SWITCH_ROOT(8) System Administration SWITCH_ROOT(8)
NAME
switch_root - switch to another filesystem as the root of the mount
tree
SYNOPSIS
switch_root [-hV]
switch_root newroot init [arg...]
DESCRIPTION
switch_root moves already mounted /proc, /dev, /sys and /run to newroot
and makes newroot the new root filesystem and starts init process.
WARNING: switch_root removes recursively all files and directories on
the current root filesystem.
OPTIONS
-h, --help
Display help text and exit.
-V, --version
Display version information and exit.
EXIT STATUS
switch_root returns 0 on success and 1 on failure.
NOTES
switch_root will fail to function if newroot is not the root of a
mount. If you want to switch root into a directory that does not meet
this requirement then you can first use a bind-mounting trick to turn
any directory into a mount point:
mount --bind $DIR $DIR
AUTHORS
Peter Jones <pjones@redhat.com>, Jeremy Katz <katzj@redhat.com>, Karel
Zak <kzak@redhat.com>
SEE ALSO
chroot(2), init(8), mkinitrd(8), mount(8)
REPORTING BUGS
For bug reports, use the issue tracker at
https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/issues.
AVAILABILITY
The switch_root command is part of the util-linux package which can be
downloaded from Linux Kernel Archive
<https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.
util-linux 2.37.2 2021-06-02 SWITCH_ROOT(8)
Generated by dwww version 1.14 on Sun Apr 20 03:45:07 CEST 2025.