Rescue Disk

[Atip]

Greetings!

Can a Salix install CD be used as a rescue disk for an installed version of Salix and if so how?

Thanks

[mimosa]

Yes. Just boot into live and mount the Salix partition, if it isn't already. You then have access to all data and config files.

What to do next depends on the specific problem to hand. If the bootloader isn't working, for instance, you can run Lilosetup from the Live environment to fix this.

EDIT

Sorry, I see I didn't read your post properly. Yes it can too. You simply exit the installer and you will be in a working Linux console environment. I believe there is a message at some stage pointing out this possibility, but in any case, it's quite early on.

[Atip]

Yes. Just boot into live and mount the Salix partition, if it isn't already. You then have access to all data and config files.

What to do next depends on the specific problem to hand. If the bootloader isn't working, for instance, you can run Lilosetup from the Live environment to fix this.

EDIT

Sorry, I see I didn't read your post properly. Yes it can too. You simply exit the installer and you will be in a working Linux console environment. I believe there is a message at some stage pointing out this possibility, but in any case, it's quite early on.

So I am at the console after exiting the installer. What will be next? What command to give
to get into a Salix installation?

At the start of the installation I tried: "huge-smp root=/dev/sda5 ro vga=791". It understands
the vga command, however, not the root....

[Akuna]

So I am at the console after exiting the installer. What will be next? What command to give to get into a Salix installation?

As Mimosa pointed out it really depends of what you want to do exactly.

I suppose one of the first step would be to create some temporary directory and mount Salix partition on it so that you can access it.

Then, what do you need to do? What is the problem to fix?

[Shador]

At the start of the installation I tried: "huge-smp root=/dev/sda5 ro vga=791". It understands
the vga command, however, not the root....

This is probably almost the simplest method. Nevertheless, it's not clear what the problem is with this method on your side. [irony] It would be absolutely awesome if you could manage to remove even more information from that error description. Would make it a hell lot easier. [/irony] Sorry, but these undescriptive descriptions (<-- antithesis, you see the problem) have become relatively common and thus a bit annoying lately.
Probably the device you're passing as root is wrong. But that's just wild guessing from the few you provide.

Another method which requires more expertise involves booting from any binary-compatible linux system, then mounting the target partition, binding any possibly needed stuff like /proc, ... and finally chrooting to the target partition. Although sometimes just mounting might be enough. You've gotta have a fair understanding of linux and your system in that case.

The absolutely easiest but not always adequate solution is a livecd.

[Atip]

Well it seems that Salix install disk apparently does not have this feature of acting as a rescue disk.

Sometimes the MBR for whatever reason gets bugged and Lilo hangs on booting. So using a rescue disk
one can boot into ones box and with lillo fix MBR. I was used to this feature from
my previous Linux box.

This very moment I am in my Salix box into which I booted using the install disk of my previous
Linux box with the command "linux root=/dev/sda5 ro vga=791". This works as long as kernel
and /lib/modules are the same on the install CD and my box.

[mimosa]

Sounds like a bootloader problem. Try running lilosetup (or liloconfig) or else editing lilo.conf manually and then if I remember correctly lilo -v. You do not need to be running your Salix installation to do this. Those options go from more to less straightforward. Lilosetup you might need to install. But as I think Shador said, the easiest option of all is Live, and it may be enough.

[Atip]

Shador, I don't know how much simplier I can state my first line on this post:

Can a Salix install CD be used as a rescue disk for an installed version of Salix and if so how?

That is all I ask.

If it cannot then the answer would be a simple NO. If it can then please tell how. Why make things complicated?

If it cannot than may be that would be a suggestion to add on future releases.

BTW that I booted today into Salix using the install CD of my previous Linux distro was done
to make my point.

[gapan]

Atip, the answer to your simple question, is a simple yes. It's very simple, others pointed out exactly how and as mimosa noted, there is a message displayed at the boot prompt right after you boot the installation disk that explains this too. Once you get to the command line, it's a matter of knowing how to fix whatever it is that needs fixing (which you didn't mention). There is no magic big red "Rescue" button. From your posts, I'm getting the idea that you don't understand what "rescue disk" really means.

[Shador]

Shador, I don't know how much simplier I can state my first line on this post:

Can a Salix install CD be used as a rescue disk for an installed version of Salix and if so how?

As gapan said YES.

Any or at least almost any linux system can be used for this purpose. I mentioned 3 methods in my previous post.

This very moment I am in my Salix box into which I booted using the install disk of my previous
Linux box with the command "linux root=/dev/sda5 ro vga=791". This works as long as kernel
and /lib/modules are the same on the install CD and my box.

Yes, what do you expect. This is like normally booting the system just with a kernel from a different storage.

If you do not want to have that restriction, you can try the chroot method with a Install CD, but it has restrictions too like any solution. I outlined the method in my previous post. For lilo this method involves the following (I assume you're at the shell of a binary-compatible (especially 32/64bit for 32bit target and 64bit for 64bit target) linux system, which fulfills any existing restrictions I might not know of too.):

Code: Select all

mount /dev/sdXY /mnt
chroot /mnt
vi /etc/lilo.conf
lilo -v
exit

Replace XY whatever is right for your system. If the lilo.conf is right you can skip the line starting with vi.