The GNOME Volume Manager monitors volume-related events and responds with user-specified policy. The GNOME Volume Manager can automount hot-plugged drives, automount inserted removable media, autorun programs, automatically play audio CDs and video DVDs, and automatically import photos from a digital camera. The GNOME Volume Manager does this entirely in user-space and without polling.

The GNOME Voume Manager sits at the top end of a larger picture that aims to integrate the Linux system from the kernel on up through the desktop and its applications.