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Re: cannot boot into Debian after transferring hard drive to another desktop computer



On Fri, Mar 05, 2021 at 11:12:35PM +0800, kaye n wrote:
> Hello Friends!
> 
> Desktop Computer One has a hard drive that is multiboot:  Windows 7,
> Debian, and another linux operating system which I will call linux-x.
> 
> It seems that the MOTHERBOARD of Desktop Computer One has finally given out
> (wild guess only, as even a linux live USB can't function properly).  I
> took out the multiboot hard drive and put it in another desktop computer
> which I call Desktop Computer Two.
> 
> Now I can boot into linux-x just fine with Desktop Computer Two.  I'm using
> linux-x to type and send this email.  I have not tried the windows 7 yet.
> 
> However I cannot boot into Debian (I believe it is Debian 10).  I get this
> message:
> 
> -----------------
> You are in emergency mode. After logging in, type "journalctl -xb" to view
> system logs, "systemctl reboot" to reboot, "systemctl default" or "exit"
> to boot into default mode.
> 
> Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked.
> See sulogin(8) man page for more details.
> 
> Press Enter to continue.
> -------------------
> 
> If I press enter, I reach the Debian logo with the circling animation but
> after a while I get the above message again.
> 
> If it matters, the UUID of both / and /home partitions of the Debian system
> remain the same; I compared the info provided by Gparted and the /etc/fstab
> in the Debian system.
> 
> Thank you for your time.
> kaye

OK. 

* In what order did you install Debian / Linux-x / Windows on the original
  machine?

* Are the two motherboards booting the same way - was one booting legacy/MBR 
  and is the other booting using UEFI?

* What happens if you boot into rescue mode for the Debian / boot using boot
  media and use rescue mode?

If you can boot using rescue media, say, and chroot into the Debian partition,
you can use the option to re-install GRUB

Windows 7

If you can't boot into Windows 7 - use the original install media to boot and 
boot from the DVD

One suggestion online is to use System Recovery Options and use Startup Repair
or a more complex route via Windows Commmand Prompt.

Ideally, you should not now be using Windows 7 (and, in fact, should not be 
using Windows at all - but that's another rant :-) )

All the very best, as ever,

Andy C.



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