Another Way To Show Mounted Filesystems

We’ve covered this topic before, but I want to show you another way that you can show mounted filesystems. As previously covered, you have multiple filesystems mounted at any one time. So, let’s examine them, shall we?

If you use Linux, you use multiple filesystems. There are real and virtual filesystems created and used by the operating system. A real filesystem would be something like a partition on your storage device (one filesystem per partition, of course). A virtual filesystem would be things like your temporary files or cached files, among other filesystems used by the system.

We’ve covered this before and this is just another way to show your mounted filesystems. This is good information to have, as it’s handy to know the path for those things so that you don’t do something silly like misfire a dd command and hosing your OS partition. (Ask me how easy that is.)

Show Your Filesystem In The Linux Terminal
Another Way To View Attached Storage Devices
Another Way To View Attached Storage Devices

(And there are more! This is an oft-covered subject on Linux-Tips!)

So, what will we be using?

findmnt:

You shouldn’t need to install anything for this article. The findmnt tool should be installed by default. You can verify that findmnt is installed by running the following command:

which findmnt

The output of that command should probably match this one:

$ which findmnt
/usr/bin/findmnt

You check the man page with this command:

man findmnt

There’s additional information available in this application. Run this command:

findmnt -help

But, if you check the man page, you’ll see that this is indeed one of the correct tools for the job. This being a basic task, there are many ways to show mounted filesystems. It’s up to you to pick a favorite – or find the most useful of commands for your particular situation.

Anyhow, the man page describes it as:

findmnt – find a filesystem

That’s what we want to do. That means that this is the correct tool for the job.

Show Mounted Filesystems:

You’ve been here long enough to know that we’re likely to use the terminal. If your hunch was that we would be using the terminal, your hunch was correct. You’ll find that findmnt is a terminal-based application so open your default terminal emulator by finding it in your application menu or pressing CTRL + ALT + T on your keyboard.

With your terminal open, you can show mounted filesystems with this command:

findmnt

You’ll see that it even has a nice tree output. You’ll find things like Snaps have their own filesystem if you’re using a system that uses Snaps. Other jailed applications may also use their own filesystem as a way to keep things separate from the system as a whole. 

Here’s an example truncated output from Lubuntu:

$ findmnt
TARGET                                   SOURCE           FSTYPE      OPTIONS
/                                        /dev/nvme0n1p1   ext4        rw,relatime,discard
├─/sys                                   sysfs            sysfs       rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/sys/kernel/security                 securityfs       securityfs  rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/sys/fs/cgroup                       cgroup2          cgroup2     rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,nsdelegate,memory_recursiveprot
│ ├─/sys/fs/pstore                       pstore           pstore      rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/sys/fs/bpf                          bpf              bpf         rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,mode=700
│ ├─/sys/kernel/debug                    debugfs          debugfs     rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/sys/kernel/tracing                  tracefs          tracefs     rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/sys/fs/fuse/connections             fusectl          fusectl     rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ └─/sys/kernel/config                   configfs         configfs    rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
├─/proc                                  proc             proc        rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ └─/proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc             systemd-1        autofs      rw,relatime,fd=29,pgrp=1,timeout=0,minproto=5,maxproto=5,direct,pipe_in
│   └─/proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc           binfmt_misc      binfmt_misc rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
├─/dev                                   udev             devtmpfs    rw,nosuid,relatime,size=16283764k,nr_inodes=4070941,mode=755,inode64
│ ├─/dev/pts                             devpts           devpts      rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,gid=5,mode=620,ptmxmode=000
│ ├─/dev/shm                             tmpfs            tmpfs       rw,nosuid,nodev,inode64
│ ├─/dev/mqueue                          mqueue           mqueue      rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ └─/dev/hugepages                       hugetlbfs        hugetlbfs   rw,relatime,pagesize=2M
├─/run                                   tmpfs            tmpfs       rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,size=3269160k,mode=755,inode64
│ ├─/run/lock                            tmpfs            tmpfs       rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,size=5120k,inode64
│ ├─/run/credentials/systemd-sysusers.service
│ │                                      none             ramfs       ro,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,mode=700
│ ├─/run/snapd/ns                        tmpfs[/snapd/ns] tmpfs       rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,size=3269160k,mode=755,inode64
│ │ ├─/run/snapd/ns/canonical-livepatch.mnt
│ │ │                                    nsfs[mnt:[4026532774]]
│ │ │                                                     nsfs        rw
│ │ └─/run/snapd/ns/firefox.mnt          nsfs[mnt:[4026532211]]
│ │                                                       nsfs        rw
│ └─/run/user/1000                       tmpfs            tmpfs       rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,size=3269156k,nr_inodes=817289,mode=700,uid=10
├─/snap/bare/5                           /dev/loop1       squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/canonical-livepatch/264          /dev/loop2       squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/canonical-livepatch/246          /dev/loop0       squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/core/16574                       /dev/loop4       squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/firefox/4090                     /dev/loop3       squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/core20/2182                      /dev/loop6       squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/core20/2105                      /dev/loop5       squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/core22/1033                      /dev/loop7       squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/core22/1122                      /dev/loop8       squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/firefox/4033                     /dev/loop10      squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/gnome-3-38-2004/140              /dev/loop11      squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/gnome-3-38-2004/143              /dev/loop12      squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/snapd/20671                      /dev/loop17      squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/gtk-common-themes/1535           /dev/loop15      squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/tmp                                   tmpfs            tmpfs       rw,noatime,inode64
├─/snap/ttyd/325                         /dev/loop19      squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/ttyd/302                         /dev/loop18      squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/var/snap/firefox/common/host-hunspell /dev/nvme0n1p1[/usr/share/hunspell]
│                                                         ext4        ro,noexec,noatime,discard
├─/snap/core/16928                       /dev/loop16      squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/snapd/21184                      /dev/loop20      squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/gnome-42-2204/172                /dev/loop21      squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
└─/snap/gnome-42-2204/176                /dev/loop13      squashfs    ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue

That’s not nearly as complicated as it looks, once you get used to it.

Now, you can trim all that down. You can opt to show only the ‘real’ filesystems. That’s done with the –real flag.

This is an example of that command on that same Lubuntu system used above (Snap applications are seen as ‘real’ filesystems as a part of their separation from the system):

$  findmnt --real
TARGET                                   SOURCE                              FSTYPE   OPTIONS
/                                        /dev/nvme0n1p1                      ext4     rw,relatime,discard
├─/snap/bare/5                           /dev/loop1                          squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/canonical-livepatch/264          /dev/loop2                          squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/canonical-livepatch/246          /dev/loop0                          squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/core/16574                       /dev/loop4                          squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/firefox/4090                     /dev/loop3                          squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/core20/2182                      /dev/loop6                          squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/core20/2105                      /dev/loop5                          squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/core22/1033                      /dev/loop7                          squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/core22/1122                      /dev/loop8                          squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/firefox/4033                     /dev/loop10                         squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/gnome-3-38-2004/140              /dev/loop11                         squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/gnome-3-38-2004/143              /dev/loop12                         squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/snapd/20671                      /dev/loop17                         squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/gtk-common-themes/1535           /dev/loop15                         squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/ttyd/325                         /dev/loop19                         squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/ttyd/302                         /dev/loop18                         squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/var/snap/firefox/common/host-hunspell /dev/nvme0n1p1[/usr/share/hunspell] ext4     ro,noexec,noatime,discard
├─/snap/core/16928                       /dev/loop16                         squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/snapd/21184                      /dev/loop20                         squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
├─/snap/gnome-42-2204/172                /dev/loop21                         squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue
└─/snap/gnome-42-2204/176                /dev/loop13                         squashfs ro,nodev,relatime,errors=continue

Here’s an example output from a Linux Mint system that does not use Snaps:

$  findmnt --real
TARGET                     SOURCE    FSTYPE      OPTIONS
/                          /dev/sda2 ext4        rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro
├─/run/user/1000/doc       portal    fuse.portal rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1000,group_id=1000
├─/boot/efi                /dev/sda1 vfat        rw,relatime,fmask=0077,dmask=0077,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=rem
├─/media/kgiii/elements2   /dev/sdb2 ext4        rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,errors=remount-ro
├─/media/kgiii/elements4   /dev/sdb4 ext4        rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,errors=remount-ro
├─/media/kgiii/elements1   /dev/sdb1 ext4        rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,errors=remount-ro
├─/media/kgiii/FLASH DRIVE /dev/sdc1 vfat        rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso88
└─/media/kgiii/elements3   /dev/sdb3 ext4        rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,errors=remount-ro

You can do more with the findmnt command, such as select the columns you want in your output, so be sure to check the man page. This is just a quick overview because the vast majority of you will never need more than just the basic command.

As I said, it’s a useful command for when you want to verify the path to a filesystem. Beyond that, the usage is up to you. That’s what I use it for when I don’t bother with any one of several other commands.

Closure:

You might see no reason to add this to your list of commands, but it is useful when you want to see all the mounted filesystems on your system. If you need the path for a filesystem, this is a good command. It’s also useful for finding out some attributes of your mounted filesystems.

This is one of those commands you really could keep in your back pocket. You might first lean on a command like lsblk but that only lists block devices – that is, storage devices, and doesn’t include the many other mounted filesystems. If you don’t need this command today, that’s fine. You might need this command in the future, and now you know it exists.

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