# Mounting file systems

{% hint style="info" %}
This page was generated from content adapted from the [AWS Developer Guide](https://github.com/awsdocs/amazon-efs-user-guide.git)
{% endhint %}

## Mounting with EFS mount helper

* **Note**\
  Amazon EFS does not support mounting from Amazon EC2 Windows instances.
* **Note**\
  The watchdog process ensures that each mount's stunnel process is running, and stops the stunnel when the Amazon EFS file system is unmounted. If for some reason a stunnel process is terminated unexpectedly, the watchdog process restarts it.
* **Important**\
  You can enable logging for the stunnel process logs. However, enabling the stunnel logs can use up a nontrivial amount of space on your file system.
* **Note**\
  Amazon EFS file systems do not support automatic mounting on Amazon EC2 Mac instances running macOS Big Sur.
* **Note**\
  Amazon EFS file systems do not support mounting on Amazon EC2 Mac instances running macOS Big Sur at instance launch.
* **Note**\
  You can't use Amazon EFS with Microsoft Windows–based Amazon EC2 instances.
* **Note**\
  Amazon EFS file systems do not support automatic mounting using `/etc/fstab` on Amazon EC2 Mac instances running macOS Big Sur.
* **Note**\
  Before you can update the `/etc/fstab` file of your EC2 instance, make sure that you already created your Amazon EFS file system. For more information, see [Step 1: Create your Amazon EFS file system](https://github.com/kevinslin/aws-reference-notes/blob/main/services/amazon_efs/gs-step-two-create-efs-resources.md).
* **Note**\
  In some cases, your Amazon EC2 instance might need to start regardless of the status of your mounted Amazon EFS file system. In such cases, add the `nofail` option to your file system's entry in your `/etc/fstab` file.

## Additional mounting considerations

* **Note**\
  If your EC2 instance needs to start regardless of the status of your mounted EFS file system, add the `nofail` option to your file system's entry in your `/etc/fstab` file.

## Troubleshooting AMI and kernel versions

* **Note**\
  Amazon EFS does not support mounting from Amazon EC2 Windows instances.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://awsnotes.dendron.so/storage/amazon-efs/topics/mounting-file-systems.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.