# `/home` (User home directories)
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 Normal users have their home directories under `/home`, but software should always look for the per-user `$HOME` environment variable rather than relying on a pattern such as `/home/$USER`. 

 By default, AL2023 images have `/home` on the root file system, but software should not rely on this. It is perfectly valid for the OS to be configured for `/home` to be a separate file system, which is mounted later during boot, or only after a user authenticates to the system. 

 The root user home directory is not in `/home` but rather is [`/root` (root user home directory)](filesystem-slash-root.md) so that it is available in the event that the `/home` file system cannot be mounted. 

**Note**  
 It is best practice for `systemd` services which do not need write access to `/home` to be configured with the `ProtectHome=read-only` directive. With this option, `/home`, `/root`, and `/run/user` are made read-only for the service.   
 It is also best practice for services that do not need any access to `/home` to be configured with the `ProtectHome=tmpfs` directive, which will run the service in a sandbox where `/home`, `/root`, and `/run/user` are empty read-only `tmpfs` file systems.   
 For more information on using `systemd` to restrict what access a service has to the system, see the `systemd.exec(5)` man page.