Recipe 13.9. Editing Configuration Files from Knoppix
13.9.1 Problem
Someone with more confidence than knowledge (maybe even you)
"fixed" something in a
configuration file and now the system won't boot.
You need to fix it. But how do you edit a file on a machine that
won't boot?
13.9.2 Solution
This is a perfect job for Knoppix. You can open and edit any file on
a PC from Knoppix.
Boot up your Knoppix disk to KDE. Right-click the icon on the desktop
for the filesystem you want to use, left-click
"Mount," then left-click
"Change read/write mode."
Open a root shell, then navigate to the file you want to edit and
open it with the editor of your choice:
knoppix@ttyp0[knoppix]$ su
root@ttyp0[knoppix]# cd /mnt/hda3/etc
root@ttyp0[etc]# kate inittab &
Now you can edit the file, just as you normally would.
It's easy to become confused over whether you are in
Knoppix or your PC's filesystem. Check with
pwd:
root@ttyp0[etc]# pwd
/mnt/hda3/etc
Remember that the filesystems on your PC's hard
drives are all mounted under /mnt in Knoppix.
13.9.3 Discussion
Knoppix comes with a variety of window managers: larswm, IceWM, XFce,
Windowmaker, Fluxbox, and TWM. But only KDE comes with the Knoppix
menu and desktop icons for all of your partitions.
Just like with any Linux, you can also do everything from the
console. To mount a filesystem as readable/writable, use:
root@ttyp0[knoppix]# mount -o rw /mnt/hda3
To open a file for editing, use:
root@ttyp0[knoppix]# vim /mnt/hda3/etc/inittab
Knoppix autodetects your filesystems and partitions and creates an
/etc/fstab file, so you can look in there to
find mountpoints.
13.9.4 See Also
| 
