The Problem

NTFS drives from a Windows installation are accessible in Fedora via GNOME Files, but only after manually clicking them each session. They mount under /run/media/<user>/... with a path that changes depending on the volume label. Scripts and applications that expect a fixed path can’t rely on this.

The Solution

Add a static fstab entry to auto-mount at a predictable path at boot.

1. Find the UUID of the NTFS partition:

sudo blkid | grep ntfs

Example output:

/dev/nvme0n1p3: UUID="XXXX-XXXX" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition"

2. Create the mount point:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/windows

3. Add the entry to /etc/fstab:

UUID=<your-uuid>  /mnt/windows  ntfs-3g  defaults,nofail,uid=1000,gid=1000  0  0

Key options:

  • nofail — boot proceeds normally if the drive isn’t present (important for NVMe drives that might be absent in some boot scenarios)
  • uid=1000,gid=1000 — makes your user the owner so you don’t need sudo for reads
  • ntfs-3g — the userspace NTFS driver; install with sudo dnf install ntfs-3g if missing

4. Test without rebooting:

sudo mount -a

Check for errors. If the mount succeeds, the path will be available at every boot automatically.

For a Windows system partition that you dual-boot into: avoid mounting it with write access while Windows is hibernated (fast startup enabled), as this can corrupt the filesystem. Add ro to the options, or disable fast startup in Windows.