how to automount usb drives and memory cards in linux

A recent discussion on Debian forum has inspired me to write this post. If you use a minimal window manager like openbox, fluxbox, i3 etc. you will find that USB drives and Memory cards won't automount. It can be very hard for new Linux users to figure out how to mount the USB drive or Memory card they have just inserted. Thankfully this can be achieved easily via udev rules.

Open your favorite text-editor as root ( sudo or su) and copy-paste the following,

#!/bin/sh

KERNEL!="sd[b-z]*", GOTO="exit"

ACTION=="add", PROGRAM!="/sbin/blkid %N", GOTO="exit"

IMPORT{program}="/sbin/blkid -o udev -p %N"

ENV{ID_FS_LABEL}!="", ENV{dir_name}="%E{ID_FS_LABEL}"

ENV{ID_FS_LABEL}=="", ENV{dir_name}="flash_drive_%k"

ACTION=="add", RUN+="/bin/mkdir -p '/media/%E{dir_name}'"

ACTION=="add", ENV{mount_options_vfat}="rw,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmask=022,fmask=133,noatime"

ACTION=="add", ENV{ID_FS_TYPE}=="vfat", RUN+="/bin/mount -t vfat -o %E{mount_options_vfat} /dev/%k '/media/%E{dir_name}'"

ACTION=="add", ENV{mount_options_ntfs}="rw,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmask=022,fmask=133,noatime"

ACTION=="add", ENV{ID_FS_TYPE}=="ntfs", RUN+="/bin/mount -t ntfs-3g -o %E{mount_options_ntfs} /dev/%k '/media/%E{dir_name}'"

ACTION=="add", ENV{mount_options_ext2}="users,exec,noatime"

ACTION=="add", ENV{ID_FS_TYPE}=="ext2", RUN+="/bin/mount -t ext2 -o %E{mount_options_ext2} /dev/%k '/media/%E{dir_name}'"

ACTION=="add", ENV{mount_options_ext3}="users,exec,noatime"

ACTION=="add", ENV{ID_FS_TYPE}=="ext3", RUN+="/bin/mount -t ext3 -o %E{mount_options_ext3} /dev/%k '/media/%E{dir_name}'"

ACTION=="add", ENV{mount_options_ext4}="users,exec,noatime"

ACTION=="add", ENV{ID_FS_TYPE}=="ext4", RUN+="/bin/mount -t ext4 -o %E{mount_options_ext4} /dev/%k '/media/%E{dir_name}'"

ACTION=="remove", ENV{dir_name}!="", RUN+="/bin/umount '/media/%E{dir_name}'", RUN+="/bin/rmdir '/media/%E{dir_name}'"

LABEL="exit"

And save this file in '/etc/udev/rules.d' directory with the name '10-usb-mount.rules'.

We'll need another rules file for Memory cards,

#!/bin/sh

KERNEL!="mmcblk[0-9]p[0-9]", GOTO="exit"

ACTION=="add", PROGRAM!="/sbin/blkid %N", GOTO="exit"

IMPORT{program}="/sbin/blkid -o udev -p %N"

ENV{ID_FS_LABEL}!="", ENV{dir_name}="%E{ID_FS_LABEL}"

ENV{ID_FS_LABEL}=="", ENV{dir_name}="flash_drive_%k"

ACTION=="add", RUN+="/bin/mkdir -p '/media/%E{dir_name}'"

ACTION=="add", ENV{mount_options_vfat}="rw,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmask=022,fmask=133,noatime"

ACTION=="add", ENV{ID_FS_TYPE}=="vfat", RUN+="/bin/mount -t vfat -o %E{mount_options_vfat} /dev/%k '/media/%E{dir_name}'"

ACTION=="add", ENV{mount_options_ntfs}="rw,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmask=022,fmask=133,noatime"

ACTION=="add", ENV{ID_FS_TYPE}=="ntfs", RUN+="/bin/mount -t ntfs-3g -o %E{mount_options_ntfs} /dev/%k '/media/%E{dir_name}'"

ACTION=="add", ENV{mount_options_ext2}="users,exec,noatime"

ACTION=="add", ENV{ID_FS_TYPE}=="ext2", RUN+="/bin/mount -t ext2 -o %E{mount_options_ext2} /dev/%k '/media/%E{dir_name}'"

ACTION=="add", ENV{mount_options_ext3}="users,exec,noatime"

ACTION=="add", ENV{ID_FS_TYPE}=="ext3", RUN+="/bin/mount -t ext3 -o %E{mount_options_ext3} /dev/%k '/media/%E{dir_name}'"

ACTION=="add", ENV{mount_options_ext4}="users,exec,noatime"

ACTION=="add", ENV{ID_FS_TYPE}=="ext4", RUN+="/bin/mount -t ext4 -o %E{mount_options_ext4} /dev/%k '/media/%E{dir_name}'"

ACTION=="remove", ENV{dir_name}!="", RUN+="/bin/umount '/media/%E{dir_name}'", RUN+="/bin/rmdir '/media/%E{dir_name}'"

LABEL="exit"

Save this file in '/etc/udev/rules.d' directory with the name '10-sdcard-mount.rules'.

Next open terminal and run the following command as root to reload the udev rules,

udevadm control --reload-rules

That's it! The next time you plug-in a USB drive or a Memory card it will get automounted and be ready for you to use. Cheers!!!