Wubi megathread

[bcbc]

The only thing I can see is that the initrd.img for your latest kernel is broken into 3 fragments. I actually haven't noticed this bootinfoscript diagnostic before... so take it for what it's worth.

What I would do is either rebuild the initrd.img or run fsck on the root.disk (or both).

sudo update-initramfs -u

Also check how much space you have remaining on the root.disk. On the following command look for (loop0) that represents the root.disk:

df -h

[PayPaul]

The only thing I can see is that the initrd.img for your latest kernel is broken into 3 fragments. I actually haven't noticed this bootinfoscript diagnostic before... so take it for what it's worth.

What I would do is either rebuild the initrd.img or run fsck on the root.disk (or both).

sudo update-initramfs -u

How does the initrd.img get corrupted? If it needs a rebuild I would presume that to be the case. I'd be also correct in assuming after I do that a reboot is in order right? Breaking up that name I think it stands for initialization of RAM and the Fixed Disks. As far as I can see and I'm not coder by a mile, alot of commands share some logic and straight English translation.

Also check how much space you have remaining on the root.disk. On the following command look for (loop0) that represents the root.disk:

df -h

Here's the entry for that command. BTW. Thanks for it. I'm making a collection of these in a reference document. It would be nice if there was a place where I could find them all and their functions.

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/loop0 29G 9.2G 19G 34% /
none 1.9G 796K 1.9G 1% /dev
none 2.0G 7.9M 2.0G 1% /dev/shm
none 2.0G 444K 2.0G 1% /var/run
none 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /var/lock
/dev/sde5 362G 44G 319G 12% /host

I have to wonder if Wubi really did put my install on the 3rd partition of the main drive. Thanks for the straightforward tips

[bcbc]

Initial ram disk: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initrd

I don't know how it would be corrupted... but it does happen. There's no problem with the space side of things. I suppose there might be fragmentation of the root.disk itself from Windows.

In general, wubi is good to try out Ubuntu, but once you're tried it out and want to keep it, it's better to install it direct. I think I mentioned already in another thread you posted in, but you can migrate the wubi or backup/reinstall manually.

[rymdgris]

For some reason I wrote this in the terminal:

su root
entered password
rm -rf /
(or maybe it was: rm -rf *)

Now, I guess I shouldn't have done that, but the problem now is that I have no access to neither Windows or Ubuntu and lots of valuable data is stored on this harddisk.

Ubuntu was installed using Wubi, and I have tried removing the harddisk and connected it on an external drive, but then all I saw was an Ubuntu folder that had a .fuse_hidden file within it and nothing else. I've also tried running the Windows installer DVD but it can't repair the boot problem.

What it says as an error is this to insert my Windows installation disk and restart to run "Repair".

The file it says is \ubuntu\winboot\wubildr.mbr, and status is 0xc000000f

Info is: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt

And the faulty Windows boot says:

Status: 0xc000000f
Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible

Doesn't help any though if I do put in the installation disk..

I have 10.04 installed by the way... And I've tried the solution also on page 1 that you're supposed to run from the Ubuntu USB if neither systems won't load, but to no avail.

[bcbc]

rymdgris,
That command will delete everything - including what's on your host partition (windows). Your best bet is to try a utility that undeletes data.

You have done the right thing to stop using the hard drive. Any writes on the drive can erase the underlying data.

If you cannot undelete the files, you'll have to try to recover the data files direct from the drive using a utility such as photorec. This won't be easy as it doesn't pick up the file names and will recover files that were already deleted as well as ones removed by that command. You'd have to manually check each one to see if it was a file you wanted to keep.

If you were led to run that command by someone maliciously you should report where this occurred.


PS: I've been trying to find a tool recommended for undeleting - there seem to be so many out there. You can try testdisk (same people who make photorec) - e.g. boot an Ubuntu live CD, install testdisk (sudo apt-get install testdisk), then follow this guide: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestD..._file_for_NTFS

[rymdgris]

Oh dear. The reason I wrote it was to write another command that was supposed to trick Facebook to accept my name, as I have a weird name it won't allow. Anyway, I cannot find where I found that command now, but it was some url that had the word "hacker" in it. Anyway...

I have a problem running Testdisk (i tried this first). First I tried the command you wrote, but didn't work, then I dl'ed it and tried to run testdisk_static from the folder I unzipped (with the Autorun Prompt), but didn't work neither. Also tried to put the unzipped folder on the desktop, access the desktop and the folder in terminal and run it from there, but it won't work.

Then I tried to run the photorec_static from the unzipped folder but that wouldn't work neither, so I'm pretty lost

[bcbc]

Oh dear. The reason I wrote it was to write another command that was supposed to trick Facebook to accept my name, as I have a weird name it won't allow. Anyway, I cannot find where I found that command now, but it was some url that had the word "hacker" in it. Anyway...

I have a problem running Testdisk (i tried this first). First I tried the command you wrote, but didn't work, then I dl'ed it and tried to run testdisk_static from the folder I unzipped (with the Autorun Prompt), but didn't work neither. Also tried to put the unzipped folder on the desktop, access the desktop and the folder in terminal and run it from there, but it won't work.

Then I tried to run the photorec_static from the unzipped folder but that wouldn't work neither, so I'm pretty lost

okay, boot the ubuntu cd, select "Try it". Then go to a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T). Then install and run testdisk:

sudo apt-get install testdisk
sudo testdisk

If you know which device/partition you are trying to recover you can tell testdisk, e.g.:

sudo testdisk /dev/sdb1

The rest should be similar to that guide I posted.

If testdisk doesn't work, use photorec (it's already installed with testdisk):

sudo photorec

Just make sure you save the output somewhere other than on the drive that is wiped.

But it's best to use testdisk first as an undeleted file is a lot better than a 'recovered' noname file.

[rymdgris]

Okay, this is the problem, i cannot do this:

okay, boot the ubuntu cd, select "Try it". Then go to a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T). Then install and run testdisk:

sudo apt-get install testdisk
sudo testdisk

The message I get in the terminal is this:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependancy tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package testdisk

[bcbc]

You need the universe repository to be enabled. It should be by default on a live CD.

Open Update Manager, click on Settings, then under the "Ubuntu Software" tab make sure that the Community Maintained (Universe) checkbox is checked. Save. Reload when prompted.

You can reload from command line as well to be sure:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install testdisk

PS maybe you just need to run that "sudo apt-get update" first (if you find Universe is enabled already)

[rymdgris]

Ok, thanks! I'm at the stage where I ran "Undelete" on the partition that I hope is the right one to save (actually I had no other choice but that one).

Only problem now is that when I get to the stage where I'm going to save the deleted files to my external harddisk, I have no clue how...

The options I have are to save it to /home/ubuntu by Y/N, or to select another directory (like Desktop or Music), so I don't get how I'm supposed to save it to my external hdd?

And just out of curiosity: what happens if I choose the option "Boot" on one of the partitions? I'm curious cos I can see that the hdd has got 298GB used space out of 320GB, and this is about what was occupied before any deletion...