# [SOLVED] Ubuntu boot fails with 'No Init found'. How to proceed?



## XEyedBear (Jun 25, 2008)

My system has failed to boot with a problem which is beyond my ability to understand:

After selecting an option in the grub menu, a lot of messages flash past the screen (which appear to be a trace) and end showing the following (partial example):

```
Killed
mount: mounting /dev on /root/dev failed: No such file or directory
mount: mounting /sys on /root/sys failed: No such file or directory
mount: mounting /proc on /root/proc failed: No such file or directory
Target filesystem doesn't have requested /sbin/init.
No init found. Try passing init= bootarg.


....... built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help'........

(initramfs)

I tried the recovery boot option - same result.

I see there is quite a long thread on this very topic on the Ubuntu forum, but having tried everything in that thread and not found a solution, I have run out of ideas, after devoting about 18 hours out of the last 24 researching into this problem..

I have also followed the advice in the Ubuntu Community Grub2 rescue guide, but boot still fails, with the message that either /dev/sda5 or /dev/sdc5 (where my '/' is located) do not exist.

Can I get some advice, please?
```


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## hal8000 (Dec 23, 2006)

*Re: Ubuntu boot fails with 'No Init found'. How to proceed?*

Can you boot with the Ubuntu CD in live mode, (doesnt need a hard drive at this point).

Open a terminal and type


sudo fdisk -l

This will list partitions.
What has happened is that partitions have been moved, altered or deleted, prior to this error message was everything ok, or did you try any new commands or software?


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## XEyedBear (Jun 25, 2008)

*Re: Ubuntu boot fails with 'No Init found'. How to proceed?*

Thanks for advice.

I finally discovered the cause of the problem: some sort of corruption, to do with empty space, in the partition containing '/'. After much messing about I found that a stand-alone copy of Gparted was able to check and correct the partition (which was so quick as to be instantaneous), after which the system booted as if nothing had happened!

It says something about the vulnerability and complexity of Linux such that this simple filesystem error was capable of completely stopping my use of the system, but without either notifying me that it had happened or telling me what was wrong. It also required about 36 hours of investigation and trial/error to find a solution, which turned out to be elementary. It's not a wise investment of time at my age and makes me question the wisdom of my decision to try to migrate away from Windows. 

I used to criticise Windows for having a thin layer of usability over a deep layer of complexity, made worse by weak design and even weaker development. In contrast, the layer of usability in Linux seems to be mono-molecular, the underlying implementation genome-like in its complexity.

Who understands Linux sound, for example? Don't get me started....


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## hal8000 (Dec 23, 2006)

*Re: Ubuntu boot fails with 'No Init found'. How to proceed?*

Ok, glad you were able to sort this can you mark as [solved] please.


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