---
name: "ltsp-initrd"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "ltsp"
version: "23.02-3"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ltsp-initrd"
---

# ltsp-initrd(8)

create the ltsp.img initrd add-on

## NAME

**ltsp initrd** - create the ltsp.img initrd add-on

## SYNOPSIS

**ltsp** \[*ltsp-options*\] **initrd**

## DESCRIPTION

Create a secondary initrd in /srv/tftp/ltsp/ltsp.img, that contains the LTSP client code from /usr/share/ltsp/{client,common} and everything under /etc/ltsp, including the ltsp.conf settings file. Additionally it contains the server users and groups lists (passwd/group) and public SSH keys. LTSP clients receive this initrd in addition to their usual one.

This means that whenever you add new users or edit **[ltsp.conf(5)](/ltsp.conf/5.md)**, you need to run **ltsp initrd** to update **ltsp.img**, and reboot the clients.

It also means that you can very easily put template xorg.conf or sshfs or other files in /etc/ltsp, and have them on the clients in seconds, without having to run **ltsp image**.

## OPTIONS

See the **[ltsp(8)](/ltsp/8.md)** man page for *ltsp-options*.

## EXAMPLES

Most live CDs do not contain sshfs, so by default you can only use NFS home with them. But sshfs is a small binary without many dependencies, so you may usually provide it to the clients if you include it to ltsp.img:

```
mkdir -p /etc/ltsp/bin
cp /usr/bin/sshfs /etc/ltsp/bin/sshfs-$(uname -m)
ltsp initrd
```

You can even provide multiple sshfs versions for different architectures. LTSP contains code to automatically use those sshfs binaries if it can't find the /usr/bin/sshfs one.

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2019-2022 the LTSP team, see AUTHORS.

## SEE ALSO

[**ltsp**(8)](/ltsp/8.md), [**ltsp.conf**(5)](/ltsp.conf/5.md), [**ltsp-dnsmasq**(8)](/ltsp-dnsmasq/8.md), [**ltsp-image**(8)](/ltsp-image/8.md), [**ltsp-info**(8)](/ltsp-info/8.md), [**ltsp-ipxe**(8)](/ltsp-ipxe/8.md), [**ltsp-kernel**(8)](/ltsp-kernel/8.md), [**ltsp-nfs**(8)](/ltsp-nfs/8.md), [**ltsp-remoteapps**(8)](/ltsp-remoteapps/8.md)

Online documentation is available on https://ltsp.org