Rescue mode doesn't work

User Support
1

Since Qubes turned into Arch after the last update and bricked itself, I tried to rescue it. Unfortunately, after booting from my Qubes 4.3 USB stick, the passphrase for disk encryption didn’t work. I don’t know why, but I suspect it’s because the keyboard doesn’t work properly in this mode and uses the wrong layout.

What should I do? Isn’t there a second partition or something similar, like on Android, that contains the previous OS version and makes it unbrickable?

2

the passphrase for disk encryption didn’t work

Do you get a “wrong passphrase” message or something similar, or do you just get a stuck/black screen?

What should I do? Isn’t there a second partition or something similar, like on Android, that contains the previous OS version and makes it unbrickable?

Second partition, no, but there should be older kernel versions installed that could help.

3

No, there was no message saying that. It just asked me for my passphrase multiple times.

Does using an older kernel fix the problem? If so, how can I repair the newer one I was using before? As far as I know, I need to use the latest kernel because it is a requirement for my Qubes certified device.

4

Hi Dominik

When the problem description is:

then it is hard to guess if booting an older kernel from the menu will fix the problem. :wink:

But booting the older kernel from the menu, should use the same layout for the keyboard, as you are used to have - so it’s worth a try. :slight_smile:

:slight_smile:

5

Using an older kernel didn’t fix the problem. The VMs still cannot start and say that something is wrong with libxenlight.

6

So I tried to choose the “provided by qube” kernel and got sys-usb and sys-net to work, but the other VMs still don’t start. I was also not able to update everything, since the TemplateVMs also won’t start. I was able to start sys-firewall and sys-whonix by using an older kernel (6.18.15-1.fc41) for them. I did the same for all templates and then was able to make updates in their terminals manually. The latest kernel, 9.19.5-1.fc41, still doesn’t work, including for the AppVMs. Is there a way to fix this?

7

Hi Dominik

I believe that:

and

are 2 different problems … so booting with an older kernel resolved your first problem (disk encryption not working), just to reveal a new?

Does your dom0:/boot/ have all the files for the 6.19.5-1 kernel? - eg: What is the output for running:

ls -al /boot/*6.19.5-1*

in dom0?

:slight_smile: