Rescue and Emergency Modes in Linux Mint 20 and Ubuntu 20.04

Rescue mode in the Linux operating system is used in situations where your system is damaged due to malware or you have forgotten your password, which prevents you from accessing your system. Basically, this mode allows you to troubleshoot and fix these problems so that you can usually boot in standard mode afterwards. On the other hand, the emergency mode in Linux is especially helpful when the rescue mode is not necessarily available and you still need to repair your system. In this article, we will show you how to use rescue and emergency mode in Linux Mint 20.

Access Rescue Mode in Linux Mint 20 and Ubuntu 20.04

For booting your Linux Mint 20 in the rescue mode, you will have to go through the following series of steps:

Step 1: Displaying the Grub Options

For displaying the Grub Options or the Grub Menu, all you have to do is to press and hold the Shift key while booting your Linux Mint 20 system and you will automatically be taken to the Grub Menu as shown in the following image:

Now you need to press ‘e’ for being able to edit the GNU Grub file as highlighted in the image shown above.

Step 2: Modifying the GNU Grub File for Accessing the Rescue Mode

Once you have pressed ‘e’ and the GNU Grub file is opened in front of you, you need to scroll down a bit and try to locate the line that begins with “linux”. As soon as you manage to find that line, just append “system.unit=rescue.target” at the end of the specified line. This is also highlighted in the image shown below:

When you have made these changes, you need to boot your system once again so that it can boot in the rescue mode this time. For doing that, you can either press Ctrl + X or F-10 key as highlighted in the image shown above.

Step 3: Entering the Rescue Mode

After performing the steps mentioned above, you will be there in the rescue mode. Here, you can perform all the desired troubleshooting steps and once you are satisfied with everything, you can easily reboot your system by typing in “systemctl reboot” for the newly made changes to take effect. However, for this particular case, since our concern was only to show you the method of entering the rescue mode, therefore, we have not performed any troubleshooting. So, we can simply type “systemctl default” or “exit” to boot in the default mode once again. To verify whether you have successfully entered the rescue mode or not, you can take a look at the following image:

Access Emergency Mode in Linux Mint 20 and Ubuntu 20.04

For booting your Linux Mint 20 in the emergency mode, you will have to go through the following series of steps:

Step # 1: Displaying the Grub Options

For displaying the Grub Options or the Grub Menu, all you have to do is to press and hold the Shift key while booting your Linux Mint 20 system and you will automatically be taken to the Grub Menu as shown in the following image:

Now you need to press ‘e’ for being able to edit the GNU Grub file as highlighted in the image shown above.

Step 2: Modifying the GNU Grub File for Accessing the Emergency Mode

Once you have pressed ‘e’ and the GNU Grub file is opened in front of you, you need to scroll down a bit and try to locate the line that begins with “linux”. As soon as you manage to find that line, just append “system.unit=emergency.target” at the end of the specified line. This is also highlighted in the image shown below:

When you have made these changes, you need to boot your system once again so that it can boot in the emergency mode this time. For doing that, you can either press Ctrl + X or F-10 key as highlighted in the image shown above.

Step 3: Entering the Emergency Mode

After performing the steps mentioned above, you will be there in the emergency mode. Here, you can perform all the desired troubleshooting steps and once you are satisfied with everything, you can easily reboot your system by typing in “systemctl reboot” for the newly made changes to take effect. However, for this particular case, since our concern was only to show you the method of entering the emergency mode, therefore, we have not performed any troubleshooting. So, we can simply type “systemctl default” or “exit” to boot in the default mode once again. To verify whether you have successfully entered the emergency mode or not, you can take a look at the following image:

Conclusion

By going through the two methods discussed in this article, we can easily boot into the rescue mode and the emergency mode in Linux Mint 20 and hence we can conveniently repair our malfunctioning systems.