[nycbug-talk] Need to boot from CD and delete a file on the hard drive

[Marc Spitzer]

just exit out of the installer and mount what ever / is to /mnt then
vi, I think it is there, the file in question remove the last line :wq
and reboot

marc

On 10/25/05, Maude User <maudeuser at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> 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
>
>
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