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+date = 2024-02-13
+title = "Stuck in Ubuntu's Emergency Mode? Try Fixing the Fstab File"
+description = "Learn how to fix a missing disk issue that can lock you in Ubuntu's emergency mode."
++++
+
+### The Problem
+
+I recently [migrated my hard drives to a ZFS pool](/blog/zfs/) and found myself
+stuck in Ubuntu's emergency mode after the first reboot I performed after
+creating the ZFS pool.
+
+My server was stuck in the boot process and showed the following error on the
+screen:
+
+```txt
+You are in emergency mode.
+After logging in, type "journalctl -xb" to view system logs,
+"systemctl reboot" to reboot, "systemctl default"
+or ^D to try again to boot into default mode".
+```
+
+After rebooting the server and watching the logs scroll on a monitor, I noticed
+the root cause was related to a very long search for certain drives. I kept
+seeing errors like this:
+
+```txt
+[ TIME ] Timed out waiting of device dev-disk-by/[disk-uuid]
+```
+
+I realized that I had not removed the `/etc/fstab` references that asked Ubuntu
+to mount two disks on boot, but I had recently changed those disks to be part of
+my ZFS pool instead. Therefore, Ubuntu was trying to identify and mount a disk
+that was not available.
+
+Now that we have an idea of the issue, let's move to solution.
+
+### The Solution
+
+In order to fix the issue, I waited until I was allowed to type the root user's
+password, and then I executed the following command:
+
+```sh
+nano /etc/fstab
+```
+
+Within the `fstab` file, I needed to comment/remove the following lines at the
+bottom of the file. You can comment-out a line by prepending a `#` symbol at the
+beginning of the line. You can also delete the line entirely.
+
+```conf
+# What it looked like when running into the issue:
+UUID=B64E53824E5339F7 /mnt/white-01 ntfs-3g uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0
+UUID=E69867E59867B32B /mnt/white-02 ntfs-3g uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0
+
+# What I changed it to, in order to fix the issue:
+# UUID=B64E53824E5339F7 /mnt/white-01 ntfs-3g uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0
+# UUID=E69867E59867B32B /mnt/white-02 ntfs-3g uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0
+```
+
+Once removing the lines above from the `/etc/fstab` file, save and exit the file
+by hitting the `Ctrl` + `x` key combo.
+
+You can now hit `Ctrl` + `D` to continue, or reboot:
+
+```sh
+systemctl reboot
+```
+
+Once rebooted, I was able to watch the machine boot properly and launch to the
+TTY login screen without errors!