Assistance Required: System Stuck at mountroot> Prompt After Editing /boot/loader.conf

[sharsha]

Hi Friends,

I'm running FreeBSD version 14.0. After editing `/boot/loader.conf` and rebooting, my machine is stuck at the `mountroot>` prompt, unable to find the ZFS root filesystem.

Typically, a reboot allows the option to enter single user mode, where I can modify `/boot/loader.conf`. However, this time, it's not accepting the correct device path `ufs:/dev/gpt/efiboot0`, which I've successfully used on other servers and verified against the `/etc/fstab` file.

Attempting to boot into single user mode using option 2 or 's/S' simply returns me to the `mountroot>` prompt, likely because it cannot find the root filesystem.

I would like to avoid a full reinstallation of FreeBSD on my server. Could someone guide me through the steps to replace the current `loader.conf` with the original backup, or is cloning the disk from another server running the same version (14.0) a recommended approach?

Any step-by-step assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
-sharsha

 

[shurik]

1. Boot from usb memstick and go to Live CD mode, root without password
2. mkdir /tmp/zroot
3. zpool import -N -R /tmp/zroot zroot
4. zfs mount zroot/ROOT/default
4. edit or replace /tmp/zroot/boot/loader.conf
5. shutdown -r now

 

[zirias@]

unable to find the ZFS root filesystem.
[...]
it's not accepting the correct device path `ufs:/dev/gpt/efiboot0`

This is kind of a contradiction.

In the default root-on-ZFS configuration created by the installer, the root-fs (for the default boot environment) is zfs:zroot/ROOT/default. If you have a different pool name or even a completely different layout, you should probably know about this because then you have created it yourself instead of just using what the installer creates...

 

[SirDice]

However, this time, it's not accepting the correct device path `ufs:/dev/gpt/efiboot0`

Wrong path, that's the boot code, you're already in it. It needs the actual filesystem to boot from. Besides that, the efi partition is FAT, not UFS.