[SOLVED] genfstab error

Surtrz · 2026-05-20 16:20:43

root@archiso~ # genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
ERROR /mnt is not a mountpoint
root@archiso~ # genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
zsh: no such file or directory

I am doing this without youtube vids this time.
I skipped

userspace utilities for file systems that will be used on the system—for the purposes of e.g. file system creation and fsck,
utilities for accessing and managing RAID or LVM if they will be used on the system,
specific firmware for other devices not included in linux-firmware (e.g. sof-firmware for onboard audio, linux-firmware-marvell for Marvell wireless and any of the multiple firmware packages for Broadcom wireless),
software necessary for networking (e.g. a network manager or a standalone DHCP client, authentication software for Wi-Fi, ModemManager for mobile broadband connections),
a console text editor (e.g nano) to allow editing configuration files from the console,
packages for accessing documentation in man and info pages: man-db, man-pages and texinfo.
For comparison, packages available in the live system can be found in pkglist.x86_64.txt. ----- This is from the installation guide.

I also want sddm but IDK when to download it. Doing installation without the help of youtuber and AI is just out of field for me. I have been using arch which was downloaded by watching youtube video for 1 month and 20 days

Last edited by Surtrz (Today 13:36:36)

5hridhyan · 2026-05-20 16:40:04

First of all, respect.

ERROR /mnt is not a mountpoint

this means your target system's root partition isn't actually mounted to /mnt in your live environment right now

zsh: no such file or directory

it happened because of the >> /mnt/etc/fstab part of your command. Because nothing is mounted to /mnt, the directory structure /mnt/etc/ doesn't exist yet, so zsh doesn't know where to write the file

you need to re-mount your partitions, install stuffs before you can generate the fstab, Run lsblk to identify your main Arch partition then mount it
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Instal … le_systems

we will look about installing sddm afterwards, for now lets sort this "issue"

Last edited by 5hridhyan (2026-05-20 17:10:29)

Surtrz · 2026-05-20 17:03:01

root@archiso ~ # mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p5
mke2fs 1.47.3 (8-jul-2025)
/dev/nvm0n1p5 is mounted; will not make a filesystem here
1 root@archiso ~ # mount /dev/nvme0n1p5 /mnt
root@archiso ~ # genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
zsh: no such file or directory: /mnt/etc/fstab
1 root@archiso ~ #

okay I can so sddm later but that youtube video is doing more than me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68z11VAYMS8
This was how I downloaded arch last time

5hridhyan · 2026-05-20 17:12:25

whoa hold on, don't run mkfs.ext4 again....
after mounting root to /mnt you should also mount your ESP as suggested in the wiki... and then you should follow this https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Instal … stallation
and THEN https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Instal … the_system

Edit:
Lets leave the YT video aside for now

Last edited by 5hridhyan (2026-05-20 17:18:36)

Surtrz · 2026-05-20 17:59:02

# mkfs.ext4 /dev/root_partition

This is what the wiki is telling me. Maybe I should just start all over again.

5hridhyan · 2026-05-20 18:04:21

Bro, if you have already formatted the partition, then there is no need to run `mkfs.ext4` again now.

To avoid confusion, can you clarify which installation step you are currently on? Did you already run `pacstrap` after mounting the partitions?

seth · 2026-05-20 18:21:34

lsblk -f

Surtrz · 2026-05-21 03:02:14

Yes I have run pacstrap. I have also formatted it.

under

lsblk -f

I can see under nvme0n1 my partion

NAME FSTYPE FSVER LABEL UUID
nvme0n1
|--
|--
|--
|--
|--nvme0n1p5 ext4 1.0 46a4caed-91f0-aef4ddd24292

I used

cfdisk

for my partion.

nano /mnt/etc/fstab

Directory '/mnt/etc' does not exist.

Last edited by Surtrz (2026-05-21 03:48:33)

cryptearth · 2026-05-21 03:58:50

well ... given you failed to follow actual quite straight forward instructions up until pacstrap you may should

wipefs --all /dev/your_drive

and start over from the top of the page follow it closely step by step ...

... as you clearly did something wrong:
given mkfs complains p5 is mounted some previous call to create a filesystem must have succeeded - otherwise mount would have failed
to me this looks like you tried something - that didn't work - and then you restarted at some random point without proper clean up first - like at least reboot before start over

i recommend you go back to a distro with a graphical installer - failing to follow simpple step by step guides will lead to quite a lot more issues and nonesense topics - we had that in the past

Surtrz · 2026-05-21 04:48:54

This is my second laptop. I already have an arch setup on my main one. I could just start over or do whatever. Downloading a new distro is just going to take more time.
The hardware for this device is so trash even linux mint xfce crashed.
CPU Intel(R) Celeron(R) N4500 @ 1.10GHz
GPU Intel (R) UHD Graphics
Memory 4.0GB and I have only used windows 11 for maximum 5 hours and the memory usage is 3.8GB (71%). I have 1.1 GB available according to microsoft.
Committed 3.0/3.8
Cached 1.1GB
The more I keep looking at it the more the memory usage increases.
I don't know if you believe me or not but windows is just downloading anything it wants and I don't know what it's doing. It just updates without even telling me and it feels like I am held hostage in my own device. Like nothing here is under my control. It just happens and the worst part is that it does not ask me. its not a suggestion. I did read wiki but I have a lot of options to choose a link that recomends me to use nano doesn't lead me to page which has

sudo pacman -S nano

I don't know why it's like that but I guess it works very well.
Also I learned that I needed to use

sudo pacman -Sy package name

In the shell.

Last edited by Surtrz (2026-05-21 06:03:57)

seth · 2026-05-21 07:29:48

#8 isn't the output of lsblk -f and there's no indication of anything being mounted anywhere.
See the 1st link below on how to upload text from the console and as last resort link (don't embed) a screenshot - posting random irrelevant tokens will not get us ahead.

cryptearth wrote:

to me this looks like you tried something - that didn't work - and then you restarted at some random point without proper clean up first - like at least reboot before start over

is probably accurate and we need to see the status quo you're facing to make informed comments about the situation

I did read wiki but I have a lot of options to choose a link that recomends me to use nano doesn't lead me to page which has

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Instal … l_packages links https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman#Usage

Surtrz · 2026-05-21 07:35:42

I finished till formatting. Then I rebooted to go to sleep.
I have 1.3M free space for nothing. What should I do with it ?.

Last edited by Surtrz (2026-05-21 08:56:20)

Surtrz · Yesterday 08:51:41

I am partitioning and I have 1.3M random unallocated space. I am giving 174G for linux file system but the device has 4GB memory.
Should I give another 4GB linux file system for my RAM ?

5hridhyan · Yesterday 09:17:58

Should I give another 4GB linux file system for my RAM ?

You probably meant swap. Yes, for a system with 4GB RAM, adding 4GB or 8GB of swap is a great choice
are you going w/ a swap partition or a swap file?

Surtrz · Yesterday 10:26:02

For UEFI systems, mount the EFI system partition. For example:

mount --mkdir /dev/efi_system_partition /mnt/boot

I have already mounted my nvme0n1p5 for dual booting. Should I run this too ?

I am going to use swap file
I ran

mount /dev/nvme0n1p5 /mnt

Last edited by Surtrz (Yesterday 10:32:52)

seth · Yesterday 11:04:01

It is rather unlikely that nvme0n1p5 is your ESP and if it was you're not supposed to mount it to /mnt

lsblk -f

Full output, no transcription, non-negotiatable.

Surtrz · Yesterday 11:43:46

root@archiso ~ # lsblk -f
NAME FSTYPE FSVER LABEL UUID FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0 squashfs 0 100% /run/archiso/airootfs
sda
sda
|--sda1 exfat 1.0 USB 4E21-0000
| |-ventoy is09660 Jolliet Extension ARCH_202603 2026-03-01-10-44-11-00
| |-sda1 exfat 1.0 USB 4E21-0000
|--sda2 vfat FAT16 VTOYEFI E039-AD96
nvme0n1
|--nvme0n1p1 vfat FAT32 A02B-371E
|--nvme0n1p2
|--nvme0n1p3 ntfs CCF02B7CF02B6C40
|--nvme0n1p4 ntfs 3CA0E434A0E3F276
|--nvme0n1p5 ext4 1.0 71355697-badb-4023-a000-49c089f58810 161.5G 0% /mnt/boot

Last edited by Surtrz (Yesterday 11:46:02)

Surtrz · Yesterday 11:51:23

Maybe I should keep doing it until I get it right.

seth · Yesterday 12:05:30

You should read and understand the wiki - your ESP is likely nvme0n1p1, you mounted nvme0n1p5 to /mnt/boot but it looks like it's supposed to be the partition where you want to install arch, so you're supposed to mount it to /mnt

Surtrz · Yesterday 12:11:28

oh okay I can do it. Thanks and i am going to read wiki. It has helped me a lot.

Last edited by Surtrz (Yesterday 12:11:43)

cryptearth · Yesterday 12:38:58

it seems you either have difficulties to comprehend the wiki - or fail at simple logic

so, here's the "linux for dummies" version:
today we use UEFI - to keep it simple: it requires a drive to be formatted in gpt mode and at least an EFI System Partition (ESP) with FAT32
unless your os can run on a fat32 partition (whoch most modern os can't) you need at least a second partition for your os

as the esp will be accessed from within the os it has to be mounted within it -> from this the logic demands the os partition has to be mounted first

mount /dev/nvme0n1p5 /mnt

THEN you want to create a mountpoint for the esp within the just mounted os partition

mkdir /mnt/efi

and now you can mount it

mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/efi

note: unless you created the esp yourself (which i doubt) it will be too small for /boot to contain all the wibdows stuff, a linux bootloader and the kernel+initrd - hence you will not mount it to /boot as you will run out of space

yes, it is able to dual-boot with just 3 partitions - but that's above your skill as it requores manual work on windows, too - which i doubt you're able to from how you fail to follow arch guide

Surtrz · Yesterday 12:58:38

I have already finished this and I know what EFI and UEFI is. Why would I try to have 3 with such bad hardware.

mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/efi

instead of nvme0n1p5 ?.

Last edited by Surtrz (Yesterday 13:04:16)

5hridhyan · Yesterday 13:07:47

Think of /mnt as the foundation of your house. You have to build the foundation before you can put the roof on.
*your main Arch partition (p5) is the foundation. It must be mounted to /mnt.
*your EFI partition (p1) is a room inside the house. It must be mounted inside the foundation (like /mnt/boot or /mnt/efi).

if you don't mount p5 to /mnt first, your computer has nowhere to actually install Arch...

umount -R /mnt
mount /dev/nvme0n1p5 /mnt
mount --mkdir /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/efi

Edit:
After that, run lsblk -f to verify

Last edited by 5hridhyan (Yesterday 13:20:12)

cryptearth · Yesterday 16:07:07

Surtrz wrote:

Why would I try to have 3 with such bad hardware.

ESP
Windows
Linux
for an uefi system that's the least number of partitions to dual-boot
sure you CAN extend in various ways, XBOOTLDR, exchange partition with exFAT, extra /home ... but unless one has specific reasons for them single-partition-OS is the simplest way

Surtrz wrote:

mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/efi
instead of nvme0n1p5 ?.

have you even read https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Instal … le_systems ?
tell me WHERE does it say to mount the ROOT partition to anything else BUT /mnt ... again: you either fail to comprehend the wiki quite hard - or you don't even follow it step by step - both explain your issues so far

but

Surtrz wrote:

I have already finished this and I know what EFI and UEFI is.

i at least TRIED to help - seems you don't want me to - fine - i'm out

Surtrz · Yesterday 18:10:06

yeah you corrected it so I restarted. Thanks. Didn't mean to make you feel like that

Arch Linux

#1 2026-05-20 16:20:43

[SOLVED] genfstab error

#2 2026-05-20 16:40:04

Re: [SOLVED] genfstab error

#3 2026-05-20 17:03:01

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