emulation station crashes after "throwing an instance of 'boost::filesystem_error'

Mind_Mash

Hello,
I am using retropie on a raspberry pi zero with a 32gigabyte micro sd card.
I was loading some games via usb when emulationstation crashed after "throwing an instance of 'boost::filesystem_error', boost::filesystem::directory::iterator::construct: Permision denied: "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/amstradpc/_______

My keyboard and gamepad input don't work so I can't delete the rom manually. Is there any way to unpack the boot file and delete the rom?

I have read other posts saying it is recommended to reflash the image, but I have many games on there and would be highly disappointed if I had to reflash it.

I would highly appreciate it if someone can instruct me how to manually delete the rom or find another fix.

Thank you.

mitu

Do you have network access to the PI ?
You could log in through SSH (if you previously enabled it) and change the permissions on the folder/file or straight up delete the file.
For 'unpacking' the boot file, you'd need a Linux installation, since a Windows/macOS computer doesn't know how to read the Linux filesystem on the 2nd partition on the SD card - see https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/12806/read-a-file-from-inside-the-raspberry-pis-sd-card

Mind_Mash

@mitu
I don't have ssh enabled, but I can put Linux on an USB stick and boot my old dell computer into linux. Will a windows xp allow USB booting? Please excuse my poor understanding, what linux operating system will be the least resource heavy?

Thanks

mitu

Try a Lubuntu live cd - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/GetLubuntu#Desktop_.28Graphical_Installer.29 can be put on a USB stick (usign Rufus) and you can run a live session (i.e. no installation) to try and read the SD card from this live instance.

Mind_Mash

@mitu
I have booted into linux with a usb. When I plug the sd card in two folders appear, boot and retropie. I cannot edit files in retropie. (And yes, I have made sure that the sd card adaptor is not "locked") Do you know how to fix this.

mitu

@mind_mash Do you see the ROMs folder in the retropie folder ?
The folders might be read-only, if you run a mount command from a cli, what's the output ?

Mind_Mash

@mitu
Yes, I can see the files. Just to elaborate, what command do you want me to type?

mitu

@mind_mash Simple type mount into a terminal and paste the output. Should look something like this:

/dev/sda7 on /tmp type ext4 (rw,relatime,data=ordered)
/dev/sda8 on /home type ext4 (rw,relatime,data=ordered)
/dev/sda5 on /var type ext4 (rw,relatime,data=ordered)

Mind_Mash

@mitu
When I type in mount, a long string of text outputs.

Mind_Mash

What should I try next?

mitu

@mind_mash The idea was to post the output you get here, to determine if your SD card partition is mounted read-only, but you forgot to post the output. If this is the case (read-only mount), then we might be able to make it writable and you could remove the offending ROM from the SD card.

Mind_Mash

Sorry, Here comes the text wave:

sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,size=496852k,nr_inodes=124213,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,gid=5,mode=620,ptmxmode=000)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,size=102256k,mode=755)
/dev/sdb1 on /cdrom type vfat (ro,noatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/loop0 on /rofs type squashfs (ro,noatime)
aufs on / type aufs (rw,noatime,si=c4485e03)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
tmpfs on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,size=5120k)
tmpfs on /sys/fs/cgroup type tmpfs (ro,nosuid,nodev,noexec,mode=755)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/systemd type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,xattr,release_agent=/lib/systemd/systemd-cgroups-agent,name=systemd)
pstore on /sys/fs/pstore type pstore (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/cpu,cpuacct type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,cpu,cpuacct)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/freezer type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,freezer)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/pids type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,pids)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/memory type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,memory)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/hugetlb type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,hugetlb)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/blkio type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,blkio)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/cpuset type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,cpuset)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/perf_event type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,perf_event)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/net_cls,net_prio type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,net_cls,net_prio)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/devices type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,devices)
systemd-1 on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type autofs (rw,relatime,fd=35,pgrp=1,timeout=0,minproto=5,maxproto=5,direct,pipe_ino=14491)
hugetlbfs on /dev/hugepages type hugetlbfs (rw,relatime)
debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw,relatime)
mqueue on /dev/mqueue type mqueue (rw,relatime)
tracefs on /sys/kernel/debug/tracing type tracefs (rw,relatime)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw,relatime)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime)
tmpfs on /run/user/999 type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,size=102252k,mode=700,uid=999,gid=999)
gvfsd-fuse on /run/user/999/gvfs type fuse.gvfsd-fuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=999,group_id=999)
/dev/mmcblk0p2 on /media/lubuntu/retropie type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered,uhelper=udisks2)
/dev/mmcblk0p1 on /media/lubuntu/boot type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=999,gid=999,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,showexec,utf8,flush,errors=remount-ro,uhelper=udisks2)

mitu

@mind_mash said in emulation station crashes after "throwing an instance of 'boost::filesystem_error':

/dev/mmcblk0p2 on /media/lubuntu/retropie type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered,uhelper=udisks2)

Ok, so this is the location where the RPI main partition is mounted. Execute from a cli terminal sudo pcmanfm and the file browser should be started as root (superuser) - try to delete the offeding ROMs from the file browser.

Mind_Mash

Ahhh, when in execute that command, it does not show the sd card. I tried taking it out and putting it back again but it won't show.

mitu

@mind_mash Try this:
Insert the card, then execute

sudo umount /media/lubuntu/retropie
mkdir /media/card && sudo mount /dev/mmcblk0p2 /media/card
sudo pcmanfm and open to the /media/card folder and try to see if you're able to see/delete the files you need. The ROMs folder should be in /media/card/home/pi/RetroPie/roms.

Mind_Mash

@mitu
It couldn't make the directory- (The permission was denied)

Mind_Mash

Oh, it worked when I put sudo in front of it

Mind_Mash

IT WORKED!
Thank you so much for your help @mitu. Your help is much appreciated. :)

mitu

@mind_mash OK, glad you got it fixed. What you should do next is to enable SSH on the PI and fix the permissions on your ROM folder, so you won't get into this problem again. Look in the docs for how to enable SSH access and then login on the RetroPie and execute.

sudo chown -R pi /home/pi

Mind_Mash

Ok, I will allow ssh access. Thank you again for your help.