wubi - kernel panic - not syncing VFS...

[LuxY2k]

I think it's not a wubi problem.
I had this problem with Wubi on WinXP/Ubuntu9.10 last week. But after reading some forums I can recover my Ubuntu isntallation. All I have to do is to boot with LiveCD, mount the windowsXP partition, mount the root.img file and after it create a new initrd file in the boot dir. ("mkinitramfs -d /etc/initramfs-tools -o initrd_new.img",for example). After it, I have added this new initrd file to grub.conf in /boot/grub dir. And voilá, it can boot again.
But I think it's again not a good advertising for Linux. Who wants to deal with this **** after just a simple update? Damn. But I'm still in love with Ubuntu.

Lux/Y2k

[sudome]

Thats great! I need to try that.... too bad you have to lug around with a boot cd everytime you do a update.. or maybe one can make a script that builds a new initrd and adds it into grub everytime you do an update..hmm

[Dale61]

I've just finished re-installing 9.10 via WUBI, and the kernel that crashed is now working fine.

[ultimatevikrant]

It is because of the package initscripts_2.87dsf-4ubuntu12_i386 which is installed as an update. This changes the initrd scripts. So the solution is to revert back to the original initrd file in /boot. Mount the root.disk inside the live CD or Virtualbox(for those those who have only the iso) and copy the following file to the /boot after taking the backup of original initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic which is found in the /boot of the LiveCD or the VBox machine. This would solve the problem

[nrthguy]

Exactly same behaviour my end, with same circumstances as yous.
Trying on these on now but dont know if it can be of any help in our case:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1330725
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1330725

especially
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1317397

[rockfx01]

It is because of the package initscripts_2.87dsf-4ubuntu12_i386 which is installed as an update. This changes the initrd scripts. So the solution is to revert back to the original initrd file in /boot. Mount the root.disk inside the live CD or Virtualbox(for those those who have only the iso) and copy the following file to the /boot after taking the backup of original initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic which is found in the /boot of the LiveCD or the VBox machine. This would solve the problem

ultimatevikrant, thanks for the possible solution but I see no initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic file when i boot to my live 'cd' (actually a live USB drive image). I can mount the wubi root.disk and see the initrd.img in the /boot folder there, but I have nothing to replace it with Is there a backup on the root.disk somewhere?

Alternatively, can someone post a valid initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic file to download? I would love to actually get my system up and running again.

So much for getting any work done today... I did an update yesterday and my system worked find after suspend/resume, but after a full shutdown last night, well, you know the story.

[noisyscanner]

No fix then
Just booted up about 20 mins ago and had the same error as you guys.
So is the only method of fixing this re installing then.
Yes i use wubi.
Can I back up my stuff from ubuntu through xp though?
Anyway I still have the installer and I don't think I had an awful lot on there!
Bradley

[curpin]

OK, guys.
I am a newbie to Linux, but I had similar situation and followed your thread. I have started my own as well.
Anyway, let me please thank Lux/Y2k for his contribution because that have saved my installation.
Here is a bit of what I did to sort this problem:
I booted from the live CD and then did the following:
sudo mkdir /win
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /win

sudo mkdir /vdisk
sudo mount -o loop /win/ubuntu/disks/root.disk /vdisk
(this way disk.root can be browsed via /vdisk)

Then I had to switch the root
sudo mount -o bind /proc /vdisk/proc (not sure if this is necessary)
sudo mount -o bind /dev /vdisk/dev (not sure if this is necessary too)
sudo chroot /vdisk /bin/bash

now the root points to the damaged system.
mkinitramfs -d /etc/initramfs-tools -o initrd_new.img (this will create a file called initrd_new.img
depending where you have created this file, move it to /boot (of your damaged installation)
and then change this line in /boot/grub/grub.cfg
from:
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
to:
initrd /boot/initrd_new.img

And then reboot. Surprisingly this worked and saved me reinstalling the whole system.
With all respect to Ubuntu, a failed upgrade/installation/update should not break an operating system known for it's stability. So I hope this will be taken more seriously in the future.

[sudome]

I can confirm that the above method works well. Thanks Lux/Y2k!

[drxyzzy]

Lux/Y2k fix worked initially for me using Vista SP2 on Lenovo Y710 - thanks! But second or third time update ran and I tried to recover, boot ends at grub sh. I tried making new initrd image as well as several saved versions that had worked before but no joy.

I'm out of time on this one. Workaround is to switch from WUBI to VMware Player 3.0 which is free and also resolves ACPI problem with Ubuntu on Lenovo (doesn't see CD/DVD player unless ACPI is turned off).