Linux – Arch Linux Install, Why is arch-chroot giving me an error

arch linuxchrootinstallationlinuxmount

I'm following the Arch Linux install instructions found here from a live cd, and I'm stuck issuing the following command:

# arch-chroot /mnt
mount: sys is already mounted or /mnt/sys busy
       sys is already mounted on /sys
       sys is already mounted on /mnt/sys
==> ERROR: failed to setup API filesystems in chroot /mnt

Can someone explain to me what sys is and how it got mounted? How do I proceed to install Arch from here? I tried to reload the live cd a number of times but I keep coming back to this.

Best Answer

/sys is a virtual file system that interfaces with the kernel. It is meant to replace /proc. More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sysfs

By the sounds of it, you have /mnt/sys mounted, try umount /mnt/sys or better yet, reboot. If it is doing this after the reboot, then arch-chroot is probably has a typo, mount /sys /mnt/sys should be mount --bind /mnt/sys. I could potentially help more if you could post the output of mount. Not sure if you have figured the solution out, as you posted it nearly a month ago.

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