If a Solaris system fails to boot with messages similar to the following are encountered, the system will need to be booted from alternate Oracle Solaris media ( e.g. the failsafe archive, cd / dvd media, or an install image over the network) in order to update the boot_archive.
The file just loaded does not appear to be executable.
Refer the post below to mount zfs root pool (rpool) booting from DVD.
Steps to update the boot_archive
1. Note the timestamp and size of the existing boot_archive:
# cd /mnt/platform/`uname -m` # ls -l boot_archive
2. Use bootadm to update the boot_archive:
# bootadm update-archive -R /mnt
3. Check the timestamp and size if the boot_archive again to make certain it was updated:
# ls -l boot_archive
4. If the timestamp on the boot_archive has not changed, the update of the boot_archive can be forced with:
# bootadm update-archive -fvR /mnt
Example:
# bootadm update-archive -fvR /mnt forced update of archive requested cannot find: /mnt/etc/cluster/nodeid: No such file or directory cannot find: /mnt/etc/mach: No such file or directory Creating boot_archive for /mnt updating /mnt/platform/sun4u/boot_archive 15+0 records in 15+0 records out
Note: The above “cannot find” messages are expected.
5. Check the timestamp and size if the boot_archive again. It should reflect a current timestamp now:
# ls -l boot_archive
6. Export the root pool and reboot:
# cd / # zpool export rpool # reboot
Note: If the system still fails to boot with “The file just loaded does not appear to be executable” after the boot_archive was updated and it was seen in the above steps that the timestamp of the boot_archive was updated and bootadm update-archive was run, then it may be necessary to update the bootblock on the root disk(s) as well. Refer the post below to install boot block on ZFS.