exec of /sbin/init failed : kernel panic not syncing

deep27ak · 02-22-2012, 12:30 AM

Hello All

In one of my server with OEL 5.x(32-bit) I am facing this issue where my OS is not able to boot and consistently throws me this error.

Code:

exec of /sbin/init failed: No such file or directory
kernel panic, Not syncing :Attempting to kill init!

I have checked number of blogs on google in an hope to get answer but unable to resolve this issue.

I booted my OS in rescue mode where it shows the environment variable is set to /mnt/sysimage

Code:

#chroot /mnt/sysimage
cannot execute /bin/sh: no such file or directory

but when I manually checked for these files it seems to be present

Code:

#ls /bin/sh
/bin/sh
#ls /bin/bash
/bin/bash

when I checked the location of init it shows

Code:

#which init
/usr/bin/init

instead of sbin/init

Can anyone please tell me what am I suppose to do at this stage?
I don't want to re-install this machine

Is it possible to change the path of init from /usr/bin/init to /sbin/init
as this file is also present

Code:

#ls /sbin/init
/sbin/init

I tried to add PATH variable in .bash_profile but still not working

Code:

#vi .bash_profile
export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/sbin/init

I think this is not the correct syntax
How can I change the path location of init from /usr/bin/init to /sbin/init?

sundialsvcs · 02-22-2012, 06:26 AM

Nothing to do with paths and so-forth actually apply here: the kernel has been loaded, it has mounted or tried to mount what it considers to be "the root file system," and, having done that, it cannot find init and therefore it All Falls Down.

Most likely, the boot-time parameter (e.g. in the Grub configuration file) that specifies where the root filesystem is located, is omitted or incorrect.

You have already established that the files are there; therefore, the problem must be that it cannot find them.

Footnote: As you probably know, the part "not syncing" simply means that a filesystem write operation was not underway at the time of failure. Of course.

deep27ak · 02-22-2012, 06:40 AM

Thanks for the reply

Yes that is true what you said because I successful changed the location of init to /sbin/init and added the path in bash_profile as well but still I got the same error. I searched a lot to get a solution but couldn't get one because the most initial step which I was trying was not working i.e chroot

every time I tried to do chroot I got the same error

Code:

/bin/sh no such file or directory

So how do I fix this any suggestions?(exec of /sbin/init failed: No such file or directory)