear before using above settings) and Indigo_server is running and being used by CCDCiel on another PC.

So unless there is something odd going on with RPI4 Kernel or whatever it should,one would think, still be the same or possible.
Note FYI I never switch on the DSLR or stick in the Stick until the system has booted.

AstroNerd:
I don't believe the script is setup to undo the disabled mounting.
The recent versions or the script however does address the mounting issues correctly if installed from scratch. My DSLR does not auto-mount, and my USB sticks do, as they should.

Actually you may not believe this but It has been correctly installed from scratch, and still has the file that should not be there, so I am sorry but you are wrong...

Good for you my friend, but mine does not work after using the script from scratch yesterday...

So just to be clear, that file didn't exist on my system, but it did exist on some other people's systems. There are other ways the file can be created. It is just a file with settings in it. As long as the settings are right for what you are trying to do, it is ok if it exists. Thats why I asked you what was inside the file. I believe if the settings are 1 as you described, then that means that the drives should mount. 0 was the setting I set them to to disable mounting.

One idea for you, try this:

sudo apt -y install usbmount

See if that helps.

I just tried the usbmount package I just mentioned. It makes mounting USB drives much better on Raspbian, and installing it did not make the DSLR automoumting come back because of those 4 files we deleted in the script. So this might be a good solution for you astronerd. If it is a good solution, I can also add it to the script, since it doesn't seem to have negative side effects so far.

Makes no difference, I still Have the file and showing 1 as the setting an not zero, and the file exists in the same two places, so no idea, but to not be able to use a USB drive is ridiculous and so am scrapping the idea of the script altogether, as it does not suit my needs at all, also I have three other people on my Facebook group who have same issue and are also looking for alternative ideas...sorry but it does not work as it should...