lvdisplay error: “Failed to create directory /var/lock/lvm. File-based locking initilisation failed.”

The Problem

lvdisplay command prints the below error on a CentOS/RHEL 6 system:

# lvdisplay
Failed to create directory /var/lock/lvm
File-based locking initilisation failed.

The Solution

The above error is due to the /var file system is mounted as read only. To resolve the issue, follow the steps outlined below:

1. Edit and modify /etc/lvm/lvm.conf as below:

locking_dir = "/var/lock/lvm"

to

locking_dir = "/tmp/lock/lvm"

2. Run the lvm commands by defining temporary locking directory:

# lvdisplay --config 'global { locking_dir = "/tmp" } '
# pvdisplay --config 'global { locking_dir = "/tmp" } '
# vgdisplay --config 'global { locking_dir = "/tmp" } ' 

Making Changes Permanent

Mount the /var filesystem with rw option or if the filesystem is read-only due to filesystem corruption, run fsck against the unmounted /var partition to fix it, but ensure you have a valid backup before running fsck.