---
name: "guestunmount"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "libguestfs"
version: "1.60.1-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/guestunmount"
---

# guestunmount(1)

Unmount a guestmounted filesystem

## NAME

guestunmount - Unmount a guestmounted filesystem

## SYNOPSIS

```
 guestunmount mountpoint
 guestunmount --fd=<FD> mountpoint
```

## DESCRIPTION

guestunmount is a utility to clean up mounted filesystems automatically.  [**guestmount**(1)](/guestmount/1.md) mounts filesystems using libguestfs. This program unmounts the filesystem when a program or script has finished with it.

guestunmount is a wrapper around the FUSE [**fusermount**(1)](/fusermount/1.md) program, which must exist on the current `"PATH"`.

There are two ways to use guestunmount.  When called as:

```
 guestunmount mountpoint
```

it unmounts `"mountpoint"` immediately.

When called as:

```
 guestunmount --fd=FD mountpoint
```

it waits until the pipe `"FD"` is closed.  This can be used to monitor another process and clean up its mountpoint when that process exits, as described below.

### FROM PROGRAMS

You can just call `"guestunmount mountpoint"` from the program, but a more sophisticated way to use guestunmount is to have it monitor your program so it can clean up the mount point if your program exits unexpectedly.

In the program, create a pipe (eg. by calling [**pipe**(2)](/pipe/2.md)).  Let `"FD"` be the file descriptor number of the read side of the pipe (ie. `"pipefd[0]"`).

After mounting the filesystem with [**guestmount**(1)](/guestmount/1.md) (on `"mountpoint"`), fork and run guestunmount like this:

```
 guestunmount --fd=FD mountpoint
```

Close the read side of the pipe in the parent process.

Now, when the write side of the pipe (ie. `"pipefd[1]"`) is closed for any reason, either explicitly or because the parent process exits, guestunmount notices and unmounts the mountpoint.

If your operating system supports it, you should set the `"FD_CLOEXEC"` flag on the write side of the pipe.  This is so that other child processes don't inherit the file descriptor and keep it open.

Guestunmount never daemonizes itself.

### FROM SHELL SCRIPTS

Since bash doesn't provide a way to create an unnamed pipe, use a trap to call guestunmount on exit like this:

```
 trap "guestunmount mountpoint" EXIT INT QUIT TERM
```

## OPTIONS

- **--fd=FD**

  Specify the pipe file descriptor to monitor, and delay cleanup until that pipe is closed.

- **--help**

  Display brief help and exit.

- **-q**

  - **--quiet**

  Don’t display error messages from fusermount.  The return status is still set (see "EXIT STATUS" below).

- **--no-retry**

  - **--retry=N**

  By default, guestunmount will retry the fusermount operation up to 5 times (that is, it will run it up to 6 times = 1 try + 5 retries).

  Use *--no-retry* to make guestunmount run fusermount only once.

  Use *--retry=N* to make guestunmount retry `"N"` times instead of 5.

  guestunmount performs an exponential back-off between retries, waiting 1 second, 2 seconds, 4 seconds, etc before each retry.

- **-V**

  - **--version**

  Display the program version and exit.

## ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

- "PATH"

  The [**fusermount**(1)](/fusermount/1.md) program (supplied by FUSE) must be available on the current `"PATH"`.

## EXIT STATUS

This program returns 0 if successful, or one of the following error codes:

- 1

  Program error, eg. could not allocate memory, could not run fusermount. See the error message printed for more information.

- 2

  The mount point could not be unmounted even after retrying.  See the error message printed for the underlying fusermount error.

- 3

  The mount point is not mounted.

## SEE ALSO

[**guestmount**(1)](/guestmount/1.md), [**fusermount**(1)](/fusermount/1.md), [**pipe**(2)](/pipe/2.md), "MOUNT LOCAL" in [**guestfs**(3)](/guestfs/3.md), http://libguestfs.org/, http://fuse.sf.net/.

## AUTHORS

Richard W.M. Jones (`"rjones at redhat dot com"`)

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2013 Red Hat Inc.

## LICENSE

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

## BUGS

To get a list of bugs against libguestfs, use this link: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools

To report a new bug against libguestfs, use this link: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter\_bug.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools

When reporting a bug, please supply:

- •

  The version of libguestfs.

- •

  Where you got libguestfs (eg. which Linux distro, compiled from source, etc)

- •

  Describe the bug accurately and give a way to reproduce it.

- •

  Run [**libguestfs-test-tool**(1)](/libguestfs-test-tool/1.md) and paste the **complete, unedited** output into the bug report.