Arch Linux

PhilThompson

Member

Registered: 2012-08-15

Posts: 13

[SOLVED] Unable to find root device '' on first boot (new install)

Hi everyone,

Long time lurker, first time poster (erm, not quite).

I've setup a new Arch install via chroot using a script I've written. The script was working with BIOS and grub previously but I've modified it for UEFI and Syslinux for a new laptop that is arriving shortly. I'm testing it on VirtualBox (with EFI enabled). The script is located here:

https://github.com/PhilT/arch_installer

Everything installs (as far as I can tell) but on first boot I get the following:

Unable to find root device ''

Here is my /etc/fstab:

#
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system> <dir>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# /dev/sda2
UUID=4abedddf-5e68-4a41-abd1-22ba45db44d0       /               ext4            rw,relatime,data=ordered    0 1

# /dev/sda1
UUID=8816-6EA1          /boot           vfat            rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro        0 2

/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0

generated with genfstab and then swapfile line appended later in the script.

and here is my syslinux.cfg

PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 50
DEFAULT arch

LABEL arch
  LINUX ../../vmlinuz-linux
  APPEND root=/dev/sda2 rw
  APPEND init=/usr/lib/systemd/systemd
  INITRD ../../initramfs-linux.img

LABEL archfallback
  LINUX ../../vmlinuz-linux
  APPEND root=/dev/sda2 rw
  APPEND init=/usr/lib/systemd/systemd
  INITRD ../../initramfs-linux.img

I've checked the /etc/mkinitcpio.conf as per http://superuser.com/questions/769047/u … ux-install but autodetect is in the right order.

At this point I'm a little stumped. Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

BTW: I get dropped into a recovery shell but not sure what I can check from here.

Last edited by PhilThompson (2014-11-12 18:40:52)

bstaletic

Member

Registered: 2014-02-02

Posts: 658

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to find root device '' on first boot (new install)

Your fstab doesn't contain an entry for root partition hence the error message (note the ' '). Find out your root partition UUID and make appropriate changes to fstab.

Beginer's guide says you should check if genfstab produces expected output.

EDIT: typos

Last edited by bstaletic (2014-11-12 17:05:59)

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PhilThompson

Member

Registered: 2012-08-15

Posts: 13

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to find root device '' on first boot (new install)

It's the first entry (unless I'm not understanding it)

Just noticed. It's not quite my first post - but feels like it!

Last edited by PhilThompson (2014-11-12 17:07:31)

ukhippo

Member

From: Non-paged pool

Registered: 2014-02-21

Posts: 366

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to find root device '' on first boot (new install)

You can't have multiple APPEND lines. See http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/ … options...

So combine the two APPENDs into one. That said, you don't really need to specify init=

Also your archfallback entry isn't using the fallback image...

Last edited by ukhippo (2014-11-12 17:11:34)

PhilThompson

Member

Registered: 2012-08-15

Posts: 13

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to find root device '' on first boot (new install)

ah! Thanks ukhippo

oops, copy error on the fallback.

I got a message when installing systemd that it needed to be added to init, so thought I needed that line.

Anyway, I'll make those changes and report back...

PhilThompson

Member

Registered: 2012-08-15

Posts: 13

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to find root device '' on first boot (new install)

Aha!

If you enter multiple APPEND statements in a single menu entry, only the last one will be used.

PhilThompson

Member

Registered: 2012-08-15

Posts: 13

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to find root device '' on first boot (new install)

Merging the APPEND lines did the trick!

Many thanks.

bstaletic

Member

Registered: 2014-02-02

Posts: 658

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to find root device '' on first boot (new install)

Remember to mark the thread as SOLVED.

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PhilThompson

Member

Registered: 2012-08-15

Posts: 13

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to find root device '' on first boot (new install)

Ah @ukhippo I see now why you said I don't need the systemd line as systemd-sysvcompat is installed by default. Didn't realise that was the case.

Thanks again.