---
name: "umount.ecryptfs_private"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "ecryptfs-utils"
version: "111-9"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/umount.ecryptfs_private"
---

# umount.ecryptfs\_private(1)

eCryptfs private unmount helper.

## NAME

umount.ecryptfs\_private - eCryptfs private unmount helper.

## SYNOPSIS

**umount.ecryptfs\_private** \[-f\]

**NOTE:** This program will **not** clear the relevant keys from the user's keyring.  For this reason, it is recommended that users use [**ecryptfs-umount-private**(1)](/ecryptfs-umount-private/1.md) instead!

## OPTIONS

Options available for the **umount.ecryptfs\_private** command:

- **-f**

  Force the unmount, ignoring the value of the mount counter in */tmp/ecryptfs-USERNAME-Private*

## DESCRIPTION

**umount.ecryptfs\_private** is a mount helper utility for non-root users to unmount a cryptographically mounted private directory, ~/Private.

If, and only if:\
   \- the private mount passphrase is in their kernel keyring, and\
   \- the current user owns both ~/.Private and ~/Private, and\
   \- ~/.Private is currently mounted on ~/Private\
   \- the mount counter is 0 (counter is ignored if -f option is used)

This program will:\
   \- unmount ~/Private

The only setuid operationis in this program are the call to **umount** and updating **/etc/mtab**.

The system administrator can add the pam\_ecryptfs.so module to the PAM stack and automatically perform the unmount on logout. See [**pam\_ecryptfs**(8)](/pam_ecryptfs/8.md).

## FILES

*~/.Private* - underlying directory containing encrypted data

*~/Private* - mountpoint containing decrypted data (when mounted)

*~/.ecryptfs/Private.sig* - file containing signature of mountpoint passphrase

*/tmp/ecryptfs-USERNAME-Private* - file containing the mount counter, incremented on each mount, decremented on each unmount

## SEE ALSO

- [**ecryptfs**(7)](/ecryptfs/7.md), [**ecryptfs-setup-private**(1)](/ecryptfs-setup-private/1.md), [**keyctl**(1)](/keyctl/1.md), [**mount**(8)](/mount/8.md), [**mount.ecryptfs\_private**(1)](/mount.ecryptfs_private/1.md), [**pam\_ecryptfs**(8)](/pam_ecryptfs/8.md)

  - */usr/share/doc/ecryptfs-utils/ecryptfs-faq.html*

  - *http://ecryptfs.org/*

  ## AUTHOR

This manpage and the **umount.ecryptfs\_private** utility was written by Dustin Kirkland \<kirkland@ubuntu.com\> for Ubuntu systems (but may be used by others).  Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Version 2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.

On Debian and Ubuntu systems, the complete text of the GNU General Public License can be found in /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL.