Linux – Boot fails after reinstall GRUB

arch linuxbootgrub2

I unfortunately had to install Windows 8.1 in my computer and after doing so, I tried to reinstall GRUB following the next steps:

  1. Booted with the Live CD
  2. Mounted my system partition:

    mount /dev/sda5 /mnt
    
  3. Switched to the mounted partition with arch-chroot:

    arch-chroot /mnt
    
  4. Reinstalled GRUB:

    grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck /dev/sda
    grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
    

Ok, I got GRUB back, Windows is working normally, but when I try to boot Arch, I get a message like:

Welcome to emergency mode! After login in, type "journalctl -xb" to view system logs, "systemctl reboot" to reboot, "systemctl default" to try again to boot in default mode.

When I log in and type journalctl -xb, I get more than 2000 lines, but the only noticeable error is this:

systemd[456]: Failed at step EXEC spawning /bin/plymouth: No such file or directory
Subject: Process /bin/plymouth coud not be executed and failed
Defined by: systemd
[...]

In fact, there's no such file on /bin directory (/bin/plymouth).
I'm about to reformat, because I need this computer working.

How and why does this happen?

Best Answer

Turns out, the error description had nothing to do with what was going on.

The problem is that the configuration made by ntfs-3g to my old windows partition was invalidated when I installed another windows version.

I ran lsblk and could notice that the windows partition wasn't mounted. I've tried mount it and ran systemctl default to try to boot again in default mode and everything worked just fine.

I went to ntfs-3g, it has detected a new partition on /dev/sda2 (windows partition), reconfigured it and now my system boots normally.

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