Error: failed to mount on real root #2

Issues & Assistance
1

After boot (limine) and entering the key for encrypting the drives, i get the following error:

Error: Failed to mount ‘dev/mapper/luks-76144787-0529-4419-9e07-2ed24bf13cbe’ on real root
You are now being dropped into an emergency shell.
sh: can’t access tty; job control turned off
[rootfs ~]#

lsblk -f –>

NAME        FSTYPE      FSVER            LABEL       UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0       squashfs    4.0                                                                     0   100% /run/archiso/airootfs
sda         iso9660     Joliet Extension COS_202511  2025-11-29-16-07-07-00                              
├─sda1      iso9660     Joliet Extension COS_202511  2025-11-29-16-07-07-00                              
└─sda2      vfat        FAT16            ARCHISO_EFI 692B-1A2B                                           
sdb                                                                                                      
sdc                                                                                                      
zram0       swap        1                zram0       0573080d-a161-4d1e-804b-a66b12da6645                [SWAP]
nvme0n1                                                                                                  
├─nvme0n1p1 vfat        FAT32                        E707-E50D                                           
├─nvme0n1p2 crypto_LUKS 2                            76144787-0529-4419-9e07-2ed24bf13cbe                
└─nvme0n1p3                                                                                              
nvme1n1                                                                                                  
└─nvme1n1p1 crypto_LUKS 2                            ea301053-0e78-45df-810f-c4b8b72a5e5d

I searched forums, but I can’t find a solution for my problem.

Solution with btrfs zero-log (as mentioned https://discuss.cachyos.org/t/error-failed-to-mount-on-real-root/10583) doesn’t work → Error: could not open ctree

I hope anyone has an idea, what i can try to solve it.

2

Boot from live USB, mount this partition and then try to decrypt it manually. Then you could check it if it have any file system problem.

Or you will have more meaningful luks error.

3

Live-USB runs, but i can’t mount nvme0n1p2 - encrypted and decrypted - both times –>

[liveuser@CachyOS ~]$ sudo mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt
mount: /mnt: unknown filesystem type 'crypto_LUKS'.
       dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call.

nvme0n1p2 is the root partition of my cachyOS installation.
Sry for my little knowledge about the problem, but I’m very new to linux-universe. :wink:

4

I don’t remember it exactly and I’m not home to check my mounting script but it might be other way round - first decrypt then mount.

https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comments/1bkbfhc/chroot_into_luks_partition_trouble/