diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index fedec596..140e561e 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -77,6 +77,9 @@ xx/xx/2006 - x.xx.x - .
 	- ntfsmount: Umount volume in DESTROY. This is guarantees that all
 	  data would be synced before umount return for volumes mounted with
 	  blkdev option.  (Yura)
+	- Introduce MNT_NTFS_NOT_EXCLUSIVE mount option that tells libntfs do
+	  not open volume exclusively. Useful if libntfs user cares about this
+	  himself, eg. FUSE with blkdev option.  (Yura)
 
 21/06/2006 - 1.13.1 - Various fixes.
 
diff --git a/include/ntfs/volume.h b/include/ntfs/volume.h
index ba8cf3e3..96ace852 100644
--- a/include/ntfs/volume.h
+++ b/include/ntfs/volume.h
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ typedef enum {
 	NTFS_MNT_RDONLY	 	= 1,
 	NTFS_MNT_NOATIME 	= 2,
 	NTFS_MNT_CASE_SENSITIVE	= 4,
+	NTFS_MNT_NOT_EXCLUSIVE	= 8,
 } ntfs_mount_flags;
 
 /**
diff --git a/libntfs/unix_io.c b/libntfs/unix_io.c
index 4080147d..048791e0 100644
--- a/libntfs/unix_io.c
+++ b/libntfs/unix_io.c
@@ -88,12 +88,6 @@ static int ntfs_device_unix_io_open(struct ntfs_device *dev, int flags)
 	}
 	if (!(dev->d_private = ntfs_malloc(sizeof(int))))
 		return -1;
-	/*
-	 * Open the device/file obtaining the file descriptor for exclusive
-	 * access (but only if mounting r/w).
-	 */
-	if ((flags & O_RDWR) == O_RDWR)
-		flags |= O_EXCL;
 	*(int*)dev->d_private = open(dev->d_name, flags);
 	if (*(int*)dev->d_private == -1) {
 		err = errno;
@@ -112,11 +106,12 @@ static int ntfs_device_unix_io_open(struct ntfs_device *dev, int flags)
 	flk.l_start = flk.l_len = 0LL;
 	if (fcntl(DEV_FD(dev), F_SETLK, &flk)) {
 		err = errno;
-		ntfs_log_debug("ntfs_device_unix_io_open: Could not lock %s for %s\n",
-				dev->d_name, NDevReadOnly(dev) ? "reading" : "writing");
+		ntfs_log_debug("ntfs_device_unix_io_open: Could not lock %s "
+				"for %s\n", dev->d_name, NDevReadOnly(dev) ?
+				"reading" : "writing");
 		if (close(DEV_FD(dev)))
-			ntfs_log_perror("ntfs_device_unix_io_open: Warning: Could not "
-					"close %s", dev->d_name);
+			ntfs_log_perror("ntfs_device_unix_io_open: Warning: "
+					"Could not close %s", dev->d_name);
 		goto err_out;
 	}
 	/* Determine if device is a block device or not, ignoring errors. */
diff --git a/libntfs/volume.c b/libntfs/volume.c
index 3417bdf6..3901853e 100644
--- a/libntfs/volume.c
+++ b/libntfs/volume.c
@@ -438,7 +438,9 @@ ntfs_volume *ntfs_volume_startup(struct ntfs_device *dev,
 	if (flags & NTFS_MNT_CASE_SENSITIVE)
 		NVolSetCaseSensitive(vol);
 	ntfs_log_debug("Reading bootsector... ");
-	if (dev->d_ops->open(dev, NVolReadOnly(vol) ? O_RDONLY: O_RDWR)) {
+	if (dev->d_ops->open(dev, NVolReadOnly(vol) ? O_RDONLY :
+				((flags & NTFS_MNT_NOT_EXCLUSIVE) ? O_RDWR :
+				(O_RDWR | O_EXCL)))) {
 		ntfs_log_debug(FAILED);
 		ntfs_log_perror("Error opening partition device");
 		goto error_exit;
@@ -752,6 +754,7 @@ out:
  *	NTFS_MNT_NOATIME	- do not update access time
  *	NTFS_MNT_CASE_SENSITIVE - treat filenames as case sensitive even if
  *				  they are not in POSIX namespace
+ *	NTFS_MNT_NOT_EXCLUSIVE	- (unix only) do not open volume exclusively
  *
  * The function opens the device @dev and verifies that it contains a valid
  * bootsector. Then, it allocates an ntfs_volume structure and initializes
@@ -1150,6 +1153,7 @@ error_exit:
  *	NTFS_MNT_NOATIME	- do not update access time
  *	NTFS_MNT_CASE_SENSITIVE - treat filenames as case sensitive even if
  *				  they are not in POSIX namespace
+ *	NTFS_MNT_NOT_EXCLUSIVE	- (unix only) do not open volume exclusively
  *
  * The function opens the device or file @name and verifies that it contains a
  * valid bootsector. Then, it allocates an ntfs_volume structure and initializes
diff --git a/ntfsprogs/ntfsmount.c b/ntfsprogs/ntfsmount.c
index 1a0e15fd..75c5500e 100644
--- a/ntfsprogs/ntfsmount.c
+++ b/ntfsprogs/ntfsmount.c
@@ -1418,8 +1418,9 @@ static int ntfs_fuse_mount(const char *device)
 	ntfs_volume *vol;
 
 	vol = utils_mount_volume(device, ((ctx->ro) ? NTFS_MNT_RDONLY : 0) |
-			((ctx->noatime) ? NTFS_MNT_NOATIME : 0) /*|
-			NTFS_MNT_CASE_SENSITIVE*/, ctx->force);
+			((ctx->noatime) ? NTFS_MNT_NOATIME : 0) |
+			NTFS_MNT_NOT_EXCLUSIVE /*| NTFS_MNT_CASE_SENSITIVE*/,
+			ctx->force);
 	if (!vol) {
 		ntfs_log_error("Mount failed.\n");
 		return -1;