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#+title: Stuck in Ubuntu's Emergency Mode? Try Fixing the Fstab File
#+date: 2024-02-13
#+description: Learn how to fix a missing disk issue that can lock you in Ubuntu's emergency mode.
#+filetags: :linux:
* The Problem
I recently [[../zfs/][migrated my hard drives to a ZFS pool]] 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:
#+begin_src 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".
#+end_src
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:
#+begin_src txt
[ TIME ] Timed out waiting of device dev-disk-by/[disk-uuid]
#+end_src
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:
#+begin_src sh
nano /etc/fstab
#+end_src
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.
#+begin_src 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
#+end_src
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:
#+begin_src sh
systemctl reboot
#+end_src
Once rebooted, I was able to watch the machine boot properly and launch
to the TTY login screen without errors!
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