Recover files from Ubuntu Mint that will not fully boot

[devvtekk]

I was using the previous version of Linux Mint as the guest OS on a Windows 7 Host. Not sure what happened but it will not fully boot though it trys. I have booted into recovery mode, tried fixing and updating packages, etc. with no luck. I also tried creating a new Guest OS using the existing VDI but no luck with that either.

Though I have no actual work or important files on there, there are some python scripts I was writing as well as my Firefox browsing history that I would like to recover. Is there a way to get these files? Possibly using another guest OS that I created since this happened?

Thanks

[Perryg]

Attach it as a second drive to another guest and see if you can retrieve the data.

[devvtekk]

Perryg,

Thank you for responding. Out of curiosity, I tried adding that guest OS VDI as primary and slave drive options through the VirtualBox "Storage" choices but it would fail stating:

Failed to open the CD/DVD image C:\VBox\LinuxMint\LinuxMint.vdi.

The medium 'C:\VBox2\LinuxMint\LinuxMint.vdi' can't be used as the requested device type.

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: Medium
Interface: IMedium {29989373-b111-4654-8493-2e1176cba890}
Callee: IVirtualBox {3b2f08eb-b810-4715-bee0-bb06b9880ad2}
Callee RC: VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001)

I consider myself about a mid level user of Linux. If there are other posts or articles on ways to attach the guest OS would be greatly appreciated. I also came across a tool called lmDisk that may allow my Windows Host to mount the guest OS: http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Too ... lkit.shtml

Thanks,

[Perryg]

From the hosts terminal/command window type VBoxManage showvminfo <VM Name> --details and post here. Replace <VM Name> with the actual name of the VM. Use " " if the name has a space in it. ( withe the drive mounted as you had/have it )

Note if the host is Windows you need to be in the directory that has VBoxManage.exe for the command to work.

[devvtekk]

Code: Select all

Name:            LinuxMint
Groups:          /
Guest OS:        Ubuntu (64 bit)
UUID:            xxxxx
Config file:     C:\VBox\LinuxMint\LinuxMint.vbox

Snapshot folder: C:\VBox\LinuxMint\Snapshots
Log folder:      C:\VBox\LinuxMint\Logs
Hardware UUID:   xxxxxxx
Memory size:     1536MB
Page Fusion:     off
VRAM size:       24MB
CPU exec cap:    100%
HPET:            off
Chipset:         piix3
Firmware:        BIOS
Number of CPUs:  1
Synthetic Cpu:   off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode:  message and menu
Boot Device (1): Floppy
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI:            on
IOAPIC:          on
PAE:             off
Time offset:     0ms
RTC:             UTC
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: off
Nested Paging:   on
Large Pages:     on
VT-x VPID:       on
State:           powered off (since 2015-12-09T16:29:38.000000000)
Monitor count:   1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Tracing Enabled: off
Allow Tracing to Access VM: off
Tracing Configuration:
Autostart Enabled: off
Autostart Delay: 0
Storage Controller Name (0):            IDE
Storage Controller Type (0):            PIIX4
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0):  2
Storage Controller Port Count (0):      2
Storage Controller Bootable (0):        on
Storage Controller Name (1):            SATA
Storage Controller Type (1):            IntelAhci
Storage Controller Instance Number (1): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (1):  30
Storage Controller Port Count (1):      1
Storage Controller Bootable (1):        on
IDE (1, 0): Empty
SATA (0, 0): C:\VBox\LinuxMint\LinuxMint.vdi (UUI
D: xxxxxxx
NIC 1:           MAC: xxxxxxxxx, Attachment: NAT, Cable connected: on, Trace:
 off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Prom
isc Policy: deny, Bandwidth group: none
NIC 1 Settings:  MTU: 0, Socket (send: 64, receive: 64), TCP Window (send:64, re
ceive: 64)
NIC 2:           disabled
NIC 3:           disabled
NIC 4:           disabled
NIC 5:           disabled
NIC 6:           disabled
NIC 7:           disabled
NIC 8:           disabled
Pointing Device: USB Tablet
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1:          disabled
UART 2:          disabled
LPT 1:           disabled
LPT 2:           disabled
Audio:           enabled (Driver: DSOUND, Controller: AC97)
Clipboard Mode:  HostToGuest
Drag'n'drop Mode:  disabled
VRDE:            disabled
USB:             enabled
EHCI:            disabled

USB Device Filters:

<none>

Available remote USB devices:

<none>

Currently Attached USB Devices:

<none>

Bandwidth groups:  <none>

Shared folders:

Name: 'SharedFolder', Host path: 'C:\VBox\SharedF
older' (machine mapping), writable

VRDE Connection:    not active
Clients so far:     0

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size:      0 MB

[Perryg]

Code: Select all

IDE (1, 0): Empty
SATA (0, 0): C:\VBox\LinuxMint\LinuxMint.vdi (UUID: xxxxxxx)

I don't see where you have attached the other guest as a second drive at all. Are you sure that you did and if so can you explain in detail how you did/do it?

[devvtekk]

Misunderstanding....I have not attached the other guest OS. I tried via the "Storage" option in the VirtualBox Manager but it did not work. How do I do that?

Thanks

[Perryg]

From the storage section right click the sata controller and select to add drive. Then choose to use an existing drive and point it to the broken *.vdi

Now if this is being attached to an existing Linux guest you will need to mount it before you can access it.

[devvtekk]

From the storage section right click the sata controller and select to add drive.

Ah, I was trying to add it via "Controller: IDE" Understand now.

Here is the updated info (LinuxMint_64 is the current working guest and LinuxMint is the one that will not fully boot):

Code: Select all

Name:            LinuxMint_64
Groups:          /
Guest OS:        Ubuntu (64 bit)
UUID:            xxxxxx
Config file:     C:\VBox\LinuxMint_64\LinuxMint_
4.vbox
Snapshot folder: C:\VBox\LinuxMint_64\Snapshots
Log folder:      C:\VBox\LinuxMint_64\Logs
Hardware UUID:   xxxxxx
Memory size:     1256MB
Page Fusion:     off
VRAM size:       48MB
CPU exec cap:    100%
HPET:            off
Chipset:         piix3
Firmware:        BIOS
Number of CPUs:  1
Synthetic Cpu:   off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode:  message and menu
Boot Device (1): Floppy
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI:            on
IOAPIC:          on
PAE:             off
Time offset:     0ms
RTC:             UTC
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: off
Nested Paging:   on
Large Pages:     on
VT-x VPID:       on
State:           powered off (since 2015-12-21T17:32:44.612000000)
Monitor count:   1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Tracing Enabled: off
Allow Tracing to Access VM: off
Tracing Configuration:
Autostart Enabled: off
Autostart Delay: 0
Storage Controller Name (0):            IDE
Storage Controller Type (0):            PIIX4
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0):  2
Storage Controller Port Count (0):      2
Storage Controller Bootable (0):        on
Storage Controller Name (1):            SATA
Storage Controller Type (1):            IntelAhci
Storage Controller Instance Number (1): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (1):  30
Storage Controller Port Count (1):      2
Storage Controller Bootable (1):        on
IDE (1, 0): Empty
SATA (0, 0): C:\VBox\LinuxMint_64\Snapshots\{c04
dd90-6087-4efa-845a-}.vdi (UUID: xx)
SATA (1, 0): C:\VBox\LinuxMint\LinuxMint.vdi (UU
D: xxx)
NIC 1:           MAC: xxxxxxxxxx, Attachment: NAT, Cable connected: on, Trace
 off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Pro
isc Policy: deny, Bandwidth group: none
NIC 1 Settings:  MTU: 0, Socket (send: 64, receive: 64), TCP Window (send:64, r
ceive: 64)
NIC 2:           disabled
NIC 3:           disabled
NIC 4:           disabled
NIC 5:           disabled
NIC 6:           disabled
NIC 7:           disabled
NIC 8:           disabled
Pointing Device: USB Tablet
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1:          disabled
UART 2:          disabled
LPT 1:           disabled
LPT 2:           disabled
Audio:           enabled (Driver: DSOUND, Controller: AC97)
Clipboard Mode:  HostToGuest
Drag'n'drop Mode:  disabled
VRDE:            disabled
USB:             enabled
EHCI:            disabled

USB Device Filters:

<none>

Available remote USB devices:

<none>

Currently Attached USB Devices:

<none>

Bandwidth groups:  <none>

Shared folders:  <none>

VRDE Connection:    not active
Clients so far:     0

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size:      0 MB

Snapshots:

   Name: AfterVBoxGuestAdditions (UUID: 6087fbb1-8225)
      Name: ApacheMysqlPHP (UUID: bf73a5ae-7c03-4299-)
         Name: Snapshot20151221 (UUID: 431535af-9ab8) *

[Perryg]

Code: Select all

IDE (1, 0): Empty
SATA (0, 0): C:\VBox\LinuxMint_64\Snapshots\{c04dd90-6087-4efa-845a-}.vdi (UUID: xx)
SATA (1, 0): C:\VBox\LinuxMint\LinuxMint.vdi (UUD: xxx)

Now you have the drive attached what happens when you boot the "LinuxMint_64" guest?

[devvtekk]

It boots okay. When I open the file manager, I see the other guest OS listed under "Devices" as "41 GB Volume". I can open it to see the directories but cannot open the "root" directory. I receive a message box saying "You do not have the permissions necessary to view the contents."

[Perryg]

Of course you can't open it as a normal user, but you should with sudo.

But why do you need to access root on the broken guest? None of you data files should be in root

[devvtekk]

Of course you can't open it as a normal user, but you should with sudo.

But why do you need to access root on the broken guest? None of you data files should be in root

After I typed that, occurred to me to use terminal and sudo instead of just the file manager.

Not knowing where everything is, I wasn't sure if I would need to look at the contents of that directory.

I greatly, greatly appreciate your help.

Thanks.