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I'm a bit lost.

So, I have a dual boot Win10/Ubuntu 14 (I think), but it's getting old. The Ubtunu partition is basically done for, I had to Frankenstein it more space for a computer science project and it now thinks it's encrypted, plus I'm having the login loop issue and haven't been able to fix it.

I'm now in vacation, so I have time to make a reinstall, and I'd like to wipe everything and start over. I have an USB with Ubuntu 18, but having a few problems : I tried booting onto it from the GRUB command line (following this great tutorial that worked once), but I'm stuck at the search --fs-uuid --set=root UUID step. I get "failure reading sector 0x0 from partitionX" and "no such device: UUID" (I am sure I have the correct UUID since ls (partition) gives it and tells me it's Ubuntu 18.

So I tried getting around it and using the BIOS to try and boot on the USB, but I have an Acer and I don't know how it happened but it now has a password that I don't know (I searched this and see no solution not requiring me to dismantle the damn thing).

Do you have any idea what to try next ?

Céline Deknop
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    Try repeatedly pressing boot menu key F12 (in Acer). – Vijay Apr 15 '19 at 13:21
  • It's F2 on my computer, and it asks me for a password that I don't know as specified – Céline Deknop Apr 15 '19 at 13:32
  • Acer has always required you to set a UEFI password to enable "trust". So did you forget the password? That is one you cannot forget or should reset to nothing immediately. Acer Aspire E15 will not dual boot, many details Trust settings in step 35 http://askubuntu.com/questions/627416/acer-aspire-e15-will-not-dual-boot – oldfred Apr 15 '19 at 13:48
  • I'm not sure about the password, I can't remember setting one up ever (but I did get into the BIOS a few times). Also, I already have a dual boot, so I think it should be doable again. I did had to flash the BIOS the first time – Céline Deknop Apr 15 '19 at 13:50

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So what you have probably done is you have encrypted your partition with LUKS (which is why it asks you for a password and cannot mount the partition on boot the "normal way" via grub).

If you don't need to access the old ubuntu system and you can simply overwrite everything.

  • run Ubuntu USB,
  • choose "try ubuntu without installing"
  • fire up GpartED application.
  • Once you open it, re-format the "old ubuntu" partition to ext4 again.

This way you'll be able to restart from USB drive and install fresh ubuntu on it.

Jan Myszkier
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  • Yeah but the problem is that I can't boot on the USB – Céline Deknop Apr 15 '19 at 13:47
  • you should be able to do this using your laptop boot menu (this is different from BIOS which will require password to enter). If you having issues getting into boot menu, type your laptop model name and "how to access boot menu" into google and you will find out how to get onto your USB. at worst, you might have to re-create your USB device. and SOMETIMES, some USB pendrives are not bootable, so you might have to try with different pendrive, possibly from different manufacturer – Jan Myszkier Apr 15 '19 at 13:51
  • You are a genius. It was in Windows' setting menu since the beginning ! Now, to not screw up the installation. Hopefully. Thx ! – Céline Deknop Apr 15 '19 at 14:02