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How to Fix “failed to

mount /etc/fstab” Error
in Linux

Aaron Kili Last Updated: June 27, 2017

Linux Commands 10 Comments

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In this article, i will explain how to solve

“failed to mount /etc/fstab” boot error
in Linux. The file in question contains
descriptive information concerning the
filesystems the system can mount
automatically at boot time.

This information is static and is read by

other programs on the system such as
mount, umount, dump and fsck. It has
six important filesystem mount
specification fields: the first field
describes the block special device or
remote filesystem to be mounted, the
second field defines the mount point for
the filesystem and the third specifies the
filesystem type.

The fourth field defines the mount

options associated with the filesystem,
and the fifth field is read by dump tool.
The last field is used by fsck tool to
establish the order of filesystem-checks.

Suggested Read: How to

Determine and Fix Boot Issues in
Linux

After editing the /etc/fstab to create an

automount and rebooting my system; it
booted into emergency mode showing
the error message below.

Linux Emergency Mode

I logged in as root from the interface

above, and typed the following
command to look through the systemd
journal; then I saw the errors shown in
the screen shot (indicated using red).

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As you can see, the main error (failure

of etc-fstab.mount unit) lead to several
other errors (systemd unit dependency
issues) such as failure of local-fs.target,
rhel-autorelabel-mark.service etc.

# journalctl -xb

Boot Error Messages

Causes of “failed to mount

/etc/fstab” Error in Linux

The error above may result from any of

the issues below, in the /etc/fstab file:

missing /etc/fstab file

wrong specification of filesystem
mount options,
failing mount points or
unrecognized characters in the
file.

To solve it, you can use the original file if

you created a backup, otherwise
comment out any changes you made
using the “#” character (and also ensure
that all the uncommented lines are
filesystem mount lines).

So I opened the /etc/fstab using vi/m

text editor to check for any errors.

# vi /etc/fstab

Linux /etc/fstab File

I realized I had typed an “r” letter at

the beginning of the file as shown in the
screen shot above – this was
recognized by the system as a special
device which did not actually exist in
the filesystem, thus resulting to the
sequential errors shown above.

This took me several hours before

noticing and fixing it. So I had to remove
the letter, commented out the first line in
the file, closed and saved it. After
running a reboot, the system booted
well again.

How to Avoid Such Issues

in the Future

To avoid encountering such issues on

your system, take note of the following:

Always create a backup of your config

files before editing them. In case of any
errors in your configs, you can revert to
the default/working file.

For instance:

# cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.orig

Secondly, check config files for any

errors before saving them, certain
applications offer utilities to check
syntax of config files before running the
application. Use these utilities where
possible.

However, if you happen to get any

system errors messages:

First look through the systemd journal

using the journalctl utility to determine
what exactly caused them:

# journal -xb

If you can’t resolve the errors in one

way or the other, run to any of the
millions of Linux forums on the web and
post the issue there.

Do check out some useful related

articles.

A Basic Guide to Linux Boot

Process
4 Best Linux Boot Loaders
Manage Log Messages Under
Systemd Using Journalctl
[Comprehensive Guide]
Managing System Startup
Process and Services (SysVinit,
Systemd and Upstart)
Process Management in RHEL 7:
Boot, Shutdown, and Everything
in Between

That’s it for now. In this article, I

explained how to solve the “failed to
mount /etc/fstab” boot error in Linux.
Once again, to avoid such issues (or if
you encounter any boot issues),
remember to follow the guidelines
offered above. Lastly, you can add your
thoughts to this guide via the feedback
form below.

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10 thoughts on “How
to Fix “failed to mount
/etc/fstab” Error in
Linux”

chaitanya
October 23, 2020 at 11:12 am

Hi, I have tried with the above

one but it did not work. I cant
able to write in /etc/fstab and
while opening the /etc/sudoers
file it is showing as permission
denied.

Can you please help me to

resolve the issue?

Reply

john
August 31, 2020 at 6:25 pm

Hi,

I am currently experiencing the

same issue with an incorrect
statement in my fstab file. when
I use vim to edit /etc/fstab and
correct the problem, I can’t save
the file because it says it is a
read-only file. how do I bypass
this in order to save the
correction made to the fstab
file?

Thanks

Reply

Aaron Kili
September 1, 2020 at 12:11 pm

@John

Try to edit it with sudo or root

privileges:

$ sudo vim /etc/fstab

OR
# vim /etc/fstab

Reply

Jack H
September 1, 2020 at 12:43 pm

@john, Simply shift-right-click

a folder previous (like the etc
folder) and choose to open as
administrator (or whatever the
verbiage is).

Reply

Brian Brian
September 14, 2017 at 12:07 pm

Your tutorial makes sense,

however I as hoping to see you
address the issue, what if your
system says “cannot cd into
/etc/fstab no such directory or
file“?

It is an Ubuntu 14.04 with an

ubuntu3.13-107 generic kernel.

We were having frequent

power brownouts.

Reply

Aaron Kili
September 14, 2017 at 1:39 pm

@Brian

This was a practical problem

that i faced before, that is why
i came up with the solution.
Most times you’ll encounter
the failed to mount /etc/fstab
or Cannot read /etc/fstab: file
not found; these are the two
most common errors with
/etc/fstab file.

If the file is missing(say

accidentally deleted), then you
need to recover it, in case you
have a backup you can restore
the it or else manually add all
the necessary auto-mount
entries.

Reply

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