MOUNT(8) System Manager's Manual MOUNT(8)
NAME
mount – mount file systems
SYNOPSIS
mount [-adfFrkuvw] [-t lfs | external_type]
mount [-dfFrkuvw] special | mount_point
mount [-dfFrkuvw] [-o options] [-t lfs | external_type]
special mount_point
DESCRIPTION
The mount command calls the mount(2) system call to prepare and graft a
special device or the remote node (rhost:path) on to the file system tree
at the point mount_point, which must be a directory. If either special
or mount_point are not provided, the appropriate information is obtained
via the getfsent(3) library routines.
The system maintains a list of currently mounted file systems. If no
arguments are given to mount, this list is printed.
The options are as follows:
-a All the filesystems listed via getfsent(3) are mounted.
Exceptions are those marked as ``noauto;'' excluded by the -t
flag (see below); entries that are neither ``ro,'' ``rw,'' or
``rq;'' ``nfs'' entries that also have ``net'' as an option; and
already-mounted ``nfs'' entries.
-d Causes everything to be done except for the actual system call.
This option is useful in conjunction with the -v flag to
determine what the mount command is trying to do.
-f Forces the revocation of write access when trying to downgrade a
filesystem mount status from read-write to read-only.
-F Forces the file system type be considered as an FSModule
delivered using FSKit.
-k In the course of the mount system call, the kernel should not
follow any symlinks that may be present in the provided mount-on
directory.
-o Options are specified with a -o flag followed by a comma
separated string of options. The following options are
available:
async All I/O to the file system should be done asynchronously.
This can be somewhat dangerous with respect to losing
data when faced with system crashes and power outages.
This is also the default. It can be avoided with the
noasync option.
force The same as -f; forces the revocation of write access
when trying to downgrade a filesystem mount status from
read-write to read-only.
noasync
This filesystem should not force all I/O to be written
asynchronously.
noauto This filesystem should be skipped when mount is run with
the -a flag.
nodev Do not interpret character or block special devices on
the file system. This option is useful for a server that
has file systems containing special devices for
architectures other than its own.
noexec Do not allow execution of any binaries on the mounted
file system. This option is useful for a server that has
file systems containing binaries for architectures other
than its own.
noowners
Ignore the ownership field for the entire volume. This
causes all objects to appear as owned by user ID 99 and
group ID 99. User ID 99 is interpreted as the current
effective user ID, while group ID 99 is used directly and
translates to ``unknown''.
nosuid Do not allow set-user-identifier or set-group-identifier
bits to take effect.
rdonly The same as -r; mount the file system read-only (even the
super-user may not write it).
sync All I/O to the file system should be done synchronously.
update The same as -u; indicate that the status of an already
mounted file system should be changed.
union Causes the namespace to appear as the union of
directories of the mounted filesystem with corresponding
directories in the underlying filesystem. Lookups will
be done in the mounted filesystem first. If those
operations fail due to a non-existent file the underlying
directory is then accessed.
noatime
Do not update the file access time when reading from a
file. This option is useful on file systems where there
are large numbers of files and performance is more
critical than updating the file access time (which is
rarely ever important).
strictatime
Always update the file access time when reading from a
file. Without this option the filesystem may default to a
less strict update mode, where some access time updates
are skipped for performance reasons. This option could be
ignored if it is not supported by the filesystem.
nobrowse
This option indicates that the mount point should not be
visible via the GUI (i.e., appear on the Desktop as a
separate volume).
nofollow
This option indicates that in the course of the mount
system call, the kernel should not follow any symlinks
that may be present in the provided mount-on directory.
This is the same as the -k option.
Any additional options specific to a filesystem type that is not
one of the internally known types (see the -t option) may be
passed as a comma separated list; these options are distinguished
by a leading “-” (dash). Options that take a value are specified
using the syntax -option=value. For example, the mount command:
mount -t hfs -o nosuid,-w,-m=755 /dev/disk2s9 /tmp
causes mount to execute the equivalent of:
/sbin/mount_hfs -o nosuid -w -m 755 /dev/disk2s9 /tmp
-r Mount the file system read-only (even the super-user may not
write it). The same as the “rdonly” argument to the -o option.
-t lfs | external type
The argument following the -t is used to indicate the file system
type. There is no default local file system for use with mount.
A type must be specified in order to mount a non-NFS filesystem.
The -t option can be used to indicate that the actions should
only be taken on filesystems of the specified type. More than
one type may be specified in a comma separated list. The list of
filesystem types can be prefixed with “no” to specify the
filesystem types for which action should not be taken. For
example, the mount command:
mount -a -t nonfs,hfs
mounts all filesystems except those of type NFS and HFS.
If the type is not one of the internally known types, mount will
attempt to execute a program in /sbin/mount_XXX where XXX is
replaced by the type name. For example, nfs filesystems are
mounted by the program /sbin/mount_nfs.
-u The -u flag indicates that the status of an already mounted file
system should be changed. Any of the options discussed above
(the -o option) may be changed; also a file system can be changed
from read-only to read-write or vice versa. An attempt to change
from read-write to read-only will fail if any files on the
filesystem are currently open for writing unless the -f flag is
also specified. The set of options is determined by first
extracting the options for the file system from the filesystem
table (see getfsent(3)) then applying any options specified by
the -o argument, and finally applying the -r or -w option.
-v Verbose mode.
-w Mount the file system read-write.
The options specific to NFS filesystems are described in the
mount_nfs(8) manual page.
SEE ALSO
mount(2), getfsent(3), mount_afp(8), mount_cd9660(8), mount_cddafs(8),
mount_fdesc(8), mount_hfs(8), mount_apfs(8), mount_msdos(8),
mount_nfs(8), mount_smbfs(8), mount_udf(8), mount_webdav(8), umount(8)
BUGS
It is possible for a corrupted file system to cause a crash.
HISTORY
A mount command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
macOS 15 December 20, 2023 macOS 15