Stuck in kernel panic, cannot rescue my system with anaconda

[Chempes Amt]

Hi everybody,

[I'm sorry if I make some mistakes while writing in English but it isn't my mother tongue. I'll try to explain my problem as easy as I can.]

My QubesOS is installed on an external SSD storage (I know it's not ideal but . In order to make my computer recognize Qubes, I have to copy manually the xen.cfg and the xen.efi files at every kernel update (as here : https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/uefi-troubleshooting/#boot-device-not-recognized-after-installing ).

The problem is that at last update I forgot to change the xen.efi file version and that now I'm stuck with a kernel panic every time I try to boot on my QubesOS.

I tried to rescue my OS with anaconda but I'm encountering two problems :

- whenever I choose my external storage for booting, there is no grub menu and Qubes boots automatically. So I cannot access any troubleshooting or rescue shell.

- I downloaded an iso image of Qubes in order to rescue my system but it seems that anaconda --rescue can't recognize any linux partitions because of this : https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/5609

- I tried by downloading an iso of Fedora 32 (server version) but anaconda couldn't recognize my QubesOS partitions.

Would anyone have any suggestions which could allow me to rescue my system, please ?

Thank you !

[donoban]

I will avoid anaconda and just try with some live distro (fedora [1] or
ubuntu e.g.). You should mount EFI and Qubes partitions if needed with
default file manager without problems.

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraLiveCD

[Chempes Amt]

Thank you so much for the answer and the suggestion, Donoban.
I booted on a live version of Fedora and I was able to mount my QubesOs SSD, which is really good. My problem now is that there is no more folders nor files in /boot/efi. I think that I need to regenerate the entire efi directory and I don't know how to do. Could you or someone else explain me how to do that ?
Here are files and directories of my /boot :

/boot

config-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
config-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
config-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
efi
grub
grub2
initramfs-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.img
initramfs-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.img
initramfs-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.img
symvers-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.gz
symvers-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.gz
symvers-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.gz
System.map-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
System.map-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
System.map-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
vmlinuz-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
vmlinuz-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
vmlinuz-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
xen-4.8.5-19.fc25.config
xen-4.8.5-19.fc25.gz
xen-4.8.gz

Thank you in advance and have a nice evening everybody !

> ----------------------------------------
> From: donoban <don...@riseup.net>
> Sent: Tue Jul 21 23:46:29 CEST 2020
> To: <qubes...@googlegroups.com>
> Subject: Re: [qubes-users] Stuck in kernel panic, cannot rescue my system with anaconda

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[Frédéric Pierret]

On 2020-07-22 20:23, 'Chempes Amt' via qubes-users wrote:
> Thank you so much for the answer and the suggestion, Donoban.
> I booted on a live version of Fedora and I was able to mount my QubesOs SSD, which is really good. My problem now is that there is no more folders nor files in /boot/efi. I think that I need to regenerate the entire efi directory and I don't know how to do. Could you or someone else explain me how to do that ?
> Here are files and directories of my /boot :
>

> */boot*

> config-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> config-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> config-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> efi
> grub
> grub2
> initramfs-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.img
> initramfs-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.img
> initramfs-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.img
> symvers-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.gz
> symvers-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.gz
> symvers-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.gz
> System.map-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> System.map-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> System.map-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> vmlinuz-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> vmlinuz-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> vmlinuz-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> xen-4.8.5-19.fc25.config
> xen-4.8.5-19.fc25.gz
> xen-4.8.gz
>
> Thank you in advance and have a nice evening everybody !

> **

Hi,
The convention here is not to top-post. Please scroll to the bottom of the message before you start typing. Or reply inline.

If you used default Qubes partitioning, you should have another partition containing what's in /boot/efi with xen.efi and conf.

Frédéric

[Chempes Amt]

> ----------------------------------------
> From: Frédéric Pierret <frederic...@qubes-os.org>
> Sent: Wed Jul 22 20:33:36 CEST 2020
> To: Chempes Amt <chemp...@mailfence.com>, donoban <don...@riseup.net>
> Cc: <qubes...@googlegroups.com>

> Subject: Re: [qubes-users] Stuck in kernel panic, cannot rescue my system with anaconda
>
>
>
>

> On 2020-07-22 20:23, 'Chempes Amt' via qubes-users wrote:

> > (...) My problem now is that there is no more folders nor files in /boot/efi. I think that I need to regenerate the entire efi directory and I don't know how to do. Could you or someone else explain me how to do that ?

> > Here are files and directories of my /boot :
> >
> > */boot*
> > config-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> > config-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> > config-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> > efi
> > grub
> > grub2
> > initramfs-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.img
> > initramfs-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.img
> > initramfs-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.img
> > symvers-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.gz
> > symvers-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.gz
> > symvers-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64.gz
> > System.map-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> > System.map-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> > System.map-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> > vmlinuz-4.19.107-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> > vmlinuz-4.19.125-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> > vmlinuz-4.19.128-1.pvops.qubes.x86_64
> > xen-4.8.5-19.fc25.config
> > xen-4.8.5-19.fc25.gz
> > xen-4.8.gz
> >
> >

> >> ----------------------------------------
> >> From: donoban <don...@riseup.net>
> >> Sent: Tue Jul 21 23:46:29 CEST 2020
> >> To: <qubes...@googlegroups.com>
> >> Subject: Re: [qubes-users] Stuck in kernel panic, cannot rescue my system with anaconda
> >>
> >>
> >> On 2020-07-21 21:26, 'Chempes Amt' via qubes-users wrote:
> >> >

> >> > (...) My QubesOS is installed on an external SSD storage (I know it's not ideal but . In order to make my computer recognize Qubes, I have to copy manually the xen.cfg and the xen.efi files at every kernel update (as here : https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/uefi-troubleshooting/#boot-device-not-recognized-after-installing ).

> >> >
> >> > The problem is that at last update I forgot to change the xen.efi file version and that now I'm stuck with a kernel panic every time I try to boot on my QubesOS.
> >> >

> >> > (...) - whenever I choose my external storage for booting, there is no grub menu and Qubes boots automatically. So I cannot access any troubleshooting or rescue shell.
> >> >
> >> > - (...) You should mount EFI and Qubes partitions if needed with

> >> default file manager without problems.
> >>
> >> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraLiveCD
> >>
> >> --
> >>
>

> (...) If you used default Qubes partitioning, you should have another partition containing what's in /boot/efi with xen.efi and conf.
>
> Frédéric
>
>
Good morning everybody,

I'm back from holidays and I have some days left to restore my QubesOS system before I come back to work. As Frédéric suggested, I tried to find a separate partition containing xen.efi and conf files but I couldn't find it. The only partitions I found are the virtual partitions of my vms, their backup partitions, and a big main partition with no file in /boot/efi . I think that it's due to the fact that my QubesOS is installed on an external SSD storage.
Would anyone have a suggestion on how to recover /boot/efi directory or should I do a clean install ?

Thank you a lot !
Chempes