# Change root (chroot)

Change root (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.

# Manually changing root in a directory

  • Ensure you met all requirements, as per Requirements
  • Mount the temporary API filesystems:
    cd /location/of/new/root
    mount -t proc proc proc/
    mount --rbind /sys sys/
    mount --rbind /dev dev/
    mount --rbind /run run/ (optionally)
    
    
  • If you need to use an internet connection in the chroot environment, copy over the DNS details:
    cp /etc/resolv.conf etc/resolv.conf
    
    
  • Change root into /location/of/new/root, specifying the shell (`/bin/bash` in this example):
    chroot /location/of/new/root /bin/bash
    
    
  • After chrooting it may be necessary to load the local bash configuration:
    source /etc/profile
    source ~/.bashrc
    
    
  • 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
    
    
  • Unmount the temporary file systems:
    cd /
    umount --recursive /location/of/new/root
    
    
  • # Requirements

    • root privileges
    • another working Linux environment,such as Live CD boot or an existing distribution
    • matching environment architectures of chroot source and destination (check current environment architecture with uname -m)
    • kernel modules which you may need in chroot environment must be loaded (for example, with modprobe)

    # Reasons to use chroot

    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 software in a clean root environment

    # Syntax

    • chroot [destination path] [shell or command]