Fix: "cryptsetup: ERROR: Couldn't resolve device overlay"

January

2026

Fix: "cryptsetup: ERROR: Couldn't resolve device overlay"

linux

1 January 2026 21:21

At the end of the sudo apt upgrade command or when running update-initrumfs -u, I get the error "cryptsetup: ERROR: Couldn't resolve device overlay."

Problem

I don't use disk encryption on my PC, but the error "cryptsetup: ERROR: Couldn't resolve device overlay" occurred for some unknown reason.
I examined the files; one filesystem configuration file is practically empty except for comments.
cat /etc/crypttab
the other contains no mention of overlay.
cat /etc/fstab

The second error: "cryptsetup: WARNING: Couldn't determine root device" didn't bode well, so I tried

update-initramfs -u

No success.

Solution

You need to reinstall the initramfs-tools package.

sudo apt remove initramfs-tools
sudo apt clean
sudo apt install initramfs-tools

This will build the kernel. For example:
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.1.105-antix.1-amd64-smp

You do not need to run the "update-initramfs -u" command if you receive a message about a successful kernel update, similar to the one above.

Source:

initramfs error when installing / updating

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