LPIC-1 Devices, Filesystems and FHS Practice Question
Exhibit
Refer to the exhibit. # blkid /dev/sdc1 /dev/sdc1: UUID="1234-ABCD" TYPE="vfat" # cat /etc/fstab | grep sdc1 UUID="5678-EFGH" /media/usb vfat defaults 0 0
A user reports that a USB drive (device /dev/sdc1) is not automatically mounted at boot. The output of 'blkid' and the relevant line in /etc/fstab are shown in the exhibit. What is the most likely cause of the failure?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often assume the device name (/dev/sdc1) is static and ignore UUID mismatches, but LPIC-1 tests the understanding that USB devices can change names across reboots, making UUID-based mounting essential and a mismatch the most common cause of boot-time mount failures.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The UUID in /etc/fstab does not match the device's UUID.
The most likely cause is that the UUID in /etc/fstab does not match the device's UUID. The blkid output shows the actual UUID of /dev/sdc1, and if the fstab entry has a different UUID (or uses an incorrect one), the system will fail to mount the device at boot because it cannot find a matching block device by UUID.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The device /dev/sdc1 does not exist.
Why it's wrong here
Manual mount works, so the device exists.
- ✗
The mount point /media/usb does not exist.
Why it's wrong here
If the mount point did not exist, manual mount would also fail.
- ✓
The UUID in /etc/fstab does not match the device's UUID.
Why this is correct
The fstab entry has UUID=5678-EFGH but blkid shows UUID=1234-ABCD, so the system cannot find the device.
- ✗
The filesystem is corrupted and requires fsck.
Why it's wrong here
The filesystem is detected correctly by blkid, so corruption is unlikely.
- ✗
The filesystem type is incorrectly specified as vfat.
Why it's wrong here
Both blkid and fstab agree on vfat, so the type is correct.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This LPIC-1 practice question is part of Courseiva's free LPI certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the LPIC-1 exam.