remountrw

Remountrw is a term used in computing to describe the process or tools that remount a mounted filesystem with read-write permissions. In Unix-like systems, filesystems are often mounted read-only for safety or integrity, and remounting with read-write access becomes necessary for updates, configuration changes, system maintenance, or development work. The underlying mechanism relies on the mount primitive, typically using a remount operation with the MNT_REMOUNT flag; in practice, many environments perform this via a command such as mount -o remount,rw /mountpoint.

In everyday use, remountrw is commonly invoked to enable modification of partitions that are ordinarily protected, such as the root filesystem or, on some devices, system partitions like /system on Android. Various scripts or small utilities described as remountrw may exist across different ecosystems, but implementations vary. Some environments rely on standard Linux tools such as mount or BusyBox equivalents to perform the remount, while others use recovery modes or boot-time scripts to switch a filesystem to rw mode.

Risks associated with remounting as read-write include potential data corruption if writes occur during improper shutdowns, reduced system stability if the filesystem or hardware is failing, and heightened security concerns when critical system areas become writable. Proper verification of filesystem integrity and appropriate permissions are important when performing remount operations.

Remountrw, therefore, is not a single standardized program but a label applied to methods and utilities that enable write access on mounted filesystems. See also remount, mount, fstab.