How to mount Network Storage with fstab

[Thor]

The user @raknie made an how to:

Persistent SMB Mount via fstab + systemd

1. Install the packages

sudo pacman -S cifs-utils

2. Create a credentials file (to avoid plain-text passwords in fstab)

sudo nano /etc/smbcredentials

Add:

username=your_nas_username
password=your_nas_password

Secure it:

sudo chmod 600 /etc/smbcredentials

3. Create mount points

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/nas1
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/nas2

4. Edit /etc/fstab

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add entries like this for each NAS:

//NAS_IP_OR_HOSTNAME/sharename /mnt/nas1 cifs credentials=/etc/smbcredentials,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8,vers=3.0,_netdev,nofail,x-systemd.automount 0 0

5. Test the mount

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo mount -a

6. Create symlinks in your home directory (optional)

ln -s /mnt/nas1 ~/NAS1

Can we have proper mount option for NAS?

hey been troubleshooting for couple days . the save to places always worked flawlessly even after restart it remember the cred but like i said its not mount its just shortcut its not like this when i used CLI tool called cifs-utils that i tried in the past but at that time didnt work , this is how mount should be : [Screenshot_20260403_105126] and after troubleshooting finally mount worked even after reboot and i think either your method isnt mount or something wrong cuz i even tried to re …

[raknie]

i was gonna publish after i find the solution for last thing to be added but tysm

one extra thing is if you want to unmount/mount in dolphin instead of just automount

this solution will help BUT its little bit clunky so you either live with “harmless error“ or remove automount

Start these steps after completing basic setup step 8.

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Step 1: Update fstab Options

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Change your entry to includeusers andip=:

//hostname.local/sharename /mnt/nasname cifs users,credentials=/etc/smbcredentials_nasname,ip=192.168.x.x,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8,vers=3.0,_netdev,nofail,x-systemd.automount 0 0

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Step 2: Fix Credentials Permissions

sudo chown root:yourusername /etc/smbcredentials_nasname
sudo chmod 640 /etc/smbcredentials_nasname

if you want to add multiple NASs :

sudo chown root:yourusername /etc/smbcredentials*
sudo chmod 640 /etc/smbcredentials*

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Step 3: Apply Changes

sudo umount -l /mnt/nasname
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo mount -a

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Step 4: If NAS Disappears from Dolphin Sidebar

sudo systemctl start mnt-nasname.automount

now it should be mounted but if you want to unmount →wait a sec → click again on unmount now its unmounted

and after mounting , you may see:

An error occurred while accessing 'HA', the system responded: mount error(16): Device or resource busy
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs) and kernel log messages (dmesg)

This is harmless — share is already mounted.

Withx-systemd.automount, Dolphin unmount works like this:

• First unmount → share unmounts but automount watcher stays active

• Clicking folder → immediately remounts

• Second unmount → fully stops automount watcher