Enable RW (read and write) when system boots into Repair filesystem mode

Posted by Dark Training on December 16, 2010 tags: | linux

If you have ever had a problem when booting, you know what the "Repair filesystem" prompt is. Basically it asks you for the root password or to press ctrl+D to reboot.

One problem though is that in this mode the file system mounts as read only. In the case of just needing to update your fstab file, it's kind of pain in the bottom to have to break out the knoppix disc to allow RW mode.

Well you don't actually need to do that, instead just remount the partition in question like this:

# mount -w -o remount /

A word of caution though, if you do this on a file system that is in rescue mode due to corruption, you could mess things up royally. In that case you are better served by using knoppix or your liveCD of choice.