Problem
When running from a Fedora 39 or Fedora 40 Beta Server disk image (commonly used for ARM systems), LVM operations can fail. The error might look like:
Cannot use /dev/<device_name>: device is not in devices file
Note: This doesn’t affect Fedora 39/40 Server traditional installations (using the installer), only systems deployed from an already made disk image.
Cause
Fedora 39/40 Server disk images contain a /etc/lvm/devices/system.devices file, which lists /dev/vda3 as the backing partition for LVM devices. When booted on anything but a libvirt virtual machine, the partition will likely show up with a different name, and this can cause LVM operations to fail.
The Fedora installer intentionally started writing this file as it’s considered useful for typical installs. However, the installer is also used to create the disk images, and it does not disable writing this file when creating a disk image as it probably should.
Related Issues
Bugzilla report: #2247872
Workarounds
If you have any trouble with LVM-related operations when using the Fedora 39/40 Server disk image, you can try deleting the /etc/lvm/devices/system.devices file (or rename it and move it elsewhere). This may resolve the problem.
You can discuss this issue here.