emergency mode at start up after update

Question

After updating Ubuntu it now boots into emergency mode. I'm new to this OS.

If anyone can help me out with the codes that would be great. I do not have the OS on a CD or USB.

it goes purple for like 2 seconds and goes back to the emergency screen mode. Then when I hold it it just starts loading as its starting up but does nothing just stays on the purple ubuntu page. — redneck32609, Aug 11 '16 at 22:54
I was going to post a new question because I'm having the same exact issue upgrading from 14.04 to 16.04. — Philip Kirkbride, Aug 12 '16 at 21:13

Scott Stensland · Answer 1 · 2016-08-13T14:59:15.123

2

If you do have high value files not backed up then I suggest you obtain a Ubuntu liveCD [or usb] and boot off it (which should avoid this screen ) ... once booted up then plug in a memory stick and backup treasured files/dirs

Now that your are booted up off the Ubuntu LiveCD open up a terminal ( ctrl+alt+T ) and issue

sudo -i    # to toggle into root
fdisk -l

at bottom you should see something like this

Device     Boot      Start        End    Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  *          2048 1431805951 1431803904 682.8G 83 Linux
/dev/sda2       1431807998 1465147391   33339394  15.9G  5 Extended
/dev/sda5       1431808000 1465147391   33339392  15.9G 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Identify your boot device ( the one with * for me its /dev/sda1 )

issue

umount /dev/sda1 
fsck -y /dev/sda1 # leave off -y if you want prompts to OK fix actions
reboot

The motive for booting off Ubuntu LiveCD is your normal drive can then be unmounted ... something you (cannot/should not) do when booted from it

edited Aug 13 '16 at 14:59

answered Aug 11 '16 at 23:14

Scott Stensland

15,575

1

But if he has bash access he should be able to back up his files. SCP to another computer on the same network. I'm in the same situation hoping to restore though. – Philip Kirkbride Aug 12 '16 at 21:16
@PhilipKirkbride How did you get into that pickle ? – Scott Stensland Aug 12 '16 at 21:17
On restart I was asked if wanted to upgrade to 16.04. I clicked yes. – Philip Kirkbride Aug 12 '16 at 21:19
doubt this will help but here is the bottom of the output when I use 'journalctl -xb' http://imgur.com/zEySMOF – Philip Kirkbride Aug 12 '16 at 21:20

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

Recovering your files:

I'm in the situation and I was able to recover my files. You'll need a usb.

enter your password as prompted
create a folder to mount usb to:

sudo mkdir /media/usb
mount usb (I wasn't able to use the 'fdisk -l' command so I guessed sdb1 and got lucky):

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/usb
Go to your home folder and copy the files you want to keep into your usb:

cd /home/yourUserName/

ls # see what files you want

sudo cp -r myfiles/ /media/usb/

emergency mode at start up after update

2 Answers2