Comment 68 for bug 477169

2009/11/23 abdurrm <email address hidden>:
> Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-
> block(8,1)
>
> ubuntu 9.10
> Installed by Wubi in Windows xp, in a machine Intel pentium dualcore(32bit).
>
> please.. I don't have any idea about this..
> but my data must be rescued..
>
> --
> Wubi/Karmic boot: kernel panic - not synching: VFS
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/477169
> You received this bug notification because you are a bug assignee.
>
> Status in Wubi, Windows Ubuntu Installer: New
> Status in Ubuntu: New
>
> Bug description:
> I was using Karmic, installed with Wubi. For a week it worked like a charm, and I updated it with the latest fixes.
> Since about 3 days ago every boot fails with kernel panic
>
> Going without the "--quiet" option, the message is:
>
> No filesystem could be mounted, tried: ext3 ext2 ext4 fuseblk
> Kernel-panic - not syncing : VFS : Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,6)
>
> Eg. the grub entry for for the standard boot reads:
> insmod ntfs
> set root=(hd0,6)
> search --no-floppy --fs-uid --set a2a40b74a40b4a6d
> loopback loop0 /ubunu/disks/root.disk
> set root=(loop0)
> linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda6 loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro quiet splash
> initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
>
> My /ubuntu directory is on (hd0,6). If I use the grub command line, I can:
> - see the contents of the drive
> - mount the root.disk as a loopback device and see its contents
> - can find the files referenced in the menu.lst
>
> Any ideas how to make it work again?use
> I had a previous install of Wubi/Karmic-rc, upgraded in place that had some kernel panics too after a few weeks of usage, but I just reinstalled it so not sure if it had the same issue.
>
Just boot using the live CD or if you don't have a live CD use
Virtualbox with 9.10 installed mount your NTFS partition and then
mount the /ubuntu/disks/root.disk using the following command
sudo mount -o loop /MOUNTPOINT_OF_NTFS/ubuntu/disks/root.disk
/MOUNTPOINT_OF_WUBI_INSTALLATION

now you can access your files

to restore the ubuntu wubi copy the file initrd.***.img in the
directory /boot to the directory
/MOUNTPOINT_OF_WUBI_INSTALLATION/boot/ after taking the backup of the
file existing over there
and replace it.

Now your wubi installation must boot up.

--
Sriram Damodharan