From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Oct 25 17:59:59 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F39E216A428 for ; Tue, 25 Oct 2005 17:59:58 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from maudeuser@yahoo.com) Received: from web31609.mail.mud.yahoo.com (web31609.mail.mud.yahoo.com [68.142.198.155]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 8A89E43D48 for ; Tue, 25 Oct 2005 17:59:58 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from maudeuser@yahoo.com) Received: (qmail 76669 invoked by uid 60001); 25 Oct 2005 17:59:57 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.com; h=Message-ID:Received:Date:From:Subject:To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding; b=uTAJCUEUOfigwHiTz5YZ835QqMQ4pxf59cuVKxUCKMHNHfeioQIRHhzFzD7Zdlu/VqYYMVbdT+U4cFdFjS1FdkyGs9Mmn3KFqCbNd5/pfB8SlhO+EgER29U+lpk4BYLORS/B03LJN7BfsnnW3Z0bTDw56k2xd5o8STWmb9CKq+I= ; Message-ID: <20051025175957.76667.qmail@web31609.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Received: from [200.217.199.106] by web31609.mail.mud.yahoo.com via HTTP; Tue, 25 Oct 2005 10:59:57 PDT Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 10:59:57 -0700 (PDT) From: Maude User To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Subject: Need to boot from CD and delete a file on the hard drive X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 17:59:59 -0000 Hello All -- SUMMARY: I changed a configuration file and now I can no longer boot from my hard drive (but I can still boot from the CD). I would like to boot from the CD and undo my change to the configuration file -- but when I boot from the CD it automatically launches the install program. Is there a way to boot from the boot CD and get a shell and make a change to a file on the hard drive? (I got an "emergency shell" after booting from the CD -- but I can't figure out how to access my hard drive filesystem from it.) DETAILS: I was trying to set up a serial console using the instructions here: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/serialconsole-setup.html I typed the following at the prompt: # echo 'console="comconsole"' >> /boot/loader.conf then unplugged my regular keyboard and tried to reboot -- but the machine now freezes on bootup. I now want to boot from a CD and remove the file /boot/loader.conf from the hard drive. Then I should be able to boot normally again from the hard drive. I went into the BIOS and booted from the CD and this put me in the install program. I don't want to install everything again -- I just want to boot up from the CD and execute the following command at the prompt: # rm /boot/loader.conf After booting from the CD, I found a command in the install program to enter an "emergency shell" and accessed this shell by hitting ALT-F4 -- but if I do an "rm" command in this emergency shell, it doesn't apply to the filesystem on the hard drive -- it applies to the CD. I need to delete the file /boot/loader.conf while booting from the CD. Is there any way to fix this without installing FreeBSD all over again? Thanks. Scott Alexander --------------------------------- Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.