Control Mounting and Unmounting of Filesystems Part 2

In this guide, you’ll learn how to grant non-root users the ability to mount and unmount filesystems on Linux. While root or sudo privileges have traditionally been required, desktop environments and modern distributions often auto-mount removable media such as CD-ROMs, USB flash drives, and external disks under a user’s home directory:

/media/USER/LABEL

For example, if john plugs in a USB drive labeled FlashDrive, it appears at:

/media/john/FlashDrive

Allowing Non-Root Mounts via /etc/fstab

You can configure /etc/fstab to let normal users mount and unmount specific devices without sudo. Modify the mount options field to include one of the following:

Option	Description	Default
user	Allow any user to mount and unmount	(no)
nouser	Disallow non-root mounts	yes
group	Allow users belonging to the owning group	(no)
owner	Allow the device’s owning user	(no)

Example: permitting all users to mount /dev/sdb1 on /mnt/userdrive:

/dev/sdb1  /mnt/userdrive  ext4  defaults,user  0 0

After editing /etc/fstab, you can test the entry without rebooting:

mount /mnt/userdrive
umount /mnt/userdrive

Managing Mounts with systemd

systemd can manage both static mounts and on-demand automounts via unit files in /etc/systemd/system/. Units must be named after the mount point by replacing slashes with hyphens and appending .mount or .automount.

Creating a Mount Unit

Create the file /etc/systemd/system/mnt-external.mount:
sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/mnt-external.mount

Populate it:

[Unit]
Description=External data disk

[Mount]
What=/dev/disk/by-uuid/56C11DCC5D2E1334
Where=/mnt/external
Type=ntfs
Options=defaults

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Field	Purpose
Description	Brief description of the mount
What	Device path or UUID (`/dev/disk/by-uuid/...`)
Where	Mount point directory (`/mnt/external`)
Type	Filesystem type (`ntfs`, `ext4`, etc.)
Options	Mount options (same as in `/etc/fstab`)
WantedBy	Target to activate the mount on (`multi-user.target`)

The filename mnt-external.mount must exactly match the Where path /mnt/external (slashes → hyphens).

Reload systemd and start the mount:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start mnt-external.mount

Check status:

sudo systemctl status mnt-external.mount

Sample output:

● mnt-external.mount — External data disk
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/mnt-external.mount; disabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (mounted) since Mon 2019-08-19 22:27:02 -03; 14s ago
      What: /dev/sdb1
      Where: /mnt/external

To auto-mount at boot:

sudo systemctl enable mnt-external.mount

Creating an Automount Unit

An automount unit triggers the mount only when the directory is accessed. You’ll need both the .mount and a corresponding .automount file.

Create /etc/systemd/system/mnt-external.automount:

sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/mnt-external.automount

Add:

[Unit]
Description=Automount External Data Disk

[Automount]
Where=/mnt/external

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Reload, start, and enable:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start mnt-external.automount
sudo systemctl enable mnt-external.automount

Now, whenever you ls /mnt/external, systemd will mount the disk automatically.

Introduction

System Architecture

Linux Installation and Package Management

GNU and Unix Commands

Devices, Linux Filesystems, Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

Conclusion and Mock Exam

Control Mounting and Unmounting of Filesystems Part 2

Allowing Non-Root Mounts via /etc/fstab

Managing Mounts with systemd

Creating a Mount Unit

Creating an Automount Unit

Links and References

Watch Video

​Allowing Non-Root Mounts via /etc/fstab

​Managing Mounts with systemd

​Creating a Mount Unit

​Creating an Automount Unit

​Links and References

Watch Video

Allowing Non-Root Mounts via /etc/fstab

Managing Mounts with systemd

Creating a Mount Unit

Creating an Automount Unit

Links and References