[CS-FSLUG] Ubuntu and busybox

[Dave & Ella McMullen]

If you are right, and it is booting into Busybox then the solution might
be much simpler than anything suggested so far. At the screen where you
are required to enter your password in the boot process, there should be a
way to make some choices about the session.  I´m not familiar with
busybox, but that option might be labeled ´session´. If you can choose
session, and then choose the ´x´ theme that you want, before you enter
your password, then when you go on, you will be in the more familiar and
flexible default ubuntu system.

Either way changing the order at boot is pretty simple in Grub unless you
have the new version of grub. If you can get a ´shell prompt´ (try
´control-F1´ or ´Alt-F1´ It slips my mind which, and I´m in an internet
cafe right now limited to windows <with a Spanish keyboard>, so can´t try
it to see which). Then type:

´sudo´
and when you get the prompt for your password type it.
then type ´gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst´

That sequence of commands puts you into a text editor as ´root´, and calls
up the menu list so you can edit it. If it calls up a blank page to edit,
then you probably have the new version of grub and <i can´t tell you where
to go from here. But if it calls up a text file you can edit it.  move
your cursor down until you find the lind: ´default 0´ and change the zero
to 1.  If you don´t find such a line add it in on a line all by itself
near the top of the file (perhaps all those lines that are commented out
by starting with #). When you reboot, it should choose the second choice
in the menu, which you give us to understand is Windows.
.                Dave McMullen

:One sinificant caveat: If you installed <ubuntu using ´wubi´ I haven´t
the slightest idea how to do anything with it.


Chris wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 03, 2009 at 07:44:09AM -0800, Greg Slade wrote:
>> Even worse, there's something gone wrong with the Ubuntu install.
>> When the machine boots into Ubuntu, it comes up in busybox, which
>> seems to be some kind of "light" shell prompt. Unfortunately,
>> neither of us knows enough Linux either to use busybox to get Ubuntu
>> booting again, or to uninstall Ubuntu so he can go back to his
>> original Windows setup.
>>
>> Any advice?
>
> I'm guessing the problem is that it can't find root for some reason
> because of
> a wrong root= option or something similar (like I said, a guess).
>
> If you remember what partition has /root (fdisk -l /dev/whatever from
> busybox
> should help jog the memory), and if you didn't do anything odd with raid
> or
> whatnot, you should be able to mount the root partition and 'exec
> switch_root
> /rootmount /sbin/init' or something like that to boot the system.
>
> If you don't want to even mess with switch_root, you could use the shell
> to
> mount wherever /boot lives, and edit grub/menu.lst to change the default.
>
> Chris
>
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