"Logical volume in use" -- cannot remove logical volume

lvm xen disk-volume lsof

12,434

I think the main mistake was to execute lsof/fuser on the device-file "/dev/xen3-vg/deleteme" and not on the mount-point (e.g.: "/mnt/myDataMount").

(Thats misleading and I also tripped into it: but it's the same, as if you wanted to run lsof on "/dev/sda3" - that does not work. But you can run lsof on /mount/somedrive)

The steps to do in short:

search the "LV path" in the mounts with mount |grep deleteme # where "deleteme" stands for the lv-name. this exemplary outputs something like "/my/mountpoint"
lsof /my/mountpoint to find out which process is using it
kill the process (kill -9 naggingprocess) or stop the service (service something stop)
check (2.) again
umount /dev/xen3-vg/deleteme
lvremove /dev/xen3-vg/deleteme (or lvremove -f)

12,434

Jonathan Maron

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Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Jonathan Maron almost 2 years
On a Xen 4.8 hypervisor, running on Debian Stretch, I am trying to remove the logical volume of a domU that is no longer used.

I stopped the domU and successfully removed the logical volume for the swap file.

However, when trying to remove the logical volume of the main disk, I get the error:
```
Logical volume xen3-vg/vmXX-disk in use.
```
As I need the disk space on the hypervisor for other domUs, I successfully resized the logical volume to 4 MB.

To make it obvious which logical volume needs to be deleted, I renamed the logical volume to "xen3-vg/deleteme".

Nevertheless:
```
> lvremove -vf /dev/xen3-vg/deleteme
```
Returns:
```
Logical volume xen3-vg/deleteme in use.
```
On searching, I have tried all the following, but to no avail.
```
> lvdisplay

--- Logical volume ---
LV Path                /dev/xen3-vg/deleteme
LV Name                deleteme
VG Name                xen3-vg
LV UUID                iL2tB4-4tjc-0dlj-ibBX-nQup-oZsX-g81XXO
LV Write Access        read/write
LV Creation host, time xen3, 2017-01-04 07:16:26 +0100
LV Status              available
# open                 1
LV Size                4.00 MiB
Current LE             1
Segments               1
Allocation             inherit
Read ahead sectors     auto
- currently set to     256
Block device           254:7

> dmsetup info -c | grep deleteme

xen3--vg-deleteme   254   7 L--w    1    1      3 LVM-aAW4aSeLjqJPPWlF1s1WxAgzeXAjWmXiiL2tB44tjc0dljibBXnQupoZsXg81XXO

> lvchange -an -v /dev/xen3-vg/deleteme

Logical volume xen3-vg/deleteme in use.

> lvremove -vf /dev/xen3-vg/deleteme

Logical volume xen3-vg/deleteme in use.

> umount /dev/xen3-vg/deleteme

umount: /dev/xen3-vg/deleteme: not mounted

> lsof | grep "254,7"

[no output]

> lsof | grep deleteme

[no output]

> fuser /dev/xen3-vg/deleteme

[no output]
```
If someone could offer advice on how to remove xen3-vg/deleteme I would be very happy.

Rebooting the hypervisor is the final option (to be executed out of office hours), but I would prefer not rebooting.

Thank you in advance.

Thank you, Brandon for your suggestion.

Following the instructions at http://naveen161089.blogspot.com/2014/03/forcefully-remove-lvm.html I tried the following:
```
> dmsetup ls

[..]
xen3--vg-deleteme   (254:7)
[..]

> dmsetup info -c xen3--vg-deleteme

Name              Maj Min Stat Open Targ Event  UUID                                                                
xen3--vg-deleteme 254   7 L--w    1    1      3 LVM-aAW4aSeLjqJPPWlF1s1WxAgzeXAjWmXiiL2tB44tjc0dljibBXnQupoZsXg81XXO

> dmsetup remove xen3--vg-deleteme

device-mapper: remove ioctl on xen3--vg-deleteme failed: Device or resource busy
Command failed

> lvremove -f /dev/xen3-vg/deleteme

Logical volume xen3-vg/deleteme in use.
```
I already followed the instructions at: Can't remove open logical volume as stated in my original post.

Neither approach solved the problem.

Does anyone have any further suggestions?
- Brandon Xavier almost 7 years
  
  These might be helpful: naveen161089.blogspot.com/2014/03/forcefully-remove-lvm.html (more to the point) or this one serverfault.com/questions/266697/… (more options to try)
- Jonathan Maron almost 7 years
  
  Brandon, thanks for your assistance. I updated the original post with the results of your suggestions.
- Brandon Xavier almost 7 years
  
  I'm out of suggestions. It's interesting that you could both rename and resize the volume, but not remove it. Please do keep us posted if you find a solution
- Jonathan Maron almost 7 years
  
  Indeed, that puzzles me too. When I have the solution, I will update my original post.
- MrCalvin about 5 years
  
  A running process is has an "hold" on the device. To find the process use dmsetup and lsof. In my case if was libvirt-qemu
CoderGuy123 about 4 years

These did not work for me either. Nothing is using this disk. The LUKS encryption broke (boot repair corrupted it), and these logical drives are stuck there in limbo. Really annoying, had to reinstall, and still while booting from another disk I can't get rid of these logical disks. Can't even just deletion the partition!