# [Automount] Section
A unit configuration file whose name ends in " `.automount`" encodes information
about a file system automount point controlled and supervised by systemd. Automount units may be used to
implement on-demand mounting as well as parallelized mounting of file systems.
This man page lists the configuration options specific to
this unit type. See
[systemd.unit(5)](systemd.unit.html#)
for the common options of all unit configuration files. The common
configuration items are configured in the generic \[Unit\] and
\[Install\] sections. The automount specific configuration options
are configured in the \[Automount\] section.
Automount units must be named after the automount directories they control. Example: the automount
point `/home/lennart` must be configured in a unit file
`home-lennart.automount`. For details about the escaping logic used to convert a file
system path to a unit name see
[systemd.unit(5)](systemd.unit.html#). Note
that automount units cannot be templated, nor is it possible to add multiple names to an automount unit
by creating symlinks to its unit file.
For each automount unit file a matching mount unit file (see
[systemd.mount(5)](systemd.mount.html#)
for details) must exist which is activated when the automount path
is accessed. Example: if an automount unit
`home-lennart.automount` is active and the user
accesses `/home/lennart` the mount unit
`home-lennart.mount` will be activated.
Note that automount units are separate from the mount itself, so you
should not set `After=` or `Requires=`
for mount dependencies here. For example, you should not set
`After=network-online.target` or similar on network
filesystems. Doing so may result in an ordering cycle.
Note that automount support on Linux is privileged, automount units are hence only available in the
system service manager (and root's user service manager), but not in unprivileged users' service
managers.
Note that automount units should not be nested. (The establishment of the inner automount point
would unconditionally pin the outer mount point, defeating its purpose.)
*Based on [systemd.automount(5)](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.automount.html) official documentation.*
### Where=
Takes an absolute path of a directory of the
automount point. If the automount point does not exist at time
that the automount point is installed, it is created. This
string must be reflected in the unit filename. (See above.)
This option is mandatory.
### ExtraOptions=
Extra mount options to use when creating the autofs
mountpoint. This takes a comma-separated list of options. This setting
is optional. Note that the usual specifier expansion is applied to this
setting, literal percent characters should hence be written as
" `%%`".
Added in version 250.
### DirectoryMode=
Directories of automount points (and any
parent directories) are automatically created if needed. This
option specifies the file system access mode used when
creating these directories. Takes an access mode in octal
notation. Defaults to 0755.
### TimeoutIdleSec=
Configures an idle timeout. Once the mount has been
idle for the specified time, systemd will attempt to unmount. Takes a
unit-less value in seconds, or a time span value such as "5min 20s".
Pass 0 to disable the timeout logic. The timeout is disabled by
default.
Added in version 220.