5 guestmount - Mount a guest filesystem on the host using FUSE and libguestfs
9 guestmount [--options] -a disk.img -m device [--ro] mountpoint
11 guestmount [--options] -a disk.img -i [--ro] mountpoint
13 guestmount [--options] -d Guest -i [--ro] mountpoint
17 You must I<not> use C<guestmount> in read-write mode on live virtual
18 machines. If you do this, you risk disk corruption in the VM.
22 The guestmount program can be used to mount virtual machine
23 filesystems and other disk images on the host. It uses libguestfs for
24 access to the guest filesystem, and FUSE (the "filesystem in
25 userspace") to make it appear as a mountable device.
27 Along with other options, you have to give at least one device (I<-a>
28 option) or libvirt domain (I<-d> option), and at least one mountpoint
29 (I<-m> option) or use the I<-i> inspection option. How this works is
30 better explained in the L<guestfish(1)> manual page, or by looking at
33 FUSE lets you mount filesystems as non-root. The mountpoint must be
34 owned by you, and the filesystem will not be visible to any other
35 users unless you make certain global configuration changes to
36 C</etc/fuse.conf>. To unmount the filesystem, use the C<fusermount -u>
41 For a typical Windows guest which has its main filesystem on the
44 guestmount -a windows.img -m /dev/sda1 --ro /mnt
46 For a typical Linux guest which has a /boot filesystem on the first
47 partition, and the root filesystem on a logical volume:
49 guestmount -a linux.img -m /dev/VG/LV -m /dev/sda1:/boot --ro /mnt
51 To get libguestfs to detect guest mountpoints for you:
53 guestmount -a guest.img -i --ro /mnt
55 For a libvirt guest called "Guest" you could do:
57 guestmount -d Guest -i --ro /mnt
59 If you don't know what filesystems are contained in a guest or
60 disk image, use L<virt-filesystems(1)> first:
62 virt-filesystems MyGuest
64 If you want to trace the libguestfs calls but without excessive
65 debugging information, we recommend:
67 guestmount [...] --trace /mnt
69 If you want to debug the program, we recommend:
71 guestmount [...] --trace --verbose /mnt
77 =item B<-a image> | B<--add image>
79 Add a block device or virtual machine image.
81 The format of the disk image is auto-detected. To override this and
82 force a particular format use the I<--format=..> option.
84 =item B<-c URI> | B<--connect URI>
86 When used in conjunction with the I<-d> option, this specifies
87 the libvirt URI to use. The default is to use the default libvirt
90 =item B<-d libvirt-domain> | B<--domain libvirt-domain>
92 Add disks from the named libvirt domain. If the I<--ro> option is
93 also used, then any libvirt domain can be used. However in write
94 mode, only libvirt domains which are shut down can be named here.
96 =item B<--dir-cache-timeout N>
98 Set the readdir cache timeout to I<N> seconds, the default being 60
99 seconds. The readdir cache [actually, there are several
100 semi-independent caches] is populated after a readdir(2) call with the
101 stat and extended attributes of the files in the directory, in
102 anticipation that they will be requested soon after.
104 There is also a different attribute cache implemented by FUSE
105 (see the FUSE option I<-o attr_timeout>), but the FUSE cache
106 does not anticipate future requests, only cache existing ones.
110 When prompting for keys and passphrases, guestfish normally turns
111 echoing off so you cannot see what you are typing. If you are not
112 worried about Tempest attacks and there is no one else in the room
113 you can specify this flag to see what you are typing.
115 =item B<--format=raw|qcow2|..> | B<--format>
117 The default for the I<-a> option is to auto-detect the format of the
118 disk image. Using this forces the disk format for I<-a> options which
119 follow on the command line. Using I<--format> with no argument
120 switches back to auto-detection for subsequent I<-a> options.
122 If you have untrusted raw-format guest disk images, you should use
123 this option to specify the disk format. This avoids a possible
124 security problem with malicious guests (CVE-2010-3851). See also
125 L<guestfs(3)/guestfs_add_drive_opts>.
129 Display help on special FUSE options (see I<-o> below).
133 Display brief help and exit.
135 =item B<-i> | B<--inspector>
137 Using L<virt-inspector(1)> code, inspect the disks looking for
138 an operating system and mount filesystems as they would be
139 mounted on the real virtual machine.
141 =item B<--keys-from-stdin>
143 Read key or passphrase parameters from stdin. The default is
144 to try to read passphrases from the user by opening C</dev/tty>.
148 Connect to a live virtual machine.
149 (Experimental, see L<guestfs(3)/ATTACHING TO RUNNING DAEMONS>).
151 =item B<-m dev[:mountpoint[:options]]>
153 =item B<--mount dev[:mountpoint[:options]]>
155 Mount the named partition or logical volume on the given mountpoint
156 B<in the guest> (this has nothing to do with mountpoints in the host).
158 If the mountpoint is omitted, it defaults to C</>. You have to mount
161 The third (and rarely used) part of the mount parameter is the list of
162 mount options used to mount the underlying filesystem. If this is not
163 given, then the mount options are either the empty string or C<ro>
164 (the latter if the I<--ro> flag is used). By specifying the mount
165 options, you override this default choice. Probably the only time you
166 would use this is to enable ACLs and/or extended attributes if the
167 filesystem can support them:
169 -m /dev/sda1:/:acl,user_xattr
171 =item B<-n> | B<--no-sync>
173 By default, we attempt to sync the guest disk when the FUSE mountpoint
174 is unmounted. If you specify this option, then we don't attempt to
175 sync the disk. See the discussion of autosync in the L<guestfs(3)>
178 =item B<-o option> | B<--option option>
180 Pass extra options to FUSE.
182 To get a list of all the extra options supported by FUSE, use the
183 command below. Note that only the FUSE I<-o> options can be passed,
184 and only some of them are a good idea.
186 guestmount --fuse-help
188 Some potentially useful FUSE options:
192 =item B<-o allow_other>
194 Allow other users to see the filesystem.
196 =item B<-o attr_timeout=N>
198 Enable attribute caching by FUSE, and set the timeout to I<N> seconds.
200 =item B<-o kernel_cache>
202 Allow the kernel to cache files (reduces the number of reads
203 that have to go through the L<guestfs(3)> API). This is generally
204 a good idea if you can afford the extra memory usage.
206 =item B<-o uid=N> B<-o gid=N>
208 Use these options to map all UIDs and GIDs inside the guest filesystem
209 to the chosen values.
213 =item B<-r> | B<--ro>
215 Add devices and mount everything read-only. Also disallow writes and
216 make the disk appear read-only to FUSE.
218 This is highly recommended if you are not going to edit the guest
219 disk. If the guest is running and this option is I<not> supplied,
220 then there is a strong risk of disk corruption in the guest. We try
221 to prevent this from happening, but it is not always possible.
223 See also L<guestfish(1)/OPENING DISKS FOR READ AND WRITE>.
227 Enable SELinux support for the guest.
229 =item B<-v> | B<--verbose>
231 Enable verbose messages from underlying libguestfs.
233 =item B<-V> | B<--version>
235 Display the program version and exit.
237 =item B<-w> | B<--rw>
239 This changes the I<-a>, I<-d> and I<-m> options so that disks are
240 added and mounts are done read-write.
242 See L<guestfish(1)/OPENING DISKS FOR READ AND WRITE>.
244 =item B<-x> | B<--trace>
246 Trace libguestfs calls and entry into each FUSE function.
248 This also stops the daemon from forking into the background.
256 =item $HOME/.libguestfs-tools.rc
258 =item /etc/libguestfs-tools.conf
260 This configuration file controls the default read-only or read-write
261 mode (I<--ro> or I<--rw>).
263 See L<guestfish(1)/OPENING DISKS FOR READ AND WRITE>.
270 L<virt-inspector(1)>,
275 L<http://libguestfs.org/>,
276 L<http://fuse.sf.net/>.
280 Richard W.M. Jones (C<rjones at redhat dot com>)
284 Copyright (C) 2009-2010 Red Hat Inc.
285 L<http://libguestfs.org/>
287 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
288 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
289 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
290 (at your option) any later version.
292 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
293 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
294 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
295 GNU General Public License for more details.
297 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
298 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
299 Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.