# man > switch_root(8)

[_SWITCH_ROOT_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/SWITCHROOT/8/markdown)                          System Administration                         [_SWITCH_ROOT_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/SWITCHROOT/8/markdown)

## NAME
       switch_root - switch to another filesystem as the root of the mount tree

## SYNOPSIS
       **switch_root **[**-hV**]

       **switch_root _**newroot_ _init_ [_arg_...]

## DESCRIPTION
       **switch_root **moves already mounted _/proc_, _/dev_, _/sys_ and _/run_ to _newroot_ and makes _newroot_ the
       new root filesystem and starts _init_ process.

### WARNING: switch_root removes recursively all files and directories on the current root
### filesystem.

## OPTIONS
### -h --help
           Display help text and exit.

### -V --version
           Print version and exit.

## EXIT STATUS
       **switch_root **returns 1 on failure, it never returns on success.

## NOTES
       **switch_root **will fail to function if _newroot_ is not the root of a mount. If you want to
       switch root into a directory that does not meet this requirement then you can first use a
       bind-mounting trick to turn any directory into a mount point:

           mount --bind $DIR $DIR

## AUTHORS
       [34mPeter Jones [0m<<pjones@redhat.com>>, [34mJeremy Katz [0m<<katzj@redhat.com>>, [34mKarel Zak [0m<<kzak@redhat.com>>

## SEE ALSO
       [**chroot**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/chroot/2/markdown), [**init**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/init/8/markdown), [**mkinitrd**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkinitrd/8/markdown), [**mount**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mount/8/markdown)

## REPORTING BUGS
       For bug reports, use the issue tracker at [34m<https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues>[0m.

## AVAILABILITY
       The **switch_root **command is part of the util-linux package which can be downloaded from [34mLinux[0m
       [34mKernel Archive [0m<<https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>>.

util-linux 2.39.3                            2023-10-23                               [_SWITCH_ROOT_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/SWITCHROOT/8/markdown)