In Linux, /dev/root , if present, is a symlink to the actual device created at boot time. You either use readlink /dev/root or cat /proc/cmdline to see the root parameter of the booted kernel, and thus find out the real device behind it.

What is Dev root?

/dev/root is a generic device which can be used in the fstab. One can also use ‘rootfs’. … /dev/root is a virtual device like ‘proc’ or /dev/tcp’. There is no device node in /dev for these things -it’s already in the kernel as a virtual device. This explains why a symbolic link does not necessarily exist.

What does Dev mean in Linux?

/dev is the location of special or device files. It is a very interesting directory that highlights one important aspect of the Linux filesystem – everything is a file or a directory.