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I have a USB stick that once-upon-a-time contained Ubuntu installation media. I have repurposed the device, but the original label has stuck despite my efforts to change it.

lsblk -o label reports that the name is Ubuntu 16.10 amd64 (from prior use). lsblk reports this same label for each of its 4 new partitions, and this label shows up as a mountpoint each time I insert the disk. This is confusing from many perspectives.

I have tried the following, unsuccessfully:

  • changing partition names using parted
  • re-partitioning
  • new disk label (gpt)
  • new UUIDs for disk and partitions
  • different computers.

Where is this "label" coming from, and how do I change it?

Zanna
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JeQFBu
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2 Answers2

71

Since the label is a property of the filesystem there are individual ways to set the label for different file systems.

for ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystems you use:

e2label /dev/XXX <label>

for btrfs:

btrfs filesystem label /dev/XXX <label>

for reiserfs:

reiserfstune -l <label> /dev/XXX

for jfs:

jfs_tune -L <label> /dev/XXX

for xfs:

xfs_admin -L <label> /dev/XXX

for fat/vfat (using dosfstools):

fatlabel /dev/XXX <label>

OR (using mtools):

mlabel -i /dev/XXX ::<label>

for exfat (you might need to install exfat-utils first):

exfatlabel /dev/XXX <label>

for ntfs:

ntfslabel /dev/XXX <label>

for swap (first you need to swapoff):

swaplabel -L <label> /dev/XXX

source: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/persistent_block_device_naming#by-label

Simo Pelle
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qwertz
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9

The easy way is to start gparted and in the top right go to /dev/XdYand select the disk you want to edit:

enter image description here

The options are:

  1. right-click the partition you want to rename and click Label file system

    Then type the name you want the partition to have and press OK

    Repeat for the other partitions.

    Click the little green check-mark, applying all operations

If that would fail, take option 2:

This will destroy everything on the USB stick!

  1. Go to the menu Device - Create Partition Table - msdos

    This will wipe everything from the USB stick including the partitions with their silly names.

Note¹: If you would want to do this from the command line the hard way, use parted instead of gparted. ;-)
Note²: For an unmounted USB stick, that's all you need, but if you do this on a mounted internal disk, better use gparted live

Fabby
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