System Administration Guide: Security Services

The Allocate Error State

An allocatable device is in the allocate error state if it is owned by user bin and group bin with a device-special file mode of 0100. If a user wants to allocate a device that is in the allocate error state, you can try to force the deallocation of the device. The deallocate command with the -F option forces deallocation. Or, you can use allocate -U to assign the device to the user. Once the device is allocated, you can investigate any error messages that appear. After any problems with the device are corrected, you must use the force option, -F to clear the allocate error state from the device.