Error Message

Debian or Raspbian: nfs-kernel-server not starting portmapper is not running … (warning) rpcbind.target

Fix Steps

Here is my first try, but it doesn’t work for me. It just reset the configs. So if you messed it up, try this first.

apt-get purge rpcbind nfs-kernel-server nfs-common
apt-get install nfs-kernel-server

Next, I have a look into /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server and find its start level is 2 3 4 5. However, nfs-common and rpcbind have differenct run level, I change it to the same, i.e. 2 3 4 5.

# Have a look at these files' runlevel
/etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server
/etc/init.d/nfs-common
/etc/init.d/rpcbind

This is the runlevel of nfs-kernel-server

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          nfs-kernel-server
# Required-Start:    $remote_fs nfs-common $portmap $time
# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs nfs-common $portmap $time
# Should-Start:      $named
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Kernel NFS server support
# Description:       NFS is a popular protocol for file sharing across
#                    TCP/IP networks. This service provides NFS server
#                    functionality, which is configured via the
#                    /etc/exports file.
### END INIT INFO

Now, let’s finish it. I forecely removed the old links by update-rc.d and add the defaults again.

update-rc.d -f rpcbind remove
update-rc.d rpcbind defaults

update-rc.d -f nfs-common remove
update-rc.d nfs-common defaults

update-rc.d -f nfs-kernel-server remove
update-rc.d nfs-kernel-server defaults

Reboot the server, it works now! Cheers!