# Boot stuck at "A start job is running for Create Volatile Files and Directories"

This message will appear when the /tmp directory is full or has too many files/directories inside it. Since it prevents a successful boot, we will need to modify the boot options to fix it

First, restart the affected system (Ctrl-Alt-Del or power cycle it) and upon reaching Grub, press the E key to begin editing the boot option

Scroll to the bottom and find the section including root=/\* and "ro". This is the area we will be editing. Server versions of Ubuntu normally mention "maybe-ubiquity" after this, whereas desktop versions normally include "quiet splash"

[![image-1688565901518.png](https://doc.vainsta.fr/uploads/images/gallery/2024-11/scaled-1680-/4iWuqYc1HZitOu5x-image-1688565901518.png)](https://doc.vainsta.fr/uploads/images/gallery/2024-11/4iWuqYc1HZitOu5x-image-1688565901518.png)

Change the "ro" (read-only) to "rw" (read-write) and add init=/bin/bash after it (ensuring there's a double space after rw)

[![image-1688565916561.png](https://doc.vainsta.fr/uploads/images/gallery/2024-11/scaled-1680-/974FsKqbGYBXcjA4-image-1688565916561.png)](https://doc.vainsta.fr/uploads/images/gallery/2024-11/974FsKqbGYBXcjA4-image-1688565916561.png)

Now we're effectively running in single-user (root) mode. We can now run the commands needed to reset the /tmp directory:

Move the existing directory:

```bash
mv /tmp /old.tmp
```

Make a new directory:

```bash
mkdir /tmp
```

Set the correct permissions:

```bash
chmod 1777 /tmp
```

Now we can reboot. The normal "reboot" command doesn't work in this mode, so a Ctrl-Alt-Del is the easiest way!

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