tried to move home to other partition, can't boot

Forum: HD Install
Topic: tried to move home to other partition, can't boot
started by: eldepeche

Posted by eldepeche on May 20 2006,05:15

OK, so here goes. I wanted to move my home directory to the second partition, so I copied the contents of /home to hda2, edited fstab, moved home to old_home and recreated the /home directory, and rebooted.

Now, I'm getting this error:

Code Sample

bash: cd: /home/dsl: No such file or directory
su(pam_unix)[45]: session opened for user dsl by (uid=0)
No directory, logging in with HOME=/
-su: cd: /home/dsl: No such file or directory
Password:

My root password doesn't work, my user password doesn't work, just hitting enter doesn't work.

Any ideas?

Posted by pr0f3550r on May 21 2006,10:41

Run mount and post the content here

Posted by andrewb on May 21 2006,10:53

How are you running DSL (hd install or frugal )?

I've not used an HD install but for a frugal install you'll need to use the 'cheat code':

dsl home=hda2

to boot & use the home directory now on hda2.

Note that if you have been using hda1 & have been using the backup/restore system to hda1 there will be a 'backup.tar.gz' file in the root directory of hda1 which will be used to by restore. The restore function uses the first 'backup.tar.gz' it comes accross, ,irrespective of where you told 'backup' to save data to. So if you select a backup location on a 'later drive (hda2, hda3,...) you'll need to delete/rename all instances on backup.tzr,gz on earlier drives.

Posted by eldepeche on May 24 2006,20:01

I redid the HD install but this time I enabled the login on boot. I was able to log in as root and found that the partition with /home on it isn't getting mounted at boot, even though it should, according to fstab. If I login as root and mount the partition manually, then log out and log in as user, it works fine.

So now my question is, why isn't this partition getting mounted at boot?

The relevant entry in fstab is

Code Sample

/dev/hda6 /home ext3 defaults 0 2

I've also tried specifically putting in auto as an option, but no dice.

Posted by tedmoore99 on May 24 2006,20:17

When you boot next time, stop the boot and edit the boot line. Make sure that you insert the following on the line: "home=hda6" This tells the boot loader that the home dir is located on hda6.
Enjoy!
--Ted

Posted by eldepeche on May 24 2006,20:49

Do you mean putting "linux home=hda6" in at the lilo prompt? Because that didn't work. nor did "linux HOME=/dev/hda6" . The partition still isn't being mounted at boot.

Posted by tedmoore99 on May 24 2006,21:09

I have assumed that you did a frugal install with a grub boot install. If I am right then the following applies, if not, let me know.

I must have not be too clear. When dsl boots you will see all of the options listed. If you don't do anything, dsl will boot after 15 seconds. When that screen first comes up, press the "e" key. This should bring you to the edit window where you can use the cursor key to move along the line to change/add entries. If you still cannot edit the line, press "e" again. Move along that line and add the "home=hda6" into the line. Press "enter" to return to the boot menu and then press "b" to boot.

When the boot menu first comes up is there a selection for Windows?

This should allow you to boot up with dsl finding your home dir on hda6.
--Ted

Posted by eldepeche on May 24 2006,21:50

I did a regular HD install, not frugal, and I installed lilo, not grub.