Account Links: Cart | Your Account | Logout

Skip to content

Red Hat Knowledgebase

Red Hat Knowledgebase Search:

Updated Within the Last:

New Solutions within the last day New Solutions within the last week New Solutions within the last month

Browse by topics:


Click to View a Topic
Red Hat Enterprise Linux > AS/ES/WS Basics > Issue <<  453 of 908 >>

Solution Tools:


Email a Solution Postcard Printer version Submit a comment on this answer Update notifications Request an answer Back

Article Reference

Article ID: 8438
Last update: 06-26-06
Issue:
I cannot unmount a filesystem because zombie processes (or processes in the "D" state) are holding on to files on the filesystem. How can I kill these processes so I can unmount the filesystem?
Resolution:

A process with the parent ID 1 means that it is child process of init. The process init is protected from even the command kill -9 init (which is a command that usually means "kill this process, regardless of anything else").

These process cannot be killed without a reboot. To kill a zombie child process of init, the computer must be rebooted.

One option that may work is to try a "lazy unmount" by issuing the following command:

umount -l filesystem

This is an option that unmounts a filesystem and cleans up references to it when the filesystem is no longer busy.

Note: This procedure may work, but a reboot of the system is the only sure way to remove these processes.


How well did this entry answer your question?


good wrong incomplete out of date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux > AS/ES/WS Basics > Issue <<   453  of  908  >>