Re: After `quotacheck` ReiserFS Root Filesystem Won't Mount Read-Write

[James Courtier-Dutton <James@superbug.demon.co.uk>]

nickyt44@optonline.net wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I hope someone can help me to fix my broken system.  I'm using Libranet 
> 2.8.1 (debian-based) with kernel 2.4.26. It's a dual-boot (grub 
> bootloader) with Win XP.  I'm pretty sure I know what happened and why, 
> I just don't know how to resolve it.
> 
> I installed quotacheck, after googling and reading a popular sys admin 
> book, on my system.  It never worked.  I started doing additional 
> research on why it wasn't working and after a couple of days, my system 
> refused to boot.  During the boot sequence it complained about 
> `reiserfs_getopt:  unknown option "usrquota"`.  Of course, I'd edited my 
> /etc/fstab directory to explicitly include that option as follows:
> #<device>   <mount point>   <type>      <options>            <dump>   <pass>
> /dev/hde2            /               reiserfs       defaults,usrquota     0               1    
> 
> 
> Now that the `usrquota` option is choking my system, I want to edit it 
> out...but I can't because the root (/) filesystem will only mount 
> read-only.  Which brings me to the crux of the matter:  if I can't 
> re-edit the /etc/fstab file to eliminate the offending option, and I 
> can't force reiserfs to mount properly as a read-write root filesystem, 
> how do I recover my system? 
> 
> I've been googling for the last 2 weeks and have found a variety of 
> combinations of the `mount` command, none of them works.  I've tried 
> `mount / -o remount,rw` `mount -o remount,rw /dev/hde2`  `mount 
> /dev/hde2 -t reiserfs remount,rw` and `mount -n -o remount,rw /`...all 
> to no avail.  I invariably get the following message:  
> `reiserfs_getopt:  unknown option "usrquota"
> mount:  / not mounted already or bad option`.  I've tried using a 
> knoppix live cd to edit the /etc/fstab directory, but the /etc/fstab 
> shown when I cd to /etc/fstab is one created by knoppix and not the 
> /etc/fstab on my root /dev/hde2.
> 
> How do I force reiserfs to mount read-write in order to edit the 
> /etc/fstab file?  Although I have a recent backup of my Libranet system, 
> I'm hoping not to do a reinstall.  TIA.
> Nick
> 
> 
> 

boot from the knoppix live cd.
Then mount your problem root partition on /mnt
cd /mnt/etc
edit /mnt/etc/fstab, save, then reboot.