disable automounting

Skaperen · 07-16-2009, 03:18 PM

I want to disable automounting of removable media such as anything on USB, memory cards, and even eSATA. I do want the device node to be set up, but that's it.

blackhole54 · 07-16-2009, 05:02 PM

On Ubuntu 6.10 there was a System -> Preferences -> Removable_Drives_And_Media that allows you to set that on a per user basis. (TMK, hot plugged devices will not automount unless somebody is logged in at the GUI.) I would imagine the current versions of Ubuntu would have something similar. Enforcing that system wide ... that might take a little more digging.

Skaperen · 07-16-2009, 08:59 PM

When I need to be sure devices are not automounted, I will be doing things via text console (e.g. Ctrl+Alt+F1) anyway. So I could just not log in to the GUI. But there is a catch. I need to have the wireless network running. So this would work if I can get the wireless network to autostart w/o any user logged in (something others have asked for, too, and for which I've not yet seen an answer).

catkin · 07-17-2009, 05:01 AM

Hello Skaperen

It may be possible by changing /etc/hal/fdi/policy/preferences.fdi. The following stops all automounting.

Code:

<!-- 
Prevent automount 
--> 

  <device> 
    <match key="storage.policy.should_mount" bool="true"> 
      <merge key="storage.policy.should_mount" type="bool">false</merge> 
    </match> 
    <match key="storage.automount_enabled_hint" bool="true"> 
      <merge key="storage.automount_enabled_hint" type="bool">false</merge> 
    </match> 
      <match key="storage.media_check_enabled" bool="true"> 
        <merge key="storage.media_check_enabled" type="bool">false</merge> 
    </match> 
      <match key="volume.policy.should_mount" bool="true"> 
        <merge key="volume.policy.should_mount" type="bool">false</merge> 
    </match> 
      <match key="volume.ignore" bool="false"> 
        <merge key="volume.ignore" type="bool">true</merge> 
    </match> 
  </device>

I don't know what effect that has on the device node or what you need to do to make the changes effective; for what I wanted a reboot was good enough. The hald man page suggests it's OK (if a little more complex than usual) to restart hald on a running system.

Best

Charles