Q4OS Forum

Durhammer

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 230

Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

Okay, long story short, I've been bad and installed other distros -- both Arch-based, and so both using the Calamares installer. I should have learned from the first one, where the CachyOS install on my external SSD both wouldn't start and wouldn't let me get into the previously primary distro, MX Linux 23 Fluxbox edition (under which I'm using right now). That issue is described in this ticket, not that you need to follow it.

Then I ran the Artix Linux installer to replace a small partition on my internal SSD (which also hosts another MX Linux distro as well as Q4OS and Sparky). Now, while I still can use the internal SSD's MX Linux distro and the new Artix distro, I cannot get either Q4OS or Sparky to come up.

When I try starting Q4OS, depending on the route, I sometimes get an error about "can't find crypto" something. But in any case, it then churns a little bit and then falls into a BusyBox session that has text along these lines (can't capture, sorry):

Starting systemd-udevd
Begin: Loading essential drives ... done.
Begin: Running /scripts/init-premount

BusyBox (blah blah blah)

(initramfs)

Don't know what commands here can get me out of this mess. If I enter "exit" it throws a new message about giving up waiting for a disk, and spits out a UUID= string that it says doesn't exist. (It does, however -- it's the Q4OS partition, and I CAN mount it from either of the MXes).

I really, really, like Q4OS and my customizations, and would like to get back in to use it. Between it and this MX Linux F-box edition, they are my favorites!

Now, ummm...Sparky, I don't care as much about and probably wouldn't get any help on their forum. But Q4OS folks -- HELP!!!

Last edited by Durhammer (2025-08-04 18:59)

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,958

Website

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

It's really difficult to tackle with such type of failure. The help would need to be quite interactive. Unfortunately we are now very busy with the Q4OS-6 release.

As the starting point we would boot live media, try to chroot to Q4OS filesystem and run:
$ sudo update-grub
$ sudo update-initramfs -u

Efi or legacy Bios hardware ?

Durhammer

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 230

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

Thanks, @q4osteam! You guys (I assume there's more than one of you?) are great! I understand the business situation -- been there, done that (35+ years tech support for large software company).

I don't suppose that command can be done from a different distro, probably installed on the same SSD? (Though luckily, I still DO have my Q4OS USB stick!)

The laptop is my old Samsung (not exactly sure when I got it, but the date shown in inxi output for the BIOS is 2011). It came with Win7 installed (no Winders at all on it now), and the SSD is MBR-only (the max 4 real partitions, but one of these is an extended partition with four inner partitions, one being Q4OS). The BIOS DOES have UEFI "enabled" but only the external SSD (I'm using MX on it right now) is configured for EFI.

This really sux.

Durhammer

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 230

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

Hot dang! Thanks, @q4osteam -- Q4OS back up online! I got enough hints on all the mount commands and such to do, wrote 'em down, and then fired up the only "live" USB stick I had -- MX FB (the Q4OS stick was install only) -- and after some stumbling tries, got it to work. YAY!

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,958

Website

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

Great. Now we would recommend you to clone your system as it is really wearifuly configured. There is an S4-snapshot application available for Q4OS, so you can clone your system to a USB flash drive. It is a complete backup tool with added value for booting it live from USB. If for some reason you should lose Q4OS, you can easily install it back from this snapshot in the exactly the same state. See more info about S4-snapshot https://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4510

You will need to run S4-snapshot from Trinity or Plasma session.

Durhammer

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 230

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

Sweet! Thanks, @q4osteam!

I'll use it to replace my existing Q4OS installer stick, since (1) that's all it does and (2) new releases being worked on. Not only that, but now I WOULD have a bootable live system. Cool!

You've been quite helpful!

Durhammer

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 230

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

Okay, @q4osteam, I THINK I got the S4-snapshot downloaded. Might have even gotten installed (the .qsi extension seems to me to be a clever pay on .msi !). But how is it invoked? Where is it?

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,958

Website

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

Main menu > system > s4-snapshot
or run in terminal:
$ s4-snapshot

Durhammer

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 230

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

Thanks again @q4osteam! I didn't have it installed after all. I needed to fire up Thunar and d-click the file to get it installed (and yes, it still looks like a Windows thing! ).

I did fire it up but don't understand how to use it (yet) and apparently it won't overwrite a bootable USB stick, so I abandoned the effort for now. I also didn't see where it was going to create anything bootable, but I simply might not know about how it works.

Do I need a completely blank, formatted, writable USB stick to do this? Also, I couldn't really guess what the compression outcome would be. It says my Q4OS system size is ~43 GB but most of my SanDisk sticks I use are 16 GB. I'm just guessing it will fit, but if the tool could estimate it ahead of time, that would sure help prevent failure when it runs outta room....

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,958

Website

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

The application only creates bootable .iso file, what is in fact a clone of your system. You need to burn the created .iso on a USB stick, then you can remove the file. You need at minimum the same size of stick as .iso size is. Use regular Linux tools to write the .iso file to the USB stick. It's also possible to use Q4OS imager.

Durhammer

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 230

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

Thanks, that clears up a lot -- I'll give it a shot! (Sorry for the bad poetry!)

Durhammer

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 230

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

Thanks again and again, @q4osteam. S4-snapshot worked just fine, and the resulting .iso file (12.5 GB) should fit just fine on one of my 16 GB SanDisk Cruser USBs.

Not sure what apps there are here to burn the ISO onto the USB, but I can always do it in MX Linux (or I can see what's available when I log back in to TDE, maybe I just can't see some available utilities).

crosscourt

Banned

Registered: 2017-05-07

Posts: 2,706

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

@Durhammer, you can use Q4OS imager thats in the software center and theres always Etcher, look here, https://etcher.balena.io

Last edited by crosscourt (2025-08-06 03:50)

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,958

Website

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

You can also use terminal commands "cp" or "dd", but take really double double care not to rewrite your data, see https://www.q4os.org/dqa011.html#install.1

Durhammer

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 230

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

I used the same tool i've been using for ages -- the MX Live USB Maker. Worked just fine.

Now I have a big backup/clone of my Q4OS system with all my tweaks (and probably carried along some blubber that I didn't need but didn't purge ahead of time).

So I apologize for more questions, but if I DO ever use it, whether I need to or not, does it only work on the same partition it was pulled from (I'm thinking of fstab stuff, for ex.)? Are there any other concerns when using it to restore the system?

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,958

Website

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

Did you backup user accounts too ? if so and if you decide to install from this backup at any time, you will go through the normal installation with the Calamares installer. The target system does not need to have any partitions, it can be different hardware with different disks. The cloned system will be installed exactly as it is, except for the partitions.

Durhammer

Member

Registered: 2025-01-28

Posts: 230

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

Thanks, @q4osteam! I believe I didn't limit what the snapshot kept, so I assume that included the user accounts, no? The reason I asked about the partition stuff had to do with the /etc/fstab having a UUID root mount entry. Wondered what happens with that....

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,958

Website

Re: Really need help getting Q4OS to start back up [SOLVED]

... I believe I didn't limit what the snapshot kept, so I assume that included the user accounts, no?

So yes, it did complete backup including user accounts.