Generally, they enforce in Linux using root permissions to mount internal hard drives unlike USB drives that can be mounted by the user If you want to mount it automatically in every boot, you could modify the /etc/fstab to add an entry for it
this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2025
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I have a related issue. Mine is a network share and it's in fstab, but I have Linux boot without waiting for wifi, so the mount fails and then asks for root password when I try to mount it later.
I think I just need to add "user" to the options field, right?
You may be right, but I worked around this using https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NetworkManager#Network_services_with_NetworkManager_dispatcher
I added the CIFS shares to my fstab with the _netdev option and created /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/30-nas-shares.sh containing (got the WiFi UUID using nmcli con show):
#!/bin/sh
WANTED_CON_UUID="UUID-OF-MY-WIFI"
if [ "$CONNECTION_UUID" = "$WANTED_CON_UUID" ]; then
case "$2" in
"up"|"vpn-up")
mount -a -t cifs
;;
esac
fi
This waits for my WiFi to come up, ensures it's my home WiFi, and then mounts my shares.
There are probably other and better ways to do it, but it works.
I believe systemd after targets work tho I have never tried them Try adding this to mount options
x-systemd.after=network-online.target
Try adding the nofail and _netdev options in your fstab entry. I have this on a few computers that connect to nfs shares including my laptop that obviously can only connect when I'm at home or on VPN. Example:
server:/path /mnt/path nfs4 defaults,nofail,_netdev 0 0
sudo mkdir /media/NewSSD # the name you like
lsblk -f # look for UUID of new ssd
then add it to fstab https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Fstab
Something like
UUID=<insert drive UUID> /media/NewSSD ext4 defaults 0 2
Make sure you use the correct filesystem (e.g. ext4 or other)
If its encrypted, you can also decrypt the drive automatically once booted by adding an entry in /etc/crypttab
This will make it so you don't have to type the password.
This never worked for me…
For automatically you need to add a keyfile to a slot in the luks device
# openssl genrsa -out /root/keyfile.bin 4096
# cryptsetup luksAddKey /dev/mapper/extra /root/keyfile.bin
The entry in the crypttab would be like this
extra UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX /root/keyfile.bin luks
And technically the key file can just be a plain text password and still work. Just as long as the key file matches the drive's encryption password.
Encrypted volume? If so, that's why.
Right. Wouldn't it make sense to unlock it along with my root drive when I log in though? There should be a way to do that
You could set the password to be the same. It'll attempt to use all known methods when unlocking it.
You can also probably store a key on the root drive instead of using a password, but I've never done that.
They do use the same pass though, that's why it's so strange to me. Thanks for the help, this at least gives me a clue.
I'll dig around and update the post for reference.
No
As you mentioned elsewhere it's encrypted.
Take a look at /etc/crypttab and creating and adding a key file that can unlock the drive.
Essentially your additional SSD will have both a password and a file containing a password that can unlock the drive. When you unlock your root filesystem (I'm guessing at boot) it will then have the key file that can unlock the SSD.
Something like cryptsetup luksAddKey /dev/pathtossd --new-keyfile /etc/newpassword
Systemd might make this easier to setup nowadays.
Edit: Also, yes, the password to unlock your SSD is just sitting in a file in your root drive. Be sure to restrict it to only be readable by root.
KDE has option to automount during login. I found that to be the best solution.
Edit: I am mainly a PCLinuxOS user, so not sure if that would work for you.
Add it to /etc/fstab. Tons of guides everywhere online.