Ubuntu 9.04, live-install rescue/enable=true Fails

[OldeFoxx]

Binary package hint: live-installer

Got a display issue with Nvidia driver, and in trying to follow instructions, the system suddenly reverted to low resolution mode on bootup, and nothing works to fix it. Not that I really know what to do, which is why it is such a problem. Not even sure how to mount another partition with a working install so that I can compare details.

Anyway, there is very little said about how to rescue a broken installation, except that it should be possible. I refer to https://help.ubuntu.com/9.04/installation-guide/i386/rescue.html in this regard.

AS far as I can tell at this point, there are only two options for booting from a live CD with Ubuntu 9.04 on it. First you have to get to a text-base mode, and the method for doing that is not obvious. I found it as toggling down to Install Ubuntu as my choice option from the start-up screen, then hitting the Esc key, which offered me a chance to exit the GUI mode and go to text mode instead. So i did that.

next, I had a black screen with this showing:

Boot:

Boot what? No choices offered. I tried several names that I could think of, but the only response was that it could not find an image with that name. I did not know what to do to get a list of available images. Finally, in desperation, I typed help, and that worked. I suddenly had a help screen, similar to but not the same as the one in the GUI. I tried F1 for more help, and got a differentl list of possible options. There was one for dealing with a broken system, but you pick that, you only got told that it was do-able, but not how. However, I had the info from the link above (only obtained with the help of another PC with online access), so I decided to try both the boot and the rescue/enable=true options mentioned.

Boot was not valid. No image by that name. Rescue/enable=true not valid either, as no image callded rescue was found either. Somehow I stumbled on the fact that there were just three images identified, one called live, the second called live-install, and the other something else, but it only tested the PC memory. I've been through so much lately that some details escape me.

Anyway I decided to give live-install rescue/enable=true a chance, and it seemed to work. Up to the point of where the partitioner got called in. Instead of seeing a different drive view where my choices were which partition to rescue, and no notice of the fact that this was just a rescue effort and my data would remain intact (as promised in the link above), I only had the choices of which method to do a fresh install again.

 Now I know that if you pick the manual mode, then hand select the partition to be used as root (/) but not to format it (leave that box unchecked), then you will we warned (advised maybe?) that only the system files will be replaced. Well, that could work, but I've already found (and reported in another bug report) that the partitioner screens are so stretched left and right, that the key box of Forward goes clear off screen. So you can still use Alt+F to go up to the point of actually performing the install, but no further.

I guess I will go back and try with the boot option of live rescue/enable=true and see if it flies, but my expectations are not that great, in fact lowered simply because the live approch already assures someone that no changes will take place with the hard drive contents. Sure looks like the ability to Rescue a Broken System is nothing but a myth at this point. You have no plan in place to do so, none that any novice or semi-competent person can fathom or make use of.

I would certainly call that a bug worth reporting. And it also points up the severity of the previously reported bug as well, because now it hinders efforts to restore a damaged system.

[Jon Charge (seropith)]

Did not attempt confirmation, however, this bug I believe has enough data for work.

[OldeFoxx (oldefoxx)]

I've much more experience now, and can see a simpler and more effective way to repair or recover from a system failure. Here is the principle.

Identify which partition was root, or all partitions in a given install that were used and not /home. Ignore /home for the following.

Determine if a recovery is being requested (just system files and folders) or a full restore (include all configuration files). If a recovery, use a normal install with the same designated partitions and same file system, and follow normal install process as though following the manual partitioning route.

For a full restore, do this before following the normal install process as above:

mount the non-/home partitions as /mnt/mp, or the / partition as the same, but avoid /home for the following:

use rm -R /mnt/mp/folder repeatedly for all folders in / for the mounted partition except /home. That will delete all configuration files as well, except any placed under /home in the user accounts.

you should also use rm /mnt/mp/file if any files are here as well.
Note. Depending on how the LiveCD actually works, you may want to exclude /cdrom and others as well. I think the most critical one to remove is /etc, which holds many of the configuration files.

That's it. You can now repair (back to the install point, but with configurations settings retained), or replace (back to the install point, getting rid of configurations settings as well) your system while keeping the user accounts intact. I've done this a number of times, it works well, and I don't see why it has to be made harder.

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

That option is meant to be entered after choosing the option to append additional arguments to the kernel command line, and also is for the server installer not the desktop.