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How To Fix A Broken Initrd Image in Linux-1

This document provides steps to fix a broken or corrupted initrd image in Linux. It describes mounting the system partitions from a live USB or DVD, backing up the existing initrd image, rebuilding the image using mkinitrd or update-initramfs, updating GRUB, and rebooting the system. Rebuilding the initrd image replaces a corrupted one and fixes boot issues caused when the initrd is missing or damaged.

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Ralph Sosera
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343 views7 pages

How To Fix A Broken Initrd Image in Linux-1

This document provides steps to fix a broken or corrupted initrd image in Linux. It describes mounting the system partitions from a live USB or DVD, backing up the existing initrd image, rebuilding the image using mkinitrd or update-initramfs, updating GRUB, and rebooting the system. Rebuilding the initrd image replaces a corrupted one and fixes boot issues caused when the initrd is missing or damaged.

Uploaded by

Ralph Sosera
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How to Fix a Broken Initrd Image in

Linux
Today, we'll show you how you can fix your broken or accidentally
deleted Initrd Image ie. Linux Kernel Image and GRUB Loader in your
Ubuntu installed machine.  It should also work for Ubuntu derivatives
as well as other distribution.

Initrd is a scheme for loading a temporary root file system into


memory in the boot process of the Linux kernel. It is a cpio archive of
the initial file system that gets loaded into memory during the Linux
startup process. The Kernel mounts it as root file system and starts
the init process from it.

The Initrd image


(https://linoxide.com/linux-how-to/initrd-image-linux/) may be broken
or corrupt if the kernel you installed was corrupted or due to some
modifications made on the system's kernel or the boot process which
in results the system crash :(

(https://linoxide.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/initrd-not-found.
png)
As we know,  "When there is will there is way". Yes, we can fix or
rebuild the initrd image. In my case I will be showing you with my
Ubuntu 13.10 Operating System.

Here are easy step wise steps below with screenshots which will help
us rebuild our corrupted Kernel Image (Initrd)

1. Boot your machine with a Live Media


You can use your Ubuntu CD/DVD or USB stick to boot live into your
machine. If you don't have one, there are a lot of ways to create
bootable media. You can download the latest Ubuntu
(https://ubuntu.com/) Distribution from their official site ie.
http://ubuntu.com/ (https://ubuntu.com/) and burn the image to a
Blank DVD or use unetbootin (http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/) to
create your USB Stick bootable.

2. Open a terminal console and get


partitions path
You can easily run a terminal console by pressing Ctrl+ Alt +T in
Ubuntu or you can switch to tty1 by pressing Ctrl+ Alt+f1. What we
need to do is, we need to mount our the filesystem from our Hard
Disk. For that, we need to know the device path. To get the device
path you the need to run:

$ sudo fdisk -l


Here, from above result, in my case, sda1 is the one I need to mount.

3. Mount the filesystems


The filesystem we need to mount the hard disk's partitions such as /
(root), /boot, /var and should mount bind  /sys, /proc and /dev under
a directory /mnt. So, that can be done by steps below:

$ sudo mount /dev/sdaX /mnt

Note: Here in /dev/sdaX, X refers to the partition number 1 in my


case,  which we got from step 2.

$ sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev

$ sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc

$ sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys

4. Chroot /mnt and creating a Backup of


the initrd image
Now, we need to chroot /mnt so that we can setup chrooted
environment for the Hard Disk's partition.

$ sudo chroot /mnt

After Chroot is done, we will be backing up the image file of initrd, you
can see the image files under /boot. 
# ls /boot/*initrd*

or

# ls /lib/modules/

You will be able to get the version of the kernel you have currently in
the system from the above command.

Consider replacing version 3.11.0.12-generic with the own you got


from above command.

# mv /boot/initrd.img-3.11.0.12-generic
/boot/old-initrd.img-3.11.0.12-generic-old

Note: the file format of the initrd image may differ from Ubuntu to
Fedora Based Systems.

If your initrd image has been deleted, you won't be able to run the
above command hence, can't create its backup.

5. Building Initrd Image


Now, the real stuff is here. We are gonna build the initrd kernel image
here using the command below: 
# mkinitrd /boot/initrd.img-3.11.0.12-generic
3.11.0.12-generic-old

The above command works for the other distributions like CentOS,
Fedora, Hat,etc not for Ubuntu

For Ubuntu Based Distribution:

# update-initramfs -c -k 3.11.0.12-generic

6. Finalizing Grub Loader and


unmounting
We will go for unmounting the mounted path as:

If your system has Fedora, RHEL, CentOS installed, try this:

# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

If your system has Ubuntu and its derivative installed:

# update-grub

# exit

Now, we have successfully left our Chroot Environment.


$ sudo umount /dev

$ sudo umount /proc

$ sudo umount /sys

$ sudo umount /mnt

Hurray, Now, reboot your machine


(https://linoxide.com/how-tos/how-restart-linux-system-reboot-com
mand-line/) and eject your Bootable Media. We have done it
successfully, boot your system back to the normal and enjoy Linux
Computing.
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