Can't Mount Iso File as Loop Device: Error: “Failed to Setup Loop Device”

Can't Mount Iso File as Loop Device: Error: “Failed to Setup Loop Device”
sudo mkdir -p /media/cdrom
cd ~
sudo mount -o loop ubuntu-* /
mount: ubuntu-*: failed to setup loop device: No such file or directory
1

2 Answers

First make sure you have mounted loop device kernel module. So run:

lsmod | grep loop

If you get no output, that means you have to mount the loop device kernel module . So:

modprobe loop

Re-run the following to make sure the module is loaded. You should get some outputs:

lsmod | grep loop

Now, to mount an ISO file as loop device do the following:

mount -o loop -t iso9660 <path/to/iso/file> /media/cdrom

However I guess it should also work without the -t iso9660 part.

3

I suspect you're blindly following some instructions on how to mount an Ubuntu ISO image using the loop device.

sudo mkdir -p /media/cdrom

This creates a directory cdrom owned by root in /media if not existing, and it's meant to be used as the to be mounted filesystem's mount point;

cd ~

This changes the current working directory of your terminal instance to ~, which is a shorthand which expands to your home directory's path;

sudo mount -o loop ubuntu-* /

This attempts to mount all the files matching ubuntu-* (all the files having a filename starting with ubuntu-) in your home directory using the loop device and / as the mount point. Just don't do that. It's not useful at all to match against a wildcard if you're trying to mount a single ISO image, leaving aside that fact that you want your / mount point to keep holding the root partition. Mount the ISO image specifying its exact filename and mount it on the mount point you just created (/media/cdrom). In order to do that, make sure that the ISO image you want to mount is present in your home directory and change ubuntu-* with the full name of the ISO image. For example, to mount the official image of Ubuntu Desktop 14.04.2 64-bit the command would be:

sudo mount -o loop ubuntu-14.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso /media/cdrom

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

James H. Sterling
Author

James H. Sterling

James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.