How to fix one existing Ubuntu installation from another

Question

I have two partitions on my PC, each with Ubuntu 20.04 installed (separately). One of them has gone south, something related to graphics drivers and maybe also the bootloader. Is it possible to change things for the malfunctioning version from the one that still works? Such as uninstalling certain things, or changing the graphics driver? (I do not seem able to enter recovery mode, maybe because this is an old Macbook Air.)

I'm relatively new to Ubuntu so would appreciate baby step style guidance.

[UPDATE: the first answer below is exactly what I was looking for. I don't think the other answer that has been suggested as a "duplicate" is helpful. It's tangential, that's all.]

Not sure but below answer by adazem009 did the trick for me. — Axel Lieber, Jan 29 '21 at 09:04
Looking at the answer you suggested above, I would never have guessed that this is what I need, and I would never have found it. I'm a noob and until just now had never heard of "chroot" — Axel Lieber, Jan 29 '21 at 09:16
Does this answer your question? Install package to Ubuntu 16.04 installation while booted into live cd — muru, Feb 12 '21 at 22:34

adazem009 · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-29T10:18:48.000

If you're able to boot to another Ubuntu system, you can chroot to your root partition.

Check which partition you're using for your broken installation. I'll use /dev/sdb3 in this example. Replace the value of the root variable below:

root=/dev/sdb3
cd /
sudo mkdir /mnt/repair
sudo mount "$root" /mnt/repair
sudo mount -t proc proc /mnt/repair/proc
sudo mount -t sysfs sys /mnt/repair/sys
sudo mount -o bind /dev /mnt/repair/dev

You may need to mount /boot and /boot/efi. Simply use sudo mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt/repair/boot where /dev/sdb2 is the boot partition.

Now, to chroot, use this:

sudo chroot /mnt/repair

You're now logged in as root in your broken Ubuntu installation. You can now do anything you want to repair your system.

Once you're done, use the following commands to clean up:

# Make sure there are no processes running in your chroot session
# Then, exit
exit
sudo umount /mnt/repair/{proc,sys,dev}
sudo umount /mnt/repair

Reference

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 29 '21 at 06:42

0

Could you boot into the working one? If so, you can mount the partition of the malfunctioning one like:

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
cd /mnt

then delete something that could possibly causing the problems under /mnt.

answered Jan 29 '21 at 06:42

Mengbing Wang

31

3

How willyou delete graphic drivers or other packages in this way ? You cannot use apt or other tools. – Soren A Jan 29 '21 at 06:45

How to fix one existing Ubuntu installation from another

2 Answers2