chroot - ArchWiki

# chroot

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Related articles

- PRoot
- Linux Containers
- systemd-nspawn

A chroot is an operation that changes the apparent root directory for the current running process and their children. A program that is run in such a modified environment cannot access files and commands outside that environmental directory tree. This modified environment is called a chroot jail.

## Reasoning

Changing root is commonly done for performing system maintenance on systems where booting and/or logging in is no longer possible. Common examples are:

- Reinstalling the bootloader.
- Rebuilding the initramfs image.
- Upgrading or downgrading packages.
- Resetting a forgotten password.
- Building packages in a clean chroot, see DeveloperWiki:Building in a clean chroot.

See also Wikipedia:Chroot#Limitations.

## Requirements

- Root privilege.
- Another Linux environment, e.g. a LiveCD or USB flash media, or from another existing Linux distribution.
- Matching architecture environments; i.e. the chroot from and chroot to. The architecture of the current environment can be discovered with: `uname -m` (e.g. i686 or x86_64).
- Kernel modules loaded that are needed in the chroot environment.
- Swap enabled if needed:

      # swapon /dev/sdxY

- Internet connection established if needed.

## Usage

Note:

- Some systemd tools such as hostnamectl, localectl and timedatectl can not be used inside a chroot, as they require an active dbus connection. [1]
- The file system that will serve as the new root (`/`) of your chroot must be accessible (i.e., decrypted, mounted).

There are two main options for using chroot, described below.

### Using arch-chroot

The bash script `arch-chroot` is part of the arch-install-scripts package. Before it runs `/usr/bin/chroot`, the script mounts API filesystems like `/proc` and makes `/etc/resolv.conf` available from the chroot.

#### Enter a chroot

Run arch-chroot with the new root directory as first argument:

    # arch-chroot /location/of/new/root

For example, in the installation guide this directory would be `/mnt`:

    # arch-chroot /mnt

To exit the chroot simply use:

    # exit

#### Run a single command and exit

To run a command from the chroot, and exit again append the command to the end of the line:

    # arch-chroot /location/of/new/root mycommand

For example, to run `mkinitcpio -p linux` for a chroot located at `/mnt/arch` do:

    # arch-chroot /mnt/arch mkinitcpio -p linux

### Using chroot

Warning: When using `--rbind`, some subdirectories of `dev/` and `sys/` will not be unmountable. Attempting to unmount with `umount -l` in this situation will break your session, requiring a reboot. If possible, use `-o bind` instead.

In the following example `/location/of/new/root` is the directory where the new root resides.

First, mount the temporary API filesystems:

    # cd /location/of/new/root
    # mount -t proc /proc proc/
    # mount -t sysfs /sys sys/
    # mount --rbind /dev dev/

And optionally:

    # mount --rbind /run run/

If you are running a UEFI system you will also need access to EFI variables. Otherwise, when installing GRUB you will receive a message similar to: `UEFI variables not supported on this machine`:

    # mount --rbind /sys/firmware/efi/efivars sys/firmware/efi/efivars/

Next, in order to use an internet connection in the chroot environment copy over the DNS details:

    # cp /etc/resolv.conf etc/resolv.conf

Finally, to change root into `/location/of/new/root` using a bash shell:

    # chroot /location/of/new/root /bin/bash

Note: If you see the error:

- `chroot: cannot run command '/usr/bin/bash': Exec format error`, it is likely that the architectures of the host environment and chroot environment do not match.
- `chroot: '/usr/bin/bash': permission denied`, remount with the execute permission: `mount -o remount,exec /location/of/new/root`.
  - if checking this did not help, then make sure the base components of the new enviroment are intact (if it's an Arch root try `paccheck --root=/location/of/new/root --files --file-properties --md5sum glibc filesystem`, from pacutils)

After chrooting it may be necessary to load the local bash configuration:

    # source /etc/profile
    # source ~/.bashrc

Tip: Optionally, create a unique prompt to be able to differentiate your chroot environment:

    # export PS1="(chroot) $PS1"

When finished with the chroot, you can exit it via:

    # exit

Then unmount the temporary file systems:

    # cd /
    # umount --recursive /location/of/new/root

Note: If there is an error mentioning something like: `umount: /path: device is busy` this usually means that either: a program (even a shell) was left running in the chroot or that a sub-mount still exists. Quit the program and use `findmnt -R /location/of/new/root` to find and then `umount` sub-mounts. It may be tricky to `umount` some things and one can hopefully have `umount --force` work, as a last resort use `umount --lazy` which just releases them. In either case to be safe, `reboot` as soon as possible if these are unresolved to avoid possible future conflicts.

## Run graphical applications from chroot

If you have an X server running on your system, you can start graphical applications from the chroot environment.

To allow the chroot environment to connect to an X server, open a virtual terminal inside the X server (i.e. inside the desktop of the user that is currently logged in), then run the xhost command, which gives permission to anyone to connect to the user's X server (see also Xhost):

    $ xhost +local:

Then, to direct the applications to the X server from chroot, set the DISPLAY environment variable inside the chroot to match the DISPLAY variable of the user that owns the X server. So for example, run:

    $ echo $DISPLAY

as the user that owns the X server to see the value of DISPLAY. If the value is ":0" (for example), then in the chroot environment run:

    # export DISPLAY=:0

## Without root privileges

Chroot requires root privileges, which may not be desirable or possible for the user to obtain in certain situations. There are, however, various ways to simulate chroot-like behavior using alternative implementations.

### PRoot

PRoot may be used to change the apparent root directory and use `mount --bind` without root privileges. This is useful for confining applications to a single directory or running programs built for a different CPU architecture, but it has limitations due to the fact that all files are owned by the user on the host system. PRoot provides a `--root-id` argument that can be used as a workaround for some of these limitations in a similar (albeit more limited) manner to fakeroot.

### Fakechroot

fakechroot is a library shim which intercepts the chroot call and fakes the results. It can be used in conjunction with fakeroot to simulate a chroot as a regular user.

    $ fakechroot fakeroot chroot ~/my-chroot bash

### Unshare

Unshare, part of util-linux, can be used to create a new kernel namespace. This works with the usual chroot command. For example:

    $ unshare --map-root-user chroot ~/namespace /bin/sh

## Troubleshooting

### arch-chroot: /location/of/new/root is not a mountpoint. This may have undesirable side effects.

Upon executing `arch-chroot /location/of/new/root` a warning is issued:

    ==> WARNING: /location/of/new/root is not a mountpoint. This may have undesirable side effects.

See arch-chroot(8) for an explanation and an example of using bind mounting to make the chroot directory a mountpoint.

## See also

- Basic Chroot

Categories:

- System recovery
- Sandboxing
- Commands