Ubuntu 17.04 (kubuntu)
today i woke up to
error: file '/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod' not found
grub rescue>
so, naturally, nothing i tried worked (i expected this) when i did {ls} it showed me three partitions, i navigated into one of them and into /grub/i386-pc/, and lo and behold, there was... no normal.mod. so it isn't there. okay.
i loaded boot-repair. i tried to repair my boot. it finished and i rebooted. and i just got the same message.
so i plugged in a live Ubuntu image and tried a few things. i thought that maybe it's the boot-repair on the USB that doesn't work so i tried to install it from the live "CD". apparently i can't install it for some reason and i'm not even sure it would fix the problem.
i then tried to mount my sda5, which is the encrypted partition, in order to recover my files. it didn't even ask me for a password and i could open it, only to find out that my files weren't there (basically everything else was, but in /home/user/, there only was .kde, .local, Access-Your-Private-Data.desktop, README.txt, .ecryptfs and .Private. i couldn't open README.txt, nor Access-Your-Private-Data.desktop (for the latter, it told me "there was an error creating the child process for this terminal" and "failed to execute child process "/usr/bin/ecryptfs-mount-private (input/output error)"
so my sda5 appeared to be mounted but the files weren't there. that sucked. i can't modify the GRUB for some reason. and i also can't simply reinstall Ubuntu (which i would have promptly done) because i'm afraid it would delete my files. it never gives me the opportunity to put in my sda5 password which i have always had to do during boot.
here's what i would want to see happen, from greatest to less great :
simply fix GRUB in some way and boot like that, then finally backup my files (i never do that...) before they slip away again
backup my files right now and reinstall the whole thing (i don't know how to do that)
somehow reinstall Ubuntu without wiping my files
and, lastly, what i don't want to happen but what i will have to do if nothing works :
- wipe everything and start anew.
so, recap, GRUB is fuarked, and i can't get my files because they're behind encryption. how do i get my files and fix everything ? you're up.