[Solved] Unable to get into recovery mode in Ubuntu

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serendipity
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Joined: 5. Oct 2019, 11:45

[Solved] Unable to get into recovery mode in Ubuntu

Post by serendipity »

I'm using VirtualBox 6.0.12 on my High Sierra Mac, and I've installed an Ubuntu 18.04 virtual machine.
For some reason beyond me, my password isn't working anymore. Yet I wrote it down and successfully used it yesterday. The change seems to have occurred just after I installed the GuestAdditions iso file.

To fix this password issue, I need to get into recovery mode.
From what I googled, the way to do this is to restart, and press continuously the "Shift" key (or "esc") during the reboot process, until the "recovery console" appears.
When I try to do that I never see any recovery console, the reboot always leads to the normal, default mode no matter what I do during the reboot process.

Also, as I have a French MacBook Air keyboard I'm not sure if "Shift" means the fn-key or the Uppercase-key (I tried both and they both failed in the way explained just above).
Last edited by serendipity on 9. Oct 2019, 11:04, edited 1 time in total.
socratis
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Location: Greece

Re: Unable to get into recovery mode in Ubuntu

Post by socratis »

serendipity wrote:The change seems to have occurred just after I installed the GuestAdditions iso file.
No. There absolutely no connection at all.

As for the recovery mode, either you're not pressing the Shift key early enough, or your VM doesn't have the focus at the time. Try it again and again until you succeed. And no, Shift is Shift, no matter the keyboard layout you're using.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
serendipity
Posts: 44
Joined: 5. Oct 2019, 11:45

Re: Unable to get into recovery mode in Ubuntu

Post by serendipity »

socratis wrote:either you're not pressing the Shift key early enough, or your VM doesn't have the focus at the time
If you have the patience to watch the 1min28-video at https://youtu.be/gGIFbTIRKg0, you'll see for yourself that

1) The "Shift" key starts being pressed even before I click on "Restart", and stays pressed all the time after that
2) The focus stays on the VM all the time
socratis
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Re: Unable to get into recovery mode in Ubuntu

Post by socratis »

socratis wrote:you're not pressing the Shift key early enough
serendipity wrote:The "Shift" key starts being pressed even before I click on "Restart", and stays pressed all the time after that
I take back my comment about "not early enough", you are pressing the Shift key "way too early"! :)

Try it when the BIOS image is shown or right immediately after that, that's how I got my Ubuntu(s) and my Mint(s) to get into GRUB recovery mode. Yes, I do mean several of guests, any guest... BTW, I tried this on two MBPs...
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
serendipity
Posts: 44
Joined: 5. Oct 2019, 11:45

Re: Unable to get into recovery mode in Ubuntu

Post by serendipity »

socratis wrote:Try it when the BIOS image is shown or right immediately after that
Could you be more specific about which BIOS, because there are two distinct BIOS I see during the restart process (my dozen failed attempts produced a dozen identical failures, no matter what variations I tried).

The first BIOS I see appears immediately or almost immediately after I click "Restart", and looks like this :
leaving-min.png
leaving-min.png (59.14 KiB) Viewed 23528 times
Then the VM window switches to the Virtual Box 6.0 image with a bic green 6 in the background ; this is followed by the following BIOS output (which appears progressively, line by line, unlike the first ) :
entering.png
entering.png (36.23 KiB) Viewed 23528 times
which is followed by the purple screen and eventually the usual Ubuntu Desktop.
socratis
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Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
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Location: Greece

Re: Unable to get into recovery mode in Ubuntu

Post by socratis »

You seem to be confusing the terminal output with the BIOS. Not the same...
serendipity wrote:because there are two distinct BIOS
There are no two BIOS, there's only one.
serendipity wrote:during the restart proces
Try a start-from-cold-boot, not a restart.
serendipity wrote:The first BIOS I see appears immediately or almost immediately after I click "Restart"
That's the shutdown procedure, not a BIOS.
serendipity wrote:Then the VM window switches to the Virtual Box 6.0 image with a bic green 6 in the background
*THAT* is the BIOS screen.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
serendipity
Posts: 44
Joined: 5. Oct 2019, 11:45

Re: Unable to get into recovery mode in Ubuntu

Post by serendipity »

socratis wrote:you are pressing the Shift key "way too early"! :) Try it when the BIOS image is shown or right immediately after that
Finally, it worked ! Thanks for your patience.
"Right immediately after" is what worked for me.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: [Solved] Unable to get into recovery mode in Ubuntu

Post by socratis »

Great, thanks for letting us know. And thank you for marking the topic as [Solved]... ;)
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
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