---
name: "mount_smbfs"
section: "8"
platform: "macos"
package: "SMBClient"
version: "538.121.1"
release: "macOS 26.5"
platforms: ["freebsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mount_smbfs"
---

# mount\_smbfs(8)

mount a shared resource from an SMB file server

## NAME

**mount\_smbfs** – mount a shared resource from an SMB file server

## SYNOPSIS

**mount\_smbfs** \[**-N**\] \[**-o** *options*\] \[**-d** *mode*\] \[**-f** *mode*\] \[**-h**\] \[**-s**\] \[**-t** *gmt\_token*\] \[**-v**\] //\[*domain*;\]\[*user*\[ :*password*\]@\]*server*\[ /*share*\] *path*

## DESCRIPTION

The **mount\_smbfs** command mounts a share from a remote server using SMB/CIFS protocol.

The options are as follows:

- **-N**

  Do not ask for a password. At run time, **mount\_smbfs** reads the *~/Library/Preferences/nsmb.conf* file for additional configuration parameters and a password. If no password is found, **mount\_smbfs** prompts for it.

- **-o**

  Options passed to  [mount(2)](/mount/2.md) are specified with the  **-o** option followed by a comma separated string of options. See the  [mount(8)](/mount/8.md) man page for possible options and their meanings. All listed options are currently supported except for the \`\`force, update, strictatime, sync and \[no\]async'' options. Additional options supported by the mount\_smbfs are as follows:

  - nobrowse

    This option indicates that the mount point should not be visible via the GUI (i.e., appear on the Desktop as a separate volume).

  - automounted

    Set flags on the mountpoint to indicate that the volume has been mounted  by the automounter.

  - nostreams

    Don't use NTFS Streams even if they are supported by the server.

  - soft

    Make the mount soft. Fail file system calls after a number of seconds.

  - nonotification, noforcenotify

    Turn off using notifications for this volume.

  - nodatacache

    Turn off using file data caching for this volume.

  - nomdatacache

    Turn off using meta data caching for this volume.

  - sessionencrypt

    Force session encryption to be used

  - shareencrypt

    Force share encryption to be used for that share and also for IPC$ traffic

  - filemode

    Specify permissions that should be assigned to files. The value must be specified as an octal number. Default value is taken from mount point.

     Note that these permissions can differ from the rights granted by SMB server.

  - dirmode

    Specify permissions that should be assigned to directories. The value must be specified as an octal number. Default value adds execute permission where the file mode gives read permission.

     Note that these permissions can differ from the rights granted by SMB server.

  - snapshot

    Do a read only mount using the specific snapshot of the share.  A new session is created to allow multiple snapshots of the same share to be mounted.  Value must be in GMT format e.g. @GMT-YYYY.MM.DD-HH.MM.SS

  - nopassprompt

    Don't prompt for a password.

  - forcenewsession

    Force a new session to be created to the server.

- **-f** *mode*, **-d** *mode*

  Specify permissions that should be assigned to files and directories. The values must be specified as octal numbers. Default value for the file mode is taken from mount point, default value for the directory mode adds execute permission where the file mode gives read permission.

  Note that these permissions can differ from the rights granted by SMB server.

- **-h**

  Prints a help message, much like the SYNOPSIS above.

- **-s**

  Force a new session to be created to the server.

- **-t** *gmt\_token*

  Do a read only mount using the specific snapshot of the share. A new session is created to allow multiple snapshots of the same share to be mounted. Value must be in GMT format e.g. @GMT-YYYY.MM.DD-HH.MM.SS

- **-v**

  Prints version.

-

  //\[*domain*;\]\[*user*\[ :*password*\]@\] *server*\[ /*share*\] The **mount\_smbfs** command will use *server* as the NetBIOS name of remote computer, *user* as the remote user name and *share* as the resource name on a remote server. *Domain* and/or *password* may be specified here.  If *user* is omitted the logged in user id will be used.  Omitting *share* is an error when **mount\_smbfs** is run from the command line, otherwise a browsing dialogue is presented.

- *path*

  Path to mount point.

## FILES

- *nsmb.conf*

  Keeps static parameters for connections and other information. See *man* *nsmb.conf* for details.

## EXAMPLES

This example shows the proper url to use to mount the share PUBLIC from the SMB server myserver :

```
mkdir /smb/public
mount -t smbfs //username:userpass@myserver/PUBLIC /smb/public
```

This example shows the proper url to use to mount the share PUBLIC from the SMB server myserver as guest:

```
mkdir /smb/public
mount -t smbfs //guest:@myserver/PUBLIC /smb/public
```

**Note:** You should always use the system mount command and never call mount\_smbfs directly.

## SEE ALSO

[mount(2)](/mount/2.md), [nsmb.conf(5)](/nsmb.conf/5.md), [mount(8)](/mount/8.md), [umount(8)](/umount/8.md)

## BUGS

Please report bugs to Apple.

## AUTHORS

Boris Popov ⟨bp@butya.kz⟩, ⟨bp@FreeBSD.org⟩