Config directory could not be created error when I start my Pi

JillSandwich

Today, I thought I found a good power supply for my Pi at home, so I tried it out. Turns out, It was way slower than the one that I was already using, So I switched It back. After rebooting my Pi with my normal power supply, Everything looked normal except for a failure to load the splashscreen. When it went to start emulation station, It just showed the linux thing that you type commands in. After I typed emulationstation, I got an error saying "Creating config directory "/home/pi/.emulatonstation"
Config directory could not be created!"
Is my Pi's micro sd card corrupted? Is there a way I can fix this? Here's the information.

Raspberry Pi 3b+
64gb micro sd card with no name
retropie v4.6
Two Playstation Classic Controllers
Logitech K400 Plus wireless keyboard
Around 2 Amp apple power supply

mitu

Is this a new installation or an existing one ?

iainjh

May I add my error to this thread, and ask for some help?

Pi 4, official pi4 build downloaded from retropie.org 3 days ago. Official Pi4 PSU. Not overclocked, standard /boot/config.txt

I;ve added various emulators and copied over my previous install's config folders into opt/retropie/config. It worked up to this point. it booted into ES, and all emulators ran fine.

BUT now I've switched to a different repository to install a mess script (here : https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/25576/new-scriptmodules-lr-vice-xvic-gsplus-proper-lr-mess-integration/146?_=1595153207664) and added various emulators from experimental, i get this same error every time on boot, or on attempting to run emulationstation.

Creating config directory "/home/pi/.emulationstation"
Config directory could not be created!

Notes:
if I look in /opt/retropie folder, I notice I now have 2 config folders, named config.crt and config.hdmi. there's also a symbolic link called 'configs' that i think points to configs.hdmi.

config.crt and config.hdmi folders are owner and group 1000 and permissions 755.

I am certain that before I added the mess emulators and others from experimental, i only had one config folder in opt/retropie/ folder..

Please can someone advise how i can repair my build as I've gone through this twice and crashed at the same point!

thank you!

iain :)

mitu

@iainjh said in Config directory could not be created error when I start my Pi:

if I look in /opt/retropie folder, I notice I now have 2 config folders, named config.crt and config.hdmi. there's also a symbolic link called 'configs' that i think points to configs.hdmi.

This doesn't look like a standard RetroPie installation. Did you have this folder structure on your previous system ?

iainjh

hi,

thanks for your response.

Its definitely the genuine retropie, from retropie.org. I have attempted to reproduce the issue.

My pi4, btw, outputs over an hdmi to DVI cable with separate audio.

I followed the instructions here -

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/25576/new-scriptmodules-lr-vice-xvic-gsplus-proper-lr-mess-integration/155

I ran git clone from his repo, and shortly after thats where it breaks. I updated the retropie-setup script, rebooted and sure enough my opt/retropie/config folder has gone and the config.crt and config.hdmi folders have appeared.

There's nothing posted to advise a user to not update the retropie-setup script, nor how to revert to the official repo.

I'll try it again without updating the retropie-setup script from his git.

if that works I'l post in the other thread.

again, thanks for response!

mitu

@iainjh said in Config directory could not be created error when I start my Pi:

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/25576/new-scriptmodules-lr-vice-xvic-gsplus-proper-lr-mess-integration/155

Those instructions switch the RetroPie-Setup to another repository, so if anything happens during update from that repository you should post in the other topic.

To switch back to the RetroPie repository, just remove/remove the RetroPie-Setup folder and rename RetroPie-Setup.bck back to RetroPie-Setup.

iainjh

thank you!

lucky I took an image to restore from...

BTW - the issue appear with his repo is that if I install his GSplus, it forces an update from raspberry.org and deletes or renames(?) the opt/config folder!

I'll post there. thanks again for the info how to revert.