# Diagnosing boot failure

**URL:** <https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/diagnosing-boot-failure/17211>\
**Category:** Rocky Linux Help & Support\
**Tags:** rocky-linux-9\
**Created:** [January 17, 2025, 2:54am UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/diagnosing-boot-failure/17211 "2025-01-17T02:54:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![metablue](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.rockylinux.org/metablue/32/5061_2.png) [@metablue](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/metablue)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2025, 2:54am UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/diagnosing-boot-failure/17211/1 "2025-01-17T02:54:03Z")

</div>

Hi I’m attempting to diagnose a boot problem in Rocky 9.5  
This started after I changed the name of the volume group containing the lv my root partition is on.

When booting I get the errors:

```auto

test-node2 dracut-initqueue[742]: Warning: dracut-initqueue: starting timeout scripts
test-node2 dracut-initqueue[742]: Warning: dracut-initqueue: timeout, still waiting for following initqueue hooks:
test-node2 dracut-initqueue[742]: Warning: /lib/dracut/hooks/initqueue/finished/devexists-\x2fdev\x2fmapper\x2frl_test--node2--mgmt-root.sh: "if ! grep -q After=remote-fs-pre.target /run/systemd/generator/systemd-cryptsetup@*.service 2>/dev/null; then
test-node2 dracut-initqueue[742]: [-e "/dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-root"]
test-node2 dracut-initqueue[742]: fi"
test-node2 dracut-initqueue[742]: Warning: /lib/dracut/hooks/initqueue/finished/devexists-\x2fdev\x2frl_test-node2-mgmt\x2froot.sh: "[-e "/dev/rl_test-node2-mgmt/root"]"
test-node2 dracut-initqueue[742]: Warning: /lib/dracut/hooks/initqueue/finished/devexists-\x2fdev\x2frl_test-node2-mgmt\x2fswap.sh: "[-e "/dev/rl_test-node2-mgmt/swap"]"
test-node2 dracut-initqueue[742]: Warning: dracut-initqueue: starting timeout scripts
test-node2 dracut-initqueue[742]: Warning: Could not boot.
test-node2 systemd[1]: Starting Dracut Emergency Shell...

Warning:
/dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-root does not exist
Warning: /dev/rl_test-node2-mgmt/root does
not exist
Warning: /dev/rl_test-node2-mgmt/swap does not exist
Generating "/run/initramfs/rdsosreport.txt"

```

I am then dropped to a dracut emergency shell.

I’ve made changes to grub, rebuilt initramfs, and few other things I’ve lost track of without success. How should I troubleshoot this? I would really like to understand the issue.

I booted to recovery on a dvd iso chrooted to /mnt/sysroot and pulled this info:

Output of `grubby --info=ALL`

```auto
kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-5.14.0-503.21.1.el9_5.x86_64"
args="rhgb quiet $tuned_paramsgrub_users $grub_users ro crashkernel=1G-4G:192M,4G-64G:256M,64G-:512M rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node2-mgmt/root rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node2-mgmt/swap resume=/dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-swap"
root="/dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-root"
initrd="/boot/initramfs-5.14.0-503.21.1.el9_5.x86_64.img $tuned_initrd"
title="Rocky Linux (5.14.0-503.21.1.el9_5.x86_64) 9.5 (Blue Onyx)"
id="8b6c9908974e48a2adfe2b455a4324d8-5.14.0-503.21.1.el9_5.x86_64"
index=1
kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-5.14.0-503.19.1.el9_5.x86_64"
args="ro crashkernel=1G-4G:192M,4G-64G:256M,64G-:512M rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node2-mgmt/root rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node2-mgmt/swap resume=/dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-swap"
root="/dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-root"
initrd="/boot/initramfs-5.14.0-503.19.1.el9_5.x86_64.img $tuned_initrd"
title="Rocky Linux (5.14.0-503.19.1.el9_5.x86_64) 9.5 (Blue Onyx)"
id="8b6c9908974e48a2adfe2b455a4324d8-5.14.0-503.19.1.el9_5.x86_64"
index=2
kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-5.14.0-503.16.1.el9_5.x86_64"
args="ro crashkernel=1G-4G:192M,4G-64G:256M,64G-:512M rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node2-mgmt/root rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node2-mgmt/swap resume=/dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-swap"
root="/dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-root"
initrd="/boot/initramfs-5.14.0-503.16.1.el9_5.x86_64.img $tuned_initrd"
title="Rocky Linux (5.14.0-503.16.1.el9_5.x86_64) 9.5 (Blue Onyx)"
id="8b6c9908974e48a2adfe2b455a4324d8-5.14.0-503.16.1.el9_5.x86_64"
index=3
kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-0-rescue-8b6c9908974e48a2adfe2b455a4324d8"
args="ro crashkernel=1G-4G:192M,4G-64G:256M,64G-:512M rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node2-mgmt/root rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node2-mgmt/swap resume=/dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-swap"
root="/dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-root"
initrd="/boot/initramfs-0-rescue-8b6c9908974e48a2adfe2b455a4324d8.img"
title="Rocky Linux (0-rescue-8b6c9908974e48a2adfe2b455a4324d8) 9.5 (Blue Onyx)"
id="8b6c9908974e48a2adfe2b455a4324d8-0-rescue"

```

fstab:

```auto
/dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-root / xfs defaults 0 0
UUID=75158f7-30e2-442f -9707-f5ec396f6048 /boot xfs defaults 0 0
UUID=8DDA-0693 /boot/efi vfat umask=0077,shortname=winnt 0 2
/dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-swap none swap defaults 0 0

```

lvs:

```auto
  LV VG Attr LSize Pool Origin Data% Meta% Move Log Cpy%Sync Convert
  root rl_test-node2-mgmt -wi-ao---- <213.79g
  swap rl_test-node2-mgmt -wi-ao---- <16.00g
  lv1 test-vg1 -wim------ <148.80t
  lv2 test-vg2 -wim------ <148.80t

```

pvs:

```auto
  PV VG Fmt Attr PSize PFree
  /dev/mapper/mpatha test-vg1 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0
  /dev/mapper/mpathb test-vg1 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0
  /dev/mapper/mpathc test-vg1 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0
  /dev/mapper/mpathd test-vg1 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0
  /dev/mapper/mpathe test-vg2 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0
  /dev/mapper/mpathf test-vg2 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0
  /dev/mapper/mpathg test-vg2 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0
  /dev/mapper/mpathh test-vg2 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0
  /dev/sda3 rl_test-node2-mgmt lvm2 a-- <229.79g 0

```

vgs:

```auto
  VG #PV #LV #SN Attr VSize VFree
  rl_test-node2-mgmt 1 2 0 wz--n- <229.79g 0
  test-vg1 4 1 0 wz--n- <148.80t 0
  test-vg2 4 1 0 wz--n- <148.80t 0

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c68b51/32.png) [@dali](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/dali)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/diagnosing-boot-failure/17211/2 "2025-01-17T18:57:10Z")

</div>

There seems to be name inconsistencies, sometimes you have double dashes before and after node2 and other times single dashes.

> [@metablue](#):
>
> ```auto
> /dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-root does not exist
> 
> ```
> 
> ```auto
> rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node2-mgmt/root
> root="/dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-root"
> 
> ```
> 
> fstab:
> 
> ```auto
> /dev/mapper/rl_test--node2--mgmt-root / xfs defaults 0 0
> 
> ```
> 
> lvs:
> 
> ```auto
> root rl_test-node2-mgmt -wi-ao---- <213.79g
> 
> ```
> 
> vgs:
> 
> ```auto
> VG #PV #LV #SN Attr VSize VFree
> rl_test-node2-mgmt 1 2 0 wz--n- <229.79g 0
> 
> ```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![metablue](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.rockylinux.org/metablue/32/5061_2.png) [@metablue](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/metablue)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2025, 7:19pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/diagnosing-boot-failure/17211/3 "2025-01-17T19:19:53Z")

</div>

I noticed the double dashes as well but I think that is expected:

> device-mapper uses a hyphen (dash) as a separator between vg name “Volume Group” and lv name “Logical Volume” parts of the device name when they are combined within devfs entries. Hence if your VG and/or LV names includes dashes (hyphens) themselves, then device-mapper will add an extra hyphen to distinguish it from the vg-lv separator dash (hyphen) .

Sources: [Why do I see double hyphens (dashes) in my Logical volume name ? - Red Hat Customer Portal](https://access.redhat.com/solutions/2267481), [thinpool - Doubled hyphens in LVM /dev/mapper names - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/319877/doubled-hyphens-in-lvm-dev-mapper-names)

I have a working node with the same double dashes in fstab and grubby:

```auto
/dev/mapper/rl_test--node1--mgmt-root / xfs defaults 0 0
UUID=cae1fa8c-3e81-406b-9ba4-694ce9d89f86 /boot xfs defaults 0 0
UUID=09E9-9938 /boot/efi vfat umask=0077,shortname=winnt 0 2
/dev/mapper/rl_test--node1--mgmt-swap none swap defaults 0 0

```

```auto
index=0
kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-5.14.0-503.21.1.el9_5.x86_64"
args="ro crashkernel=1G-4G:192M,4G-64G:256M,64G-:512M resume=/dev/mapper/rl_test--node1--mgmt-swap rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node1-mgmt/root rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node1-mgmt/swap rhgb quiet $tuned_params"
root="/dev/mapper/rl_test--node1--mgmt-root"
initrd="/boot/initramfs-5.14.0-503.21.1.el9_5.x86_64.img $tuned_initrd"
title="Rocky Linux (5.14.0-503.21.1.el9_5.x86_64) 9.5 (Blue Onyx)"
id="7dc1ea92ad13450facaa42eab6f6965c-5.14.0-503.21.1.el9_5.x86_64"
index=1
kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-5.14.0-503.19.1.el9_5.x86_64"
args="ro crashkernel=1G-4G:192M,4G-64G:256M,64G-:512M resume=/dev/mapper/rl_test--node1--mgmt-swap rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node1-mgmt/root rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node1-mgmt/swap rhgb quiet $tuned_params"
root="/dev/mapper/rl_test--node1--mgmt-root"
initrd="/boot/initramfs-5.14.0-503.19.1.el9_5.x86_64.img $tuned_initrd"
title="Rocky Linux (5.14.0-503.19.1.el9_5.x86_64) 9.5 (Blue Onyx)"
id="7dc1ea92ad13450facaa42eab6f6965c-5.14.0-503.19.1.el9_5.x86_64"
index=2
kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-5.14.0-503.16.1.el9_5.x86_64"
args="ro crashkernel=1G-4G:192M,4G-64G:256M,64G-:512M resume=/dev/mapper/rl_test--node1--mgmt-swap rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node1-mgmt/root rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node1-mgmt/swap rhgb quiet $tuned_params"
root="/dev/mapper/rl_test--node1--mgmt-root"
initrd="/boot/initramfs-5.14.0-503.16.1.el9_5.x86_64.img $tuned_initrd"
title="Rocky Linux (5.14.0-503.16.1.el9_5.x86_64) 9.5 (Blue Onyx)"
id="7dc1ea92ad13450facaa42eab6f6965c-5.14.0-503.16.1.el9_5.x86_64"
index=3
kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-0-rescue-7dc1ea92ad13450facaa42eab6f6965c"
args="ro crashkernel=1G-4G:192M,4G-64G:256M,64G-:512M resume=/dev/mapper/rl_test--node1--mgmt-swap rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node1-mgmt/root rd.lvm.lv=rl_test-node1-mgmt/swap rhgb quiet"
root="/dev/mapper/rl_test--node1--mgmt-root"
initrd="/boot/initramfs-0-rescue-7dc1ea92ad13450facaa42eab6f6965c.img"
title="Rocky Linux (0-rescue-7dc1ea92ad13450facaa42eab6f6965c) 9.5 (Blue Onyx)"
id="7dc1ea92ad13450facaa42eab6f6965c-0-rescue"

```

but missing from the output of pvs, lvs, vgs:

```auto
╭─root@test-node1 ~ 
╰─# pvs 127 ↵
  PV VG Fmt Attr PSize PFree
  /dev/mapper/mpatha test-vg1 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0 
  /dev/mapper/mpathb test-vg1 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0 
  /dev/mapper/mpathc test-vg1 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0 
  /dev/mapper/mpathd test-vg1 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0 
  /dev/mapper/mpathe test-vg2 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0 
  /dev/mapper/mpathf test-vg2 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0 
  /dev/mapper/mpathg test-vg2 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0 
  /dev/mapper/mpathh test-vg2 lvm2 a-- <37.20t 0 
  /dev/sdi3 rl_test-node1-mgmt lvm2 a-- <229.79g 0 
╭─root@test-node1 ~ 
╰─# lvs
  LV VG Attr LSize Pool Origin Data% Meta% Move Log Cpy%Sync Convert
  root rl_test-node1-mgmt -wi-ao---- <213.79g                                                    
  swap rl_test-node1-mgmt -wi-ao---- 16.00g                                                    
  lv1 test-vg1 -wima----- <148.80t                                                    
  lv2 test-vg2 -wim------ <148.80t                                                    
╭─root@test-node1 ~ 
╰─# vgs
  VG #PV #LV #SN Attr VSize VFree
  rl_test-node1-mgmt 1 2 0 wz--n- <229.79g 0 
  test-vg1 4 1 0 wz--n- <148.80t 0 
  test-vg2 4 1 0 wz--n- <148.80t 0 

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![metablue](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.rockylinux.org/metablue/32/5061_2.png) [@metablue](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/metablue)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/diagnosing-boot-failure/17211/4 "2025-01-17T21:54:15Z")

</div>

I’m noticing that while my root and swap logical volumes are active when booted to recovery, they are not in the dracut shell:

```auto
dracut:/# lvm
lvm> lvs
LV VG Attr LSize Pool Origin Data% Meta% Move Log Cpy%Sync Convert
root rl_test-node2-mgmt -wi------- <213.79g
swap rl_test-node2-mgmt -wi------- <16.00g

```

Attempts to activate them are unsuccessful:

```auto
lvm> lvm vgchange -ay
0 logical volume(s) in volume group “rl_test-node2-mgmt” now active

lvm> lvchange -ay rl_test-node2-mgmt/root
lvm> lvs
LV VG Attr LSize Pool Origin Data% Meta% Move Log Cpy%Sync Convert
root rl_test-node2-mgmt -wi------- <213.79g
swap rl_test-node2-mgmt -wi------- <16.68g

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![metablue](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.rockylinux.org/metablue/32/5061_2.png) [@metablue](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/metablue)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2025, 11:14pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/diagnosing-boot-failure/17211/5 "2025-01-17T23:14:59Z")

</div>

I pulled on this thread a little more and I was able to solve my issue,  
I found this when I had vgchange give me verbose output:

```auto
lvm> vgchange -ay -v rl_test-node2-mgmt
  Activating logical volume rl_test-node2-mgmt/root.
  activation/volume_list configuration setting defined: Checking the list to match rl_test-node2-mgmt/root.
  No item supplied in activation/volume_list configuration setting matches rl_test-node2-mgmt/root. 
  Not activating rl_test-node2-mgmt/root since it does not pass activation filter.
  Activating logical volume rl_test-node2-mgmt/swap.
  activation/volume_list configuration setting defined: Checking the list to match rl_test-node2-mgmt/swap.
  No item supplied in activation/volume_list configuration setting matches rl_test-node2-mgmt/swap.
  Not activating rl_test-node2-mgmt/swap since it does not pass activation filter.
  Activated 2 logical volumes in volume group rl_test-node2-mgmt.
  0 logical volume(s) in volume group "rl_test-node2-mgmt" now active

```

I looked at `/etc/lvm/lvm.conf` and found I had a typo in my volume list under activations. I temporarily removed everything under activations so there would be no restrictions and regenerated my initramfs.

I am now able to boot!

(I did have to add `enforcing=0` to my grub kernel parameters for the first boot due to my use of the rescue environment)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c68b51/32.png) [@dali](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/dali)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 7:04pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/diagnosing-boot-failure/17211/6 "2025-01-18T19:04:14Z")

</div>

> [@metablue](#):
>
> I noticed the double dashes as well but I think that is expected:
> 
> > device-mapper uses a hyphen (dash) as a separator between vg name “Volume Group” and lv name “Logical Volume” parts of the device name when they are combined within devfs entries. Hence if your VG and/or LV names includes dashes (hyphens) themselves, then device-mapper will add an extra hyphen to distinguish it from the vg-lv separator dash (hyphen) .

Haven’t used dashes in VG/LV names myself, learned something new.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![iwalker](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.rockylinux.org/iwalker/32/2599_2.png) [@iwalker](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/iwalker)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/diagnosing-boot-failure/17211/7 "2025-01-18T20:02:09Z")

</div>

It varies, I’ve seen a lot of double dashes in LVM names under `/dev/mapper`.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/rockylinux/original/1X/91b7219eec10e30013422e4df76c1d898711a5d5.svg) [@system](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/diagnosing-boot-failure/17211/8 "2025-03-19T20:02:28Z")

</div>

Closed on March 19, 2025, 8:02pm UTC

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