diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9b461b279..96bbc3ec7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 IMPROVEMENTS:
 
   - guests/tinycore: Will now auto-install rsync.
+  - synced\_folders/rsync: rsync-auto will not watch filesystem for
+    excluded paths. [GH-3159]
 
 BUG FIXES:
 
diff --git a/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/command/rsync_auto.rb b/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/command/rsync_auto.rb
index 1f6627198..8e1951214 100644
--- a/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/command/rsync_auto.rb
+++ b/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/command/rsync_auto.rb
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ module VagrantPlugins
 
           # Build up the paths that we need to listen to.
           paths = {}
+          ignores = []
           with_target_vms(argv) do |machine|
             folders = synced_folders(machine)[:rsync]
             next if !folders || folders.empty?
@@ -48,6 +49,12 @@ module VagrantPlugins
                 machine: machine,
                 opts:    folder_opts,
               }
+
+              if folder_opts[:exclude]
+                Array(folder_opts[:exclude]).each do |pattern|
+                  ignores << RsyncHelper.exclude_to_regexp(hostpath, pattern.to_s)
+                end
+              end
             end
           end
 
@@ -62,9 +69,13 @@ module VagrantPlugins
           end
 
           @logger.info("Listening to paths: #{paths.keys.sort.inspect}")
+          @logger.info("Ignoring #{ignores.length} paths:")
+          ignores.each do |ignore|
+            @logger.info("  -- #{ignore.to_s}")
+          end
           @logger.info("Listening via: #{Listen::Adapter.select.inspect}")
           callback = method(:callback).to_proc.curry[paths]
-          listener = Listen.to(*paths.keys, &callback)
+          listener = Listen.to(*paths.keys, ignore: ignores, &callback)
           listener.start
           listener.thread.join
 
@@ -73,10 +84,10 @@ module VagrantPlugins
 
         # This is the callback that is called when any changes happen
         def callback(paths, modified, added, removed)
-          @logger.debug("File change callback called!")
-          @logger.debug("  - Modified: #{modified.inspect}")
-          @logger.debug("  - Added: #{added.inspect}")
-          @logger.debug("  - Removed: #{removed.inspect}")
+          @logger.info("File change callback called!")
+          @logger.info("  - Modified: #{modified.inspect}")
+          @logger.info("  - Added: #{added.inspect}")
+          @logger.info("  - Removed: #{removed.inspect}")
 
           tosync = []
           paths.each do |hostpath, folders|
diff --git a/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper.rb b/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper.rb
index 503f05e82..f5c081a74 100644
--- a/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper.rb
+++ b/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper.rb
@@ -6,6 +6,31 @@ module VagrantPlugins
     # This is a helper that abstracts out the functionality of rsyncing
     # folders so that it can be called from anywhere.
     class RsyncHelper
+      # This converts an rsync exclude pattern to a regular expression
+      # we can send to Listen.
+      def self.exclude_to_regexp(path, exclude)
+        start_anchor = false
+
+        if exclude.start_with?("/")
+          start_anchor = true
+          exclude      = exclude[1..-1]
+        end
+
+        path   = "#{path}/" if !path.end_with?("/")
+        regexp = "^#{Regexp.escape(path)}"
+        regexp += ".*" if !start_anchor
+
+        # This is REALLY ghetto, but its a start. We can improve and
+        # keep unit tests passing in the future.
+        exclude = exclude.gsub("**", "|||GLOBAL|||")
+        exclude = exclude.gsub("*", "|||PATH|||")
+        exclude = exclude.gsub("|||PATH|||", "[^/]*")
+        exclude = exclude.gsub("|||GLOBAL|||", ".*")
+        regexp += exclude
+
+        Regexp.new(regexp)
+      end
+
       def self.rsync_single(machine, ssh_info, opts)
         # Folder info
         guestpath = opts[:guestpath]
diff --git a/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper_test.rb b/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper_test.rb
index b416b4902..7b2d7561e 100644
--- a/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper_test.rb
@@ -28,6 +28,30 @@ describe VagrantPlugins::SyncedFolderRSync::RsyncHelper do
     end
   end
 
+  describe "#exclude_to_regexp" do
+    let(:path) { "/foo/bar" }
+
+    it "converts a directory match" do
+      expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp(path, "foo/")).
+        to eq(/^#{Regexp.escape(path)}\/.*foo\//)
+    end
+
+    it "converts the start anchor" do
+      expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp(path, "/foo")).
+        to eq(/^\/foo\/bar\/foo/)
+    end
+
+    it "converts the **" do
+      expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp(path, "fo**o")).
+        to eq(/^#{Regexp.escape(path)}\/.*fo.*o/)
+    end
+
+    it "converts the *" do
+      expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp(path, "fo*o")).
+        to eq(/^#{Regexp.escape(path)}\/.*fo[^\/]*o/)
+    end
+  end
+
   describe "#rsync_single" do
     let(:result) { Vagrant::Util::Subprocess::Result.new(0, "", "") }