Ubuntu Will Not Boot /sbin/init Permission Denied

[Prometheus_3]

Hello,

 

After a recent upgrade of ownCloud I ran a script to set the permissions.

 

The script was supposed to be this:

 

#!/bin/bash

ocpath='/srv/owncloud'

htuser='www-data'

htgroup='www-data'

rootuser='root' # On QNAP this is admin

 

find ${ocpath}/ -type f -print0 | xargs -0 chmod 0640

find ${ocpath}/ -type d -print0 | xargs -0 chmod 0750

 

chown -R ${rootuser}:${htgroup} ${ocpath}/

chown -R ${htuser}:${htgroup} ${ocpath}/apps/

chown -R ${htuser}:${htgroup} ${ocpath}/config/

chown -R ${htuser}:${htgroup} ${ocpath}/data/

chown -R ${htuser}:${htgroup} ${ocpath}/themes/

 

chown ${rootuser}:${htgroup} ${ocpath}/.htaccess

chown ${rootuser}:${htgroup} ${ocpath}/data/.htaccess

 

chmod 0644 ${ocpath}/.htaccess

chmod 0644 ${ocpath}/data/.htaccess

 

I pasted the script directly from their website and I missed a portion of the start.

#!/bin/bash -- Whole line was missing

ocpath='/var/www/owncloud' -- I missed the o at the start of this line so the variable wasnt properly defined.

 

After this script was executed I immediately lost access to su commands and I recieved "Permission denied" when attempting to change directory.

 

I foolishly rebooted the server and now it wont boot. I get the error

run-init : /sbin/init: Permission denied

 

It is currently running in a VM.I have been able to access the installation disc and selected Rescue a Broken System.

 

This is the only access I have to the server to try and repair it. Unfortunately I am at a dead end.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Prometheus_3

[koryo]

Ouch that looks nasty! - Basic question first - I don't suppose that since this is a VM and you were running an upgrade, you took a snapshot you could now revert back to?

[Dodgex1]

Whoops, / Change the permissions of all the things!

 

If you run a live CD then mount the file system from your VM can you browse it with the CLi/Nautilus (Think its nautilus on Ubuntu I don't use ubu - the file explorer) on your LiveCD?

[mats]

If I execute "find ${ocpath}/ -type f -print0" without first defining ocpath, find returns everything. You are then chmod'ing everything to 640 which makes all your commands non-executable.

 

When you then try to use sudo (or chmod or chown), none of these are executable.

 

There are a load of files which need to be made executable for the system to run - this will be a major job. If your /home drive is on a separate partition, it might be better to re-install. Good luck!

[mats]

Looking at /usr/bin and /bin, pretty much everything is executable. You might get somewhere with using that boot disc and then executing "chmod u+x /usr/bin" and the same for /bin .

[Geoff]

recover from backup is probably quickest.

[NokiX]

recover from backup is probably quickest.

 

Yep I would have to agree with that as the amount of time to try and correct all the changes would be huge.

[koryo]

Alternatively if you don't have a backup, trying a re-install from the install medium over your current installation without formatting -should- over-write the mis-configured system files to re-set their permissions.

 

<- Shot in the dark, haven't ever tried this myself, suggested by a friend of mine who went through a similar process previously. Might be worth a play with. Snapshot first!

[CyberNerd]

I'd go for a recovery personally.

If this isn't an option I would take it offline and in recovery mode chmod777 so that it boots, then reinstall a similar machine and use rsync/ssh to re-sync the permissions without deleting any files.

 

edit: if you can NFS mount the re-installed version, assuming the UID's and GID's match, you could use chmod --reference to match the files.

Edited October 30, 2015 by CyberNerd

[Prometheus_3]

Hello,

 

I apologise for not replying sooner. There are no backup options available. I would have performed the backup before the upgrade however I didnt have the storage to take a snapshot of a 2TB server.

 

Unfortunately I am not an expert with Linux so I am uncertain how to chmod 777 the appropriate partition. I have another Ubuntu server I could potentially rsync/ssh the permisisons from, however I do not know to to perform an rsync over SSH.

 

It might be simpler to mount the partition in recovery and copy the config files to another server and reinstall Ubuntu over the exisiting installation.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Prometheus_3

[CyberNerd]

Hello,

 

I apologise for not replying sooner. There are no backup options available. I would have performed the backup before the upgrade however I didnt have the storage to take a snapshot of a 2TB server.

 

Unfortunately I am not an expert with Linux so I am uncertain how to chmod 777 the appropriate partition. I have another Ubuntu server I could potentially rsync/ssh the permisisons from, however I do not know to to perform an rsync over SSH.

 

It might be simpler to mount the partition in recovery and copy the config files to another server and reinstall Ubuntu over the exisiting installation.

 

Although I suggested rsync earlier, I don't think it's possible to rsync just permissions without copying files.

I think what you should do:

sudo chmod 777 / -R

apt-get update && apt-get upgrade

'dpkg --get-selections > listofpackages.txt' (to get a list of installed apps on the broken system)

Install the same version of ubuntu onto a NEW machine

run "dpkg --set-selections < listofpackages.txt' on the new machine to give it the same package list as the broken one

apt-get update && apt-get upgrade

mount the now machine from inside the old one. (or vice versa)

recursively run chmod --reference (new filesystem) (old filesystem)

 

I think this might work but I'd get someone else to check it first.