The next thing to do is to create a symlink pointing from /etc/mtab to /proc/mounts. This is done using the following command: ln -sf /proc/mounts /etc/mtab Creating this symlink avoids problems which can occur if / is mounted read-only and the information in /etc/mtab is stale (i.e. out of date). By creating the symlink to /proc/mounts, we ensure that the information on currently mounted devices is always up-to-date. Note that using this symlink requires that you have support for the proc filesystem compiled into your kernel. This support is included by default, and should not be removed unless you really know what you are doing, as some more things besides the /etc/mtab symlink depend on proc being present. In short, make sure you have proc filesystem support in your kernel.