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SLE12 Boot exits to dracut emergency shell

This document (7016274) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12

Situation

The server hangs at boot time with a screen similar to:
[  OK  ] Started Show Plymouth Boot Screen.
[  OK  ] Reached target Paths.
[  OK  ] Reached target Basic System.
[  6.990557] sd 30:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
If allowed to wait for up to five minutes, the hang condition will change to an emergency shell with something similar to:
   Starting Dracut Emergency Shell...
Warning: /dev/sdb1 does not exist

Generating "/run/initramfs/rdsosreport.txt"
[   199.368656] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0

Entering emergency mode. Exit the shell to continue.

dracut:/#
Running the "journalctl" command reveals the following errors:
dracut-initqueue[189]: Warning: Count not boot.
dracut-initqueue[189]: Warning: /dev/sdb1 does not exist
Tailing the "/run/initramfs/rdsosreport.txt" yields the same dracut-initqueue errors.

The /etc/default/grub contains the following line:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=" root=/dev/sdb1 resume=/dev/sda1 splash=silent quiet showopts"

Resolution

1. Boot from the installation media and select Rescue System
2. Mount the root device to /mnt
3. Mount the boot device to /mnt/boot (# Many times the root and boot devices are the same)
4. Bind the rescue system's proc, sys and dev to /mnt. For example,
  # for i in proc sys dev; do mount --rbind /$i /mnt/$i; done
5. Chroot to /mnt
  # chroot /mnt
6. Edit the /etc/default/grub file and remove or set a correct root= path in the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT variable.
7. Save /etc/default/grub
8. Run grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg.
9. Reboot the server normally.

Cause

An invalid root= kernel parameter set in the grub2 configuration file. In this case root=/dev/sdb1 had to be removed or changed to root=/dev/sda2 in the /etc/default/grub file.

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

  • Document ID:7016274
  • Creation Date: 09-Mar-2015
  • Modified Date:03-Mar-2020
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

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