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I installed autofs and it's mounting a network drive to a folder in my local linux filesystem. I use -fstype=cifs,rw in the mount command in an /etc/auto.smb.shares file.

If I cd into the mounted folder (or if I have got it open in a Windows Samba Share) and I stop autofs systemctl stop autofs the folder stays mounted.

I check with systemctl status autofs and it says the autofs process is dead. But I check with the mount command and df -h and the mounted folder is still there and indeed I can cd in and out of the folder from linux or browse in and out from the Windows Samba share.

If I manually unmount the drive then it unmounts it. Now if I restart autofs I get the expected behavior again. If I now cd out of the mounted folder and stop autofs it does not mount the folder if I try to cd in to it.

Am I just describing standard behavior of autofs or why does a folder stay mounted if I happen to have it open when I stop autofs?

Cheers, Flex

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    Killing autofs removes the reason your automounts were being unmounted in the first place - for lack of use. This is expected behaviour.
    – ajgringo619
    Sep 28, 2020 at 0:01
  • Thank you. That makes perfect sense. If you want to make that an official answer I will accept it.
    – FlexMcMurphy
    Sep 28, 2020 at 19:14

1 Answer 1

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When you stop the autofs service, you're removing the reason your automounts were being unmounted in the first place - for lack of use. This is expected behaviour.

So, unless you manually unmount the filesystem, it will stay mounted.

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