# Root fs apparently not mounted (though it IS mounted)

## radudi

The root fs (aka /) is mounted, but I get the following output:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> radudi radu # df
> 
> Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
> ...

 

The root partition is xfs on software raid0 (/dev/md/0) which doesn't appear in any of the listings even though I repeat, it IS mounted.

I also encounter some strange problem from time to time: no-one can login, I can't reboot, X refuses to close gracefully(ctrl+alt+backspace works though) - but everything else works just fine in any already open consoles. Anyway, in these situations I can't shutdown the computer - the only solution is a manual hard reset/close.

Could these two problems be related? The first one is very strange and the second one is very annoying.

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## Vla

Hellol!

I have exaclty the same problem. My system does not run a raid system. I use the genkernel on a nforce2 board.

I have no idea what to do ....

localhost haschman # df -h

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

udev                  506M  416K  506M   1% /dev

/dev/hdb6             9.6G  8.3G  796M  92% /home

shm                   506M     0  506M   0% /dev/shm

/dev/hda4             120G  117G  3.0G  98% /mnt/riesig

/dev/hda3              15G   11G  3.8G  75% /mnt/programme

localhost haschman # mount

proc on /proc type proc (rw,nodiratime)

sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)

udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,nosuid)

devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)

/dev/hdb6 on /home type ext3 (rw,noatime)

shm on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)

usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw,devmode=0664,devgid=85)

/dev/hda4 on /mnt/riesig type ntfs (rw)

/dev/hda3 on /mnt/programme type ntfs (rw)

localhost haschman # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/hda1   *           1        1530    12289693+   7  HPFS/NTFS

/dev/hda2            1531        1922     3148740    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

/dev/hda3            1923        3834    15358140    7  HPFS/NTFS

/dev/hda4            3835       19457   125491747+   7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/hdb: 15.0 GB, 15020457984 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1826 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/hdb1   *           1         501     4024251   83  Linux

/dev/hdb2             502        1826    10643062+   5  Extended

/dev/hdb5             502         562      489951   82  Linux swap / Solaris

/dev/hdb6             563        1826    10153048+  83  Linux

I tried to copy the root specific entrys in /proc/mount over to /etc/mtab. now i can view df oder mount, but if i want to use a program like amarok, it says: Could not enter folder /.

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## jakudlaty

Here are my files:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> $ cat /etc/mtab
> 
> proc /proc proc rw,nodiratime 0 0
> ...

 

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> df -h
> 
> Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
> ...

 

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> $ cat /etc/fstab
> 
> /dev/hda2               /               reiserfs        noatime,notail  0 1
> ...

 

Does anybody know, what is wrong??

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## OddFox

Hey everybody I just wanted to post a me-too type response to let others know that this doesn't seem to be an isolated issue, but it is something that must've recently developed, because I never had it happen before.

I run my Gentoo in the unstable amd64 branch, always have and I don't have any intention of switching that, but I did notice that last time I did an install of Gentoo to check out reiser4, the system would not report that the root filesystem was mounted when checking using df -h or even the GNOME System Monitor (I didn't have KDE installed and didn't bother keeping the system around much longer after that, wipe and reinstall since my /home partition is separate).

So I just got done with the installation process once more, using ext3 extensively in my system, using the -O dir_index option and all that good stuff. I never noticed a problem with doing that before so I doubt that it would suddenly become the issue, especially when the issue was happening with reiser4 as well. Basically what it feels like is either a recent update to some part of the base Gentoo system caused some cosmetic breakage, or maybe the partition table itself is busted. I would figure though that there would be more problems on my hand if that were the case than this simple issue.

Hopefully someone can figure out soon what the problem might be, I'll be doing my best to investigate in the meantime but I am rather limited in my knowledge of such things. I'll keep an eye on the thread and post anything I find.

Peace! (And P.S. -- Posting to forums in Lynx is crazy weird  :Neutral: , I hope I can get used to it heh)

EDIT: Formatted post a bit more nicely now that I have Opera installed again ^^

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## agl

Firstly, /proc/mounts is the file you should be looking at. That lists what the kernel thinks is actually mounted, although it might list the filesystem as rootfs.

Your root filesystem should be setup in /etc/fstab. It might sound silly (how does fstab matter when you need to have mounted / to get to it?), but it configures the user-land tools. So make sure that the right line is in fstab and paste the output of /proc/mounts.

As for the second problem of the first poster - I doubt that it is related. Watch /var/log/messages (or whatever you have setup) for information when it happens. Also, "I can't reboot" -> post error messages etc.

AGL

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## OddFox

Thanks for the response agl, I noticed some interesting tidbits, especially that /proc/mounts does list my root filesystem as /, rootfs:

```
oddfox doomsday # cat /proc/mounts   

rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0

/dev/root / ext3 rw 0 0

proc /proc proc rw,nodiratime 0 0

sysfs /sys sysfs rw 0 0

udev /dev tmpfs rw,nosuid 0 0

devpts /dev/pts devpts rw 0 0

/dev/hda6 /home ext3 rw 0 0

/dev/hda1 /mnt/windows ntfs ro,noatime,nodiratime,uid=0,gid=0,umask=0222,nls=utf8,errors=continue,mft_zone_multiplier=1 0 0

shm /dev/shm tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec 0 0

usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw 0 0
```

And then, checking out fstab:

```
oddfox ~ # cat /etc/fstab | grep hda5

/dev/hda5               /               ext3            defaults        0 1
```

I can't see anything that's possibly changed in how I configure my filesystem in fstab, that's the exact same as I've always done it.  For completeness and reference, even with my root filesystem identified in these two places, here's the output of df:

```
oddfox doomsday # df -h

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

udev                  501M  288K  501M   1% /dev

/dev/hda6              21G  6.6G   13G  35% /home

/dev/hda1             110G   62G   48G  57% /mnt/windows

shm                   501M     0  501M   0% /dev/shm
```

Truly bizarre...  *scratches head and wonders what kind of detective work should come next* I've got plenty of time to ponder this while KDE installs.   :Smile: 

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## titan100

I've got the same problem, It seems that the /etc/mtab file does not get filled with an entry for / hence it doesn't come up in df -h, it can be ficed (although it doesn't stay fixed) by adding the / line from /etc/fstab into /etc/mtab.

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## agl

 *Quote:*   

> Thanks for the response agl, I noticed some interesting tidbits, especially that /proc/mounts does list my root filesystem as /, rootfs:
> 
> 

 

 *Quote:*   

> For completeness and reference, even with my root filesystem identified in these two places, here's the output of df: 

 

Well, df takes its list of filesystems from /etc/mtab, so that's to be expected if the root isn't in there. I've pretty much run out of ideas. You can copy /proc/mounts to /etc/mtab and that should work for the current run.

Actually, before you do that try "mount -f /" and see if that adds / to /etc/mtab.

AGL

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## OddFox

 :Very Happy:  Since it's going to be a while until I can test myself to see if I would have to mod /etc/mtab on each boot, will it keep if I were to fix it now and reboot later?

The mount operation didn't change anything in /etc/mtab, although it didnt report any errors.  Here are the results of the suggestions:

```
oddfox doomsday # cp /proc/mounts /etc/mtab 

oddfox doomsday # df -h

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

rootfs                 19G  5.0G   13G  29% /

/dev/root              19G  5.0G   13G  29% /

udev                  501M  288K  501M   1% /dev

/dev/hda6              21G  6.6G   13G  35% /home

/dev/hda1             110G   62G   48G  57% /mnt/windows

shm                   501M     0  501M   0% /dev/shm
```

So now I've got two references to the root filesystem.  Better than none, that's for sure, though.    :Razz: 

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## radudi

So I see I'm not the only one having the root fs problem. Apparently someone introduced this new "feature" somewhere and I think that someone should press the "undo" button since editing/overwriting mtab can hardly be considered an ellegant solution.

What about the second problem from my original post? I can see that is a rather unusual one (specific to my computer?). Any comments and suggestions on that will be greatly appreciated since it is very annoying not being able to login.

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## XioXouS

Thought I'd add my "me too" as well.

Did anyone submit a bug report?  I didn't see one, but also didn't look too hard.

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## platojones

What version of the 'mount' command are you guys using?  For people using unstable arch, there is a broken version of mount that fails to display the root filesystem.  You might have a look at this thread.

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-379941-highlight-.html

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## Vla

haschman@localhost:~$ mount --version

mount: mount-2.12q

Thanks for the hint!

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## Vla

The bug has bin fixed for me in ~x86. If this fits to the rest you could mark the topic solved.

Thank you!

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