2

By mistake the file initrd.img-3.11.0-20-generic has been deleted in directory /boot. Now the system doesn't boot anymore.

Is there a possibility to restore initrd.img-3.11.0-20-generic?

Output of blkid from live-cd:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo blkid 
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs" 
/dev/sda1: UUID="999feae4-d45b-4cbf-8015-ef5d62d952cd" TYPE="ext2" 
/dev/sda5: UUID="9k5hUW-e2Hq-IfIN-08zV-jjDd-0mHm-CHySv4" TYPE="LVM2_member" 
/dev/sr0: LABEL="Ubuntu 14.04 LTS amd64" TYPE="iso9660" 
/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root: UUID="8cf4d204-bbf8-44e2-a3e4-0f8c618e67ef" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-swap_1: UUID="6a0999af-2cee-453f-9a01-7c878df6213e" TYPE="swap"

Update 29.05.2014:

Here's what I've entered (following the recommendations of mniess) with the system responses:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo -i
root@ubuntu:~# mount /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root /mnt
root@ubuntu:~# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
root@ubuntu:~# for i in dev dev/pts proc sys sys/firmware; do mount --bind /$i /mnt/$i; done
root@ubuntu:~# cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/etc/resolv.conf
root@ubuntu:~# chroot /mnt
root@ubuntu:/# apt-get update

System response after command apt-get update:

Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty InRelease
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security InRelease     
Get:1 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security Release.gpg [933 B]
Get:2 http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty Release.gpg [72 B]
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty InRelease                                       
Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security Release [58.5 kB]
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty Release                                 
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates InRelease                   
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports InRelease                    
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed InRelease                     
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty Release.gpg                     
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty/main Sources
Get:4 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/main Sources [16.0 kB]
Get:5 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates Release.gpg [933 B]        
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty/main i386 Packages                                     
Get:6 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports Release.gpg [933 B]
Get:7 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/restricted Sources [14 B]
Get:8 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/universe Sources [4,212 B]                
Get:9 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed Release.gpg [933 B]                     
Get:10 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/multiverse Sources [687 B]    
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty Release                                             
Get:11 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/main amd64 Packages [51.8 kB]             
Get:12 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates Release [58.5 kB]                                  
Get:13 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/restricted amd64 Packages [14 B]                     
Get:14 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/universe amd64 Packages [17.9 kB]                    
Get:15 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/multiverse amd64 Packages [1,154 B]                  
Get:16 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports Release [58.6 kB]                       
Get:17 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/main i386 Packages [49.4 kB]
Get:18 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/restricted i386 Packages [14 B]                       
Get:19 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed Release [58.5 kB]       
Get:20 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/universe i386 Packages [17.9 kB]
Get:21 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/multiverse i386 Packages [1,404 B]                   
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main Sources                                         
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty/main Translation-en_US           
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/restricted Sources
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe Sources
Get:22 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/main Translation-en [24.4 kB]
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse Sources                           
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty/main Translation-en                                            
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main amd64 Packages          
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty/main Translation-de
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/restricted amd64 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/restricted Translation-en
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe amd64 Packages
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse amd64 Packages
Get:23 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/universe Translation-en [9,065 B]
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main i386 Packages                   
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse i386 Packages
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main Translation-en
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main Translation-de
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse Translation-de
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/restricted Translation-en
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/restricted Translation-de
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe Translation-en
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe Translation-de
Get:24 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/main Sources [45.7 kB]
Get:25 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/restricted Sources [14 B]
Get:26 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/universe Sources [28.2 kB]
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/main Translation-en_US 
Get:27 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/multiverse Sources [2,234 B]
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/main Translation-de    
Get:28 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages [109 kB]
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/multiverse Translation-en_US
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/multiverse Translation-de
Get:29 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/restricted amd64 Packages [14 B]
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/restricted Translation-en_US   
Get:30 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/universe amd64 Packages [74.9 kB]
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/restricted Translation-de
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/universe Translation-en_US
Get:31 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/multiverse amd64 Packages [7,089 B]
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/universe Translation-de 
Get:32 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/main i386 Packages [107 kB]
Get:33 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/restricted i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:34 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/universe i386 Packages [75.3 kB]
Get:35 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/multiverse i386 Packages [7,273 B]
Get:36 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/main Translation-en [51.2 kB]
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/restricted Translation-en
Get:37 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/universe Translation-en [33.8 kB]
Get:38 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/main Sources [14 B]
Get:39 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/restricted Sources [14 B]
Get:40 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/universe Sources [4,123 B]
Get:41 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/multiverse Sources [768 B]
Get:42 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/main amd64 Packages [14 B]
Get:43 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/restricted amd64 Packages [14 B]
Get:44 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/universe amd64 Packages [4,099 B]
Get:45 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/multiverse amd64 Packages [619 B]
Get:46 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/main i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:47 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/restricted i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:48 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/universe i386 Packages [4,114 B]
Get:49 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/multiverse i386 Packages [619 B]
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/main Translation-en
Get:50 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/multiverse Translation-en [307 B]
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/restricted Translation-en
Get:51 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/universe Translation-en [2,506 B]
Get:52 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/main amd64 Packages [88.4 kB]
Get:53 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/restricted amd64 Packages [14 B]
Get:54 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/multiverse amd64 Packages [14 B]
Get:55 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/universe amd64 Packages [16.6 kB]
Get:56 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/main i386 Packages [85.5 kB]
Get:57 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/restricted i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:58 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/multiverse i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:59 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/universe i386 Packages [16.7 kB]
Get:60 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/main Translation-en [40.7 kB]
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/main Translation-de
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/multiverse Translation-de
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/restricted Translation-en
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/restricted Translation-de
Get:61 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/universe Translation-en [10.4 kB]
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/universe Translation-de
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main Translation-en_US                                          
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse Translation-en_US                                    
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/restricted Translation-en_US                                    
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe Translation-en_US                                      
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/main Translation-en_US                                  
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/main Translation-de                                     
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/multiverse Translation-en_US                            
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/multiverse Translation-de                               
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/restricted Translation-en_US                            
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/restricted Translation-de                               
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/universe Translation-en_US                              
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/universe Translation-de                                 
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/main Translation-en_US                                
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/main Translation-de                                   
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/multiverse Translation-en_US                          
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/multiverse Translation-de                             
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/restricted Translation-en_US                          
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/restricted Translation-de                             
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/universe Translation-en_US                            
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/universe Translation-de                               
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/main Translation-en_US                                 
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/multiverse Translation-en_US                           
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/restricted Translation-en_US                           
Ign http://de.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-proposed/universe Translation-en_US                             
Fetched 1,250 kB in 8s (145 kB/s)                                                                       
Reading package lists... Done
root@ubuntu:/#

Then I've entered:

   root@ubuntu:/# apt-get --reinstall install linux-image-3.11.0-20-generic

...and got the following reply:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree      
Reading state information... Done
Reinstallation of linux-image-3.11.0-20-generic is not possible, it cannot be downloaded.
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
  linux-image-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove it.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1674 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
Setting up icaclient (12.1.0) ...
/var/lib/dpkg/info/icaclient.postinst: 696: /var/lib/dpkg/info/icaclient.postinst: nspluginwrapper: not found
dpkg: error processing icaclient (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
Errors were encountered while processing:
 icaclient
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Next I've entered:

root@ubuntu:/# update-grub

System replied:

Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-20-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-19-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-18-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-17-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-15-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-12-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /memtest86+.bin
done

Then I've entered:

root@ubuntu:/# grub-install

And got this:

Install device isn't specified.
Usage: grub-install [OPTION] [INSTALL_DEVICE]
Install GRUB on your drive.

  -h, --help              print this message and exit
  -v, --version           print the version information and exit
  --modules=MODULES       pre-load specified modules MODULES
  --boot-directory=DIR    install GRUB images under the directory DIR/grub
                          instead of the /boot/grub directory
  --target=TARGET         install GRUB for TARGET platform
                          [default=current]
  --directory=DIR         use GRUB images from DIR. Takes precedence
                          over target
  --grub-setup=FILE       use FILE as grub-setup
  --grub-mkimage=FILE     use FILE as grub-mkimage
  --grub-mkrelpath=FILE   use FILE as grub-mkrelpath
  --grub-probe=FILE       use FILE as grub-probe
  --allow-floppy          make the drive also bootable as floppy (default
                          for fdX devices). May break on some BIOSes.
  --recheck               delete device map if it already exists
  --force                 install even if problems are detected
  --force-file-id         use identifier file even if UUID is available
  --disk-module=MODULE    disk module to use (biosdisk or native). This
                          option is only available on BIOS target.
  --no-nvram              don't update the `boot-device' NVRAM
                          variable. This option is only available on
                          IEEE1275 targets.
  --removable             the installation device is removable. This option
                          is only available on EFI.
  --bootloader-id=ID      the ID of bootloader. This option is only
                      available on EFI.
  --efi-directory=DIR     use DIR as the EFI System Partition root.
  --uefi-secure-boot      install an image usable with UEFI Secure
                          Boot. This option is only available on EFI and if
                          the grub-efi-amd64-signed package is installed.
  --no-uefi-secure-boot   do not install an image usable with UEFI Secure
                          Boot, even if the system was currently started
                          using it. This option is only available on EFI.

INSTALL_DEVICE must be system device filename.

grub-install copies GRUB images into /boot/grub, and uses grub-setup
to install grub into the boot sector.


Report bugs to <bug-grub@gnu.org>.

As you can see above the procedure has shown some errors. The result is that the system still doesn't boot. Does someone have an idea about how to resolve the errors?

thomoh
  • 23

4 Answers4

6

First of all, especially as a beginner, you should never edit files outside your user home directory. Don't manually mess with your system. Let Ubuntu take care of what files it needs when and where.

That said: It is a bit more involved but you can repair Ubuntu using a live-dvd or USB stick (USB is faster). I'll guide your through it:

Boot live-system and gather information

It is the same you did when installing Ubuntu. Just make sure to chose "Try Ubuntu". When you see the desktop, open a terminal (CTRL+ALT+T) and run the following:

sudo blkid

which will give you a result like this

/dev/sda1: LABEL="EFI" UUID="70D6-1701" TYPE="vfat" 
/dev/sda2: UUID="68ca53b3" LABEL="OSX" TYPE="hfsplus" 
/dev/sda3: UUID="49526001" LABEL="Recovery HD" TYPE="hfsplus" 
/dev/sda4: LABEL="BOOTCAMP" UUID="FCF67D7DF67D394A" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sda6: UUID="c1c76922" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda7: UUID="3b171268" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda8: UUID="bf3dd1b7" TYPE="swap"

Please post the result of this command back here, so that we can help you further. I will continue with the above example.

Chroot into the installed system

With chroot you can use a live linux and switch to the Linux installed on your harddrive to repair it. It is important whether your system uses EFI or BIOS. If you have/had Windows 8 on the machine, it is a good indicator for EFI. In the example above there is a small vfat partition that is even called EFI so the above system uses EFI to boot. The two ext4 partitions are Linux partitions. You can just open them from the launcher to see which one contains to root filesystem (contains folders like etc, usr, var, ...). In the above case /dev/sda6 is the root partition and /dev/sda1 is the EFI partition.

In a terminal run the following commands to prepare and open the chroot.

sudo -i
mount /dev/sda6 /mnt
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi
for i in dev dev/pts proc sys sys/firmware; do mount --bind /$i /mnt/$i; done
chroot /mnt

The EFI partition only needs to be mounted if EFI is actually used, otherwise you can omit that line.

The list of partitions you posted indicates you use LVM, so we need to account for that. Replace the two mount commands above with these:

mount /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root /mnt
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Repair

To repair your system continue to run the following commands.

apt-get update
apt-get --reinstall install linux-image-3.11.0-20-generic
update-grub
grub-install
exit

Now reboot the machine and you should be all set.

mniess
  • 10,904
0

Sorry to bring up such an old post. I had something similar to this happen and ran into a few roadblocks along the way, here they, and their solutions, are:

I had a bunch of issues getting apt-get running in chroot. You have to install/run resolvconf from another console:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure resolvconf

You also have to copy the file over:

mv mnt/etc/resolv.conf{,.bak}
cp /etc/resolv.conf mnt/etc/resolv.conf

apt-get got stuck a few times and gave all sorts of errors you have to purge it and some other commands I forget.

You can verify it worked by looking in /mnt/boot and looking for the boot files.

When you reboot you have to delete /etc/resolv.conf and run reconfigure resolvconf again to get DNS back up.

To get grub going again, I had just used Boot-Repair previously, but didn't need it again.

Thanks ** mniess**

Lars
  • 11
0
  1. Open "Advanced options for Ubuntu" from GRUB (if it's only OS, use Shift after BIOS screen).
  2. Boot older kernel.

  3. Use

    sudo update-grub

    (I think it works in newer Ubuntu's)

  4. Reboot.

Danatela
  • 13,384
aastefanov
  • 1,399
0

The files in this directory are vital to your installation so you should be very careful with them as you just found out :-)

But not everything is lost, I think. You should be able to reinstall the file. In order to do so you will probably have to use a Ubuntu live CD/USB stick to boot the machine. The steps would be

  1. Mount the local partitions of your machine in your live environment and chroot into the mounted root directory.
  2. Re-install the linux-image-3.11.0-20-generic which, IIRC, should generate the file for you.

I will not be able to further detail these two steps here. Googling for them should turn up some guides that will help you along the way.

Edit: See emniess' great post who was faster than me and nicely guides you through the process.

user281608
  • 11