Frequently asked questions.
Direct answers about what Mountee does, what it requires, and where the limits are. If your question is not here, open an issue on GitHub.
Is Mountee really free?
Yes. Mountee is free and open source under GPL-3.0. There is no paid tier, subscription, account, or trial. Voluntary sponsorship is optional and does not unlock any additional features.
Does Mountee require macFUSE or a kernel extension?
No. Mountee is built on Apple's FSKit framework and bundles the ntfs-3g engine in the app. There is no separate macFUSE install, no third-party kernel extension, and no Homebrew dependency at runtime.
Which Macs and macOS versions does Mountee support?
Mountee requires macOS 26 or later on an Apple Silicon Mac. The 0.2.0 release is verified on macOS 26.6.2 and macOS 27.0.1. Intel Macs and macOS 15 or earlier are not supported.
Can Mountee write to NTFS drives?
Yes. Volumes mount read-only by default, and you choose Mount Read/Write per volume. Volumes marked dirty or hibernated by Windows are never mounted read/write; Mountee keeps them read-only and logs the reason.
Is Mountee safe for an important drive?
Mountee is designed around safety gates: read-only by default, no format, repair or erase operations, and unsupported operations fail with ENOTSUP instead of pretending to succeed. It is still a young 0.2.0 release, so keep backups and try read/write on non-critical data first.
Why does the installer still say MacNTFS?
The 0.2.0 DMG was built before the project was renamed. It is named MacNTFS-0.2.0.dmg and installs MacNTFS.app. The app is the same Mountee project; the bundled name is being migrated in a future release.
How do I uninstall Mountee?
Eject all mounted volumes, disable the extension in System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions → File System Extensions, then delete the app from /Applications and remove ~/Library/MacNTFS. Those identifiers are shared with the 0.2.0 MacNTFS.app build.
Does Mountee work without an internet connection?
Mountee does not require an account, subscription, or sign-in. You need an internet connection to download the installer from GitHub; mounting and file access happen locally on your Mac.
Does Mountee format, repair, or check NTFS volumes?
No. Mountee never formats, repairs, or erases anything, even when asked to. Its scope is mounting and file access. Use Windows tools such as chkdsk for volume repair.
Does Mountee map POSIX permissions, symlinks, or extended attributes?
Not yet. POSIX permissions are not mapped from NTFS security descriptors, ownership is ignored (noowners), and symlinks, hard links, and extended attributes/resource forks return ENOTSUP. Windows junctions appear as plain entries.
What happens if Windows Fast Startup left the drive hibernated?
Mountee refuses read/write access and mounts the volume read-only with the reason logged. Shut Windows down fully, or disable Fast Startup and shut down cleanly, then try again. Do not force a read/write mount.
Does Mountee support Intel Macs?
No. The current release is built for Apple Silicon (arm64) and requires macOS 26 or later. Intel support is not claimed.
How is Mountee different from Mounty?
Both are free. Mounty 2.x is a menu bar front end that needs macFUSE and ntfs-3g, and its official documentation covers macOS 10.9 through macOS 27. Mountee uses FSKit and a bundled ntfs-3g engine, so it needs no macFUSE or kernel extension, but it requires macOS 26+ on Apple Silicon. See the full comparison for details.
How is Mountee different from Paragon NTFS for Mac?
Paragon is a commercial, closed-source product with a 10-day trial, broader macOS support, Intel support, and additional volume tools. Mountee is free, open source, and narrower: macOS 26+ on Apple Silicon, mounting and file access only. Both approaches have trade-offs; see the comparison page.
How do I report a bug or contribute?
Open an issue in the official GitHub repository. The source, build instructions, diagnostics guide, and validation checklist are public. Contributions are welcome under the project's GPL-3.0 license.
How can I support the project?
Star the repository, report reproducible bugs, improve documentation, or sponsor development through GitHub Sponsors. Sponsorship is optional; Mountee remains free and open source.
Your Windows drive is one install away.
Download Mountee, enable the file system extension once, and mount your NTFS volume read/write. Free, open source, and no macFUSE required.
macOS 26 or later · Apple Silicon · 4.25 MB