How to Access or Mount Windows/USB NTFS Partition in RHEL, CentOS, and Fedora
Sometimes, you may need to access a Windows partition or USB drive formatted with NTFS on a Linux system. While modern distributions automatically mount NTFS partitions, manual configuration may be required in some cases, especially in dual-boot environments.
This guide explains how to mount NTFS partitions on RHEL, CentOS, and Fedora manually.
Step 1: Enable the EPEL Repository
The NTFS-3G package required for NTFS support is available in the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository.
First, enable EPEL by running:
sudo dnf install epel-release -y
Step 2: Install NTFS-3G
Now, install the NTFS-3G package, which allows full read and write support for NTFS partitions:
sudo dnf install ntfs-3g -y
Verify the installation by checking the version:
ntfs-3g –version
Step 3: Load the FUSE Kernel Module
The FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) module is required to mount NTFS partitions. In most cases, it is included in the Linux kernel. If not, install and load it manually:
sudo dnf install fuse -y
sudo modprobe fuse
To check if FUSE is loaded, run:
lsmod | grep fuse
Step 4: Identify the NTFS Partition
Find the NTFS partition on your system using the fdisk or lsblk command:
sudo fdisk -l
or
lsblk -f
Example output:
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1 2048 7816687 7814640 3.7G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
In this example, the NTFS partition is /dev/sdb1.
Step 5: Mount the NTFS Partition
Create a mount point where the NTFS partition will be accessed:
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/ntfs
Mount the NTFS partition using NTFS-3G:
sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /mnt/ntfs
Now, you can access the NTFS files inside the /mnt/ntfs directory.
To list the files, run:
ls -l /mnt/ntfs
Step 6: Mount NTFS Partition Permanently
To ensure the partition is automatically mounted on every boot, edit the /etc/fstab file:
sudo nano /etc/fstab
Add the following line at the end of the file, replacing /dev/sdb1 with your actual partition name:
/dev/sdb1 /mnt/ntfs ntfs-3g defaults 0 0
Save the file and exit.
Apply the changes by running:
sudo mount -a
Step 7: Unmount the NTFS Partition
If you need to unmount the partition, use:
sudo umount /mnt/ntfs
Conclusion
You have successfully mounted an NTFS partition in RHEL, CentOS, and Fedora using NTFS-3G. Now, you can read and write data on Windows-formatted drives from Linux.
Would you like help with automating NTFS mounts, troubleshooting access issues, or dual-boot optimizations? Let me know! 🚀
