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#1 2012-11-02 08:14:34

photon
Member
Registered: 2012-11-01
Posts: 21

[solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

Hi,

When I tried to install Arch(archlinux-2012.10.06-dual.iso) on VirtualBox 4.1.4, I meet the problem of "ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!"
Because I cannot remember the exact process and cannot find exactly the same instruction I used, the process was a little like below:
# fdisk -l
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1
# lsblk /dev/sda
# pacman -Syy
# pacman -Syu
# pacman base base-dev

Then the system gave an error message:
lsblk

I've looked into the wiki's Installation_guide and done several search by google but had no luck. Hope some kind guy could lead me to get out of trouble.

The installation material I used:
Virtualbox: install Arch Linux part 1
Virtualbox: install Arch Linux part 2

wiki:
Beginners' Guide
Installation Guide

Last edited by photon (2012-11-21 14:34:51)

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#2 2012-11-02 09:42:15

brain0
Developer
From: Aachen - Germany
Registered: 2005-01-03
Posts: 1,382

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

You formatted your root partition, but didn't mount it.

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#3 2012-11-02 10:26:57

photon
Member
Registered: 2012-11-01
Posts: 21

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

How do you know this? It's weird, I remember I mounted it.
And by the way, according to the video instruction of Virtualbox: install Arch Linux part 2, it first partitioned the the disk and then did the pacman -Syy

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#4 2012-11-02 10:49:56

Trilby
Inspector Parrot
Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,442
Website

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

photon wrote:

How do you know this?

lsblk shows no mount points - the partitions are not mounted.

photon wrote:

according to the video instruction of Virtualbox: install Arch Linux part 2

There is your real problem.  Use the guides at wiki.archlinux.org.

EDIT: I just looked at those videos, and can only respond: WTF?  You couldn't have gotten passed step one with those videos and a current iso: the video uses the ncurses AIF which is no longer on the iso.

Last edited by Trilby (2012-11-02 11:07:58)


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

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#5 2012-11-02 13:13:52

falconindy
Developer
From: New York, USA
Registered: 2009-10-22
Posts: 4,111
Website

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

photon wrote:

How do you know this? It's weird, I remember I mounted it.
And by the way, according to the video instruction of Virtualbox: install Arch Linux part 2, it first partitioned the the disk and then did the pacman -Syy

Your own lsblk output shows that there's no mountpoint for the device.

I think you need to reconsider your choice of distro.

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#6 2012-11-02 13:22:24

photon
Member
Registered: 2012-11-01
Posts: 21

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

falconindy wrote:
photon wrote:

How do you know this? It's weird, I remember I mounted it.
And by the way, according to the video instruction of Virtualbox: install Arch Linux part 2, it first partitioned the the disk and then did the pacman -Syy

Your own lsblk output shows that there's no mountpoint for the device.

I think you need to reconsider your choice of distro.

Thanks falconindy, but could your further give any suggestion on which version of distro I should use?

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#7 2012-11-17 17:00:16

photon
Member
Registered: 2012-11-01
Posts: 21

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

I've successfully mounted all the partitions.

The new steps are as below:

Change Virtual Box screen saver time:
setterm -blank 0 -powerdown 0

Edit mirror list

nano /etc/mirrorlist

handle keymaps

loadkeys us

Change locale

Mount the partitions

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/home
swapon -s
swapon /dev/sda1
swapon -s
Filename   Type   Size    Used    Priority
/dev/sda3  partion  1047548  0   -1

Install the system:

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel

BTW, the partition format is GTP, so fdisk doesn't support it. I use GParted instead though it seems strange that I tried to use fdisk and didn't find the mistake cool

Last edited by photon (2012-11-17 17:09:26)

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#8 2012-11-17 17:04:12

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

I think you shoudl seriously reconsider your choise of distro.  It rather sounds like you haven't really a clue what you are doing. 

Also, when you post a bunch of crap, use [ code ] and [ /code ] around it. (That is without the spaces inside the code blocks.)

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#9 2012-11-17 17:17:48

photon
Member
Registered: 2012-11-01
Posts: 21

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

WonderWoofy wrote:

I think you should seriously reconsider your choise of distro.

Any reason?

WonderWoofy wrote:

It rather sounds like you haven't really a clue what you are doing.

Why do you think so? And probably that's why I came here for help.

WonderWoofy wrote:

Also, when you post a bunch of crap, use [ code ] and [ /code ] around it. (That is without the spaces inside the code blocks.)

Did you think my description was meaningless or too much?

Last edited by photon (2012-11-17 17:23:47)

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#10 2012-11-17 17:23:32

Trilby
Inspector Parrot
Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,442
Website

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

It's a good thing swapon seems to be smart enough to fix your error, otherwise you would have destroyed your root partition.


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

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#11 2012-11-18 13:47:32

photon
Member
Registered: 2012-11-01
Posts: 21

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

Hi all,
Sorry to trouble you again. The "/mnt is not a mountpoint" problem still exists.

Here are the steps
1. Install the system and mount all the partitions as above.
2. Reboot the system by the poweroff command and then start it.
3.

mkdir /mnt/etc

4. Try

genfstab -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

But it returns
==> ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint

lsblk

lsblk

What's the reason and solution of the problem?

Last edited by photon (2012-11-19 03:51:24)

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#12 2012-11-18 14:01:17

Trilby
Inspector Parrot
Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,442
Website

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

WTF, you must be trolling.

If you are not trolling, I can only reiterate the above: archlinux is not for you.


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

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#13 2012-11-18 14:43:27

photon
Member
Registered: 2012-11-01
Posts: 21

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

It seems that I need to reinstall the system because I rebooted before I finished installing (after pacstrap before genfstab)
Should I follow Installation Guide instead of Beginner's Guide

Last edited by photon (2012-11-18 14:44:03)

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#14 2012-11-18 15:10:41

satanselbow
Member
Registered: 2011-06-15
Posts: 538

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

The beginner's guide really is written in the most simple terms and enables a functioning base arch system when following the step by step instructions correctly. Things tend not to work so well when you do not read it or jumble up and/or omit vital steps as written. None of the problems you are encountering are down to any failings in the comprehensive wiki article or the arch installation itself. Your own idiocy does not constitute or warrant a bug report.

Many (if not all) of the queries and questions you continue to raise can be answered and resolved by reading and following the wiki as directed by my learned friends above.

If you do not understand any of the procedures or terms you come across while following the wiki you need to use the search engine of your choice (I personally recommend Google - you may or may not have heard of it previously), the Arch Wiki itself or a general search in these forum. I hazard to guess that less time spent posting and more time spent reading would be extremely benefital to all concerned.

Posting about a failing installation when you quite obviously have done none of these things tends to illicit terse responses - to which you can bare witness.

Whilst stating that "Arch is not a beginner's distro" may sound arrogant or elitist - it is generally quite a genuine and honest statement. There are many people who do chose Arch as their 1st dip into the world of 'nix and succeed. These people, however, tend to be capable of researching and absorbing the concepts, terms and practices required in a way that is quite possibly beyond you at this time.

Install Ubuntu from a live CD - you will love it, really.

Last edited by satanselbow (2012-11-18 15:13:18)

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#15 2012-11-18 15:28:30

photon
Member
Registered: 2012-11-01
Posts: 21

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

Thanks for the time and constructive suggestion you took, satanselbow.
I think I can uderstand their elitic way of addressing my questions according to my experiences and your patient explanation. I personally would still pop out my doubt or question here after my own investigation doesn't dig out anything worthwile. I will be open to all constructive suggestions which may sound critical occasionally. I also welcome those stimulating effort that's in a strict way.

Last edited by photon (2012-11-18 15:29:46)

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#16 2012-11-18 17:19:58

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

The comments above pointing you to another distro are really meant to be constructive.  If you cannot follow the basic directions of how to install, you will have one hell of a time maintinang your system.  If you want ot learn, that is great, and Arch Linux is certainly a great place to do it.  But if you choose this route, you have to be willing to read the documentation.  The whole documentation is usually helpful, and when there is a guide of how to do something with ordered steps, you should probably stick to that order.  This is especailly true if you do not know what the hell you are doing. 

It seems to me that because of your issues, Arch is not a good fit for you.  It sounds like you are blindly cpoying and pasting (horribly by the way) with no regard or intent of understanding or learning why you are doing what you are doing.  And I think that really does not sound like a true willingness to learn.  What is worse is that when you were then told what you were doing wrong, you proceeded to do it again, then return to ask for more help.  You cannot be helped... not now anyway.  Go gain more knowledge and come back when you've got a better grasp of things.

This is not elitist by the way.  If I were a professional athlete of some kind... lets say basketball... and you somehow got into an NBA practice and wanted to participate.  You would probably be told that it was for prefoessionals only.  This is not elitist, it is the truth.  You are not ready for what you are trying to do. 

Take satanselbow's advice and go try ubuntu.  Or, you might find linux mint quite nice.

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#17 2012-11-21 11:24:10

photon
Member
Registered: 2012-11-01
Posts: 21

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

Problem solved, every time I rebooted, I had to mount all the partitions again. Thanks.

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#18 2012-11-21 12:18:03

illusionist
Member
From: localhost
Registered: 2012-04-03
Posts: 498

Re: [solved]pacman base base-dev returns ERROR: /mnt is not a mountpoint!

photon wrote:

Problem solved, every time I rebooted, I had to mount all the partitions again. Thanks.

In that case please mark this thread as solved .
suggestion: Please never ever EVER use youtube as any kind of source for installation.


  Never argue with stupid people,They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.--Mark Twain
@github

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