I am working with RHEL 4 Update 4. When initially installing the OS I allowed the installation to automatically partition the disk, and it used LVM to create a logical volume to mount the root file system. The only other logical volume it created was for the swap file.

Now, as an experiment, I am attempting to extend the volume group and logical volume on which root is mounted. Everything appeared to be going smoothly (extending the VG, extending the LV, doing a vgchange, and then a lvm lvchange), but I am now at the point where I want to run e2fsck to check the file system and resize2fs to resize the files system to realize the added space, and I can't do either because the volume is mounted, and cannot be unmounted.

I've read a few suggestions such as using the installation media to go in in rescue mode, but nothing seems to do the trick. I also read something that said that you cannot extend the root volume, and that you shouldn't have to. This appears to be more accurate than anything else I've read.

Is it the case that you cannot extent the root volume, and if so, why would RHEL configure the root volume using LVM if you can't? If I am missing something, I would greatly appreciate someone pointing out what I'm missing.

Thank you.