Mount the file system in Linux

Last update: April 18 2025

Mount the file system in Linux

Before performing any operations in Rescue mode, you must mount the OS file system. If the disk with the system partition is connected to a hardware RAID controller, use the instructions with disk partitioning without software RAID.

Disk partitioning without software RAID

1. Boot the server in Rescue and Diagnostic mode.

2. Print information about the partitions on the available disks:

   lsblk

   A list of disks with partitions will appear in the response. For example:

   NAME    MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
   sda       8:0    0   2.9G  0 disk
   └─sda1    8:1    0   2.9G  0 part
   sdb       8:16   0   160G  0 disk
   ├─sdb1    8:17   0 159.9G  0 part
   ├─sdb14   8:30   0     4M  0 part
   └─sdb15   8:31   0   106M  0 part

   Here. sda1, sdb1, sdb14, sdb15 — partitions on the disk.

3. Select the system partition, usually the largest partition on the disk. In the example in step 2, this is the partition sdb1.

4. Mount the file system:

   infiltrate-root /dev/<partition>

   Specify <partition> — partition on the disk you selected in step 3.

   The partition will be mounted in the directory /newroot.

5. If the command infiltrate-root doesn't work, mount the file system manually.

6. Perform recovery and diagnostic work.

7. Log out of the environment after the job is complete. The file system will be unmounted automatically:

   exit

Disk partitioning with software RAID

1. Boot the server in Rescue and Diagnostic mode.

2. Check if the system has detected RAID arrays, to do this, display the partition information on the available disks:

   lsblk

   A list of disks with partitions will appear in the response. For example:

   NAME    MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINT
   sda       8:0    0 447.1G  0 disk
   ├─sda1    8:1    0   500M  0 part
   │ └─md0   9:0    0   500M  0 raid1
   └─sda2    8:2    0 446.6G  0 part
     └─md1   9:1    0 446.6G  0 raid1
   sdb       8:16   0 447.1G  0 disk
   ├─sdb1    8:17   0   500M  0 part
   │ └─md0   9:0    0   500M  0 raid1
   └─sdb2    8:18   0 446.6G  0 part
     └─md1   9:1    0 446.6G  0 raid1

   Here. md0, md1 — RAID arrays on disk partitions.

3. If in step 2 in the output lsblk there are RAID arrays, skip this step. If there are no RAID arrays, start RAID build:

   mdadm --assemble --scan

4. Print information about the partitions on the available disks:

   lsblk

   A list of disks with partitions will appear in the response. For example:

   NAME    MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINT
   sda       8:0    0 447.1G  0 disk
   ├─sda1    8:1    0   500M  0 part
   │ └─md0   9:0    0   500M  0 raid1
   └─sda2    8:2    0 446.6G  0 part
     └─md1   9:1    0 446.6G  0 raid1
   sdb       8:16   0 447.1G  0 disk
   ├─sdb1    8:17   0   500M  0 part
   │ └─md0   9:0    0   500M  0 raid1
   └─sdb2    8:18   0 446.6G  0 part
     └─md1   9:1    0 446.6G  0 raid1

   Here. md0, md1 — RAID arrays on disk partitions.

5. Select the system RAID array, usually the largest RAID array. In the example in step 4, this is md1.

6. Mount the file system:

   infiltrate-root /dev/<raid_array>

   Specify <raid_array> — RAID array that you selected in step 5.

   The partition will be mounted in the directory /newroot.

7. If the command infiltrate-root doesn't work, mount the file system manually.

8. Perform recovery and diagnostic work.

9. Log out of the environment after the job is complete. The file system will be unmounted automatically:

   exit

Mount the file system manually⁠

Disk partitioning without software RAID

1. Boot the server in Rescue and Diagnostic mode.

2. Print information about the partitions on the available disks:

   lsblk

   A list of disks with partitions will appear in the response. For example:

   NAME    MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
   sda       8:0    0   2.9G  0 disk
   └─sda1    8:1    0   2.9G  0 part
   sdb       8:16   0   160G  0 disk
   ├─sdb1    8:17   0 159.9G  0 part
   ├─sdb14   8:30   0     4M  0 part
   └─sdb15   8:31   0   106M  0 part

   Here. sda1, sdb1, sdb14, sdb15 — partitions on the disk.

3. Select the system partition, usually the largest partition on the disk. In the example in step 2, this is the partition sdb1.

4. Mount the file system to the directory /mnt:

   mount /dev/<partition> /mnt

   Specify <partition> — partition on the disk you selected in step 3.

5. Mount the service file systems:

   mount -t proc /proc /mnt/proc
   mount -t sysfs /sys /mnt/sys
   mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev

6. Connect to the environment:

   chroot /mnt /bin/bash

7. Export the PATH variable:

   export PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin

8. Perform recovery and diagnostic work.

9. Exit the environment when the work is complete:

   exit

10. Unmount the file system:

    umount /dev/<partition> /mnt

    Specify <partition> — partition on the disk to which you mounted the file system in step 4.

Disk partitioning with software RAID

1. Boot the server in Rescue and Diagnostic mode.

2. Check if the system has detected RAID arrays, to do this, display the partition information on the available disks:

   lsblk

   A list of disks with partitions will appear in the response. For example:

   NAME    MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINT
   sda       8:0    0 447.1G  0 disk
   ├─sda1    8:1    0   500M  0 part
   │ └─md0   9:0    0   500M  0 raid1
   └─sda2    8:2    0 446.6G  0 part
     └─md1   9:1    0 446.6G  0 raid1
   sdb       8:16   0 447.1G  0 disk
   ├─sdb1    8:17   0   500M  0 part
   │ └─md0   9:0    0   500M  0 raid1
   └─sdb2    8:18   0 446.6G  0 part
     └─md1   9:1    0 446.6G  0 raid1

   Here. md0, md1 — RAID arrays on disk partitions.

3. If in step 2 in the output lsblk there are RAID arrays, skip this step. If there are no RAID arrays, start RAID build:

   mdadm --assemble --scan

4. Print information about the partitions on the available disks:

   lsblk

   A list of disks with partitions will appear in the response. For example:

   NAME    MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINT
   sda       8:0    0 447.1G  0 disk
   ├─sda1    8:1    0   500M  0 part
   │ └─md0   9:0    0   500M  0 raid1
   └─sda2    8:2    0 446.6G  0 part
     └─md1   9:1    0 446.6G  0 raid1
   sdb       8:16   0 447.1G  0 disk
   ├─sdb1    8:17   0   500M  0 part
   │ └─md0   9:0    0   500M  0 raid1
   └─sdb2    8:18   0 446.6G  0 part
     └─md1   9:1    0 446.6G  0 raid1

   Here. md0, md1 — RAID arrays on disk partitions.

5. Select the system RAID array, usually the largest RAID array. In the example in step 4, this is md1.

6. Mount the file system to the directory /mnt:

   mount /dev/<raid_array> /mnt

   Here. <raid_array> — RAID array that you selected in step 5.

7. Mount the service file systems:

   mount -t proc /proc /mnt/proc
   mount -t sysfs /sys /mnt/sys
   mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev

8. Connect to the environment:

   chroot /mnt /bin/bash

9. Export the PATH variable:

   export PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin

10. Perform recovery and diagnostic work.

11. Exit the environment when the work is complete:

    exit

12. Unmount the file system:

    umount /dev/<raid_array> /mnt

    Here. <raid_array> — RAID array to which you mounted the file system in step 6.