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To enter recovery mode on an installed Ubuntu desktop, open GRUB, choose Advanced options for Ubuntu, select a kernel entry marked recovery mode, then choose Drop to root shell prompt. Before running a filesystem repair, identify the exact filesystem and device, protect important data, and make sure the target is unmounted if its checker requires it. The generic fsck command does not repair every filesystem.
Boot the installed Ubuntu system into recovery mode
Recovery mode loads basic services and provides a root command line. It is a repair environment for the installed system, not Ubuntu Core recovery mode, a live USB session, or a factory reset. The menu may differ on OEM systems.
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- Restart or power on the computer and watch for the firmware splash screen.
- Show the GRUB menu. On BIOS systems, hold Shift during startup. On UEFI systems, press Esc, possibly repeatedly. The timing depends on the machine; UEFI fast boot can make the menu difficult to catch. Canonical’s specific authd guide documents holding the right Shift key, but that is not a guarantee for every computer. See the Ubuntu Wiki recovery-mode instructions and Canonical’s recovery guide.
- In GRUB, select Advanced options for Ubuntu.
- Choose the entry for the kernel you want, with (recovery mode) in its name.
- In the recovery menu, select Drop to root shell prompt. This is a superuser shell: commands can change or delete system data.
Protect important data before a repair
A filesystem repair can change filesystem structures. Ubuntu’s desktop guidance warns that fragments that cannot be restored to valid form may be deleted or moved into the filesystem’s lost+found directory. If the data is too valuable to risk, make an image of the volume before attempting repair; an external drive or SSD with enough space can hold that image. This is a backup measure, not a repair tool. The Ubuntu desktop filesystem guidance also describes checking as non-modifying, but that description should not be assumed to cover every command-line checker or its options.
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Understand the root shell and its mount state
The Ubuntu Wiki says, “The root partition is mounted read-only.” That helps prevent accidental writes, but a repair that needs to change the root filesystem cannot be performed while it remains read-only. Only remount it read/write when the task requires writes:
mount -o remount,rw /If /home, /boot, /tmp, or another directory is on a separate partition, the Wiki documents mount --all after remounting root. Do not mount everything or enable networking just because you are repairing a filesystem; do so only when the specific task requires it. For repairs whose filesystem tool requires an unmounted target, ensure that target is not mounted before running the tool.
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Identify the filesystem before choosing a checker
Do not guess a device such as /dev/sdaN or /dev/nvme... and paste it into a repair command. First inspect the device and filesystem identity using tools available in your environment, and cross-check the intended volume against its mount configuration. The Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (Resolute) fsck manual says its target can be a device name, mount point, filesystem label, or UUID. It also explains that fsck dispatches to filesystem-specific checkers whose behavior and options are not standardized.
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- Confirm that the selected device, label, UUID, or mount point actually refers to that volume.
- Check whether the filesystem is mounted and whether its checker requires it to be unmounted for repair.
- Use that filesystem’s checker and its documented procedure; do not assume a generic
fsckcommand is sufficient.
Choose between a check and a repair
| Operation | What it means | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Filesystem check | Looks for filesystem problems; Ubuntu desktop guidance describes its graphical check as non-modifying and says it unmounts the filesystem if needed. | That description applies to the documented graphical check, not automatically to every command-line checker. |
| Repair | May write changes to filesystem structures to address detected damage. | Behavior depends on filesystem and checker options; data may be lost or moved to lost+found. |
On ext-family filesystems, the relevant checker is commonly e2fsck or a fsck.ext* tool. The available Ubuntu manual information here does not establish advanced flags or automatic “yes to all” options, so do not add them by guesswork.
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XFS needs an XFS-specific approach
Do not rely on fsck /dev/... to repair XFS. The Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble) fsck.xfs manual labels the wrapper “do nothing, successfully”: XFS performs recovery at mount time, while xfs_repair is the tool it points to for checking or repairing a damaged XFS filesystem. Follow the XFS-specific documentation rather than treating the wrapper as a repair command.
Interpret the generic fsck exit status carefully
The Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Resolute fsck manual lists these status values. When multiple filesystems are checked, the returned status is a bitwise OR of the individual statuses.
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| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
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| 4 | Errors left uncorrected |
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| 16 | Usage or syntax error |
| 32 | Checking canceled |
| 128 | Shared-library error |
A status value describes the checker’s outcome; it does not prove that files are recoverable or that every filesystem was checked. In particular, a generic successful fsck result is not evidence that an XFS filesystem was checked.
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