[ale] Missing fstab file

[Bob Toxen]

> I am new to Linux and need some help.  Can anyone explain how to get fstab
> back?  I get an error on bootup (missing fstab file) and I know that /etc
> is read-only protected.  I have fstab.bak which has the correct info but
> can't use it to make a new fstab.

Linux initially mounts / (root) read-only until it passes the FSCK file
system check.  FSCK uses /etc/fstab, of course, to determine which file
systems to check.

1. Try booting and then invoking FSCK manually to check the root file
   system.  "fsck /dev/hda1" if you have IDE or "fsck /dev/sda1" if
   you have SCSI (and your root partition is the first one on the disk)
   should work.  You may have file system damage.

   NOTE: in place of fsck you might want to use fsck.ext2.

2. Then try rebooting and see if / then gets remounted R/W.

3. If that didn't work then pull out (or create) your rescue disks, boot,
   do the FSCK thing again (but this may not be necessary), then *here's
   the important stuff* mount your hard disk off of /mnt from your
   rescue disk:

   	mount /dev/hda1 /mnt

4. Use cp to restore your fstab:

	cp /mnt/etc/fstab /mnt/etc/fstab.bad
	cp /mnt/etc/fstab.bak /mnt/etc/fstab
	/etc/umount /mnt
	sync

5. Remove the floppy and reboot normally.

Let me know how it works.

> Chris Woodruff
> cwoodruff at mindspring.com

Bob Toxen
bob at cavu.com
http://www.cavu.com
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