Need Help?

Q: When I boot the Rescuezilla USB stick after the language selection screen it is starting up but consistently reaches a blank screen rather than the desktop.

If the Rescuezilla USB stick fails to boot to the desktop, try instead choosing the 'Graphical Fallback Mode' item from the boot menu (after selecting a language).

Graphical Fallback Mode at least provides a low-resolution Rescuezilla environment on systems where the graphics drivers may not be available. Another alternative is to try the Rescuezilla v2.5.1 version based on other Ubuntu variants rather than the default Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble) version. You can find this download at the bottom of the GitHub release page under the 'Assets' section.

Q: Does Rescuezilla support restoring and cloning to smaller disk? Eg, 1000GB HDD to 500GB SSD

Restoring to smaller disks requires a workaround that first uses the GParted Partition Editor to first resize the source disk. If you are not familiar with GParted, consider creating an unmodified backup image first and be extremely careful.

I have determined a pathway to add automatically restoring to partitions smaller than original (task #18), but it won't be completed for some time.

Q: I am having trouble connecting to a SMB/CIFS (Samba) network shared folder

A: First make sure the server field has the correct UNC path (eg "\\fileserver\Users\fred\MySharedFolder"), username and password.

Some network shares may not support the default SMB2+ protocol. For such devices you can try '1.0' in the version field. This is often the case with NAS devices and older versions of Windows.

Please make sure you're using the latest version of Rescuezilla, because there has been improvements around shared folders.

Q: I restored my Linux backup using Rescuezilla. It boots past the GRUB bootloader fully, but the Linux boot gets stuck at "Rescue Mode" login prompt. How do I fix this?

A: For modern systemd Linux environments (such as Ubuntu 18.04), the partitions listed in the /etc/fstab file must be present for the system to complete booting. This means if the hard drive environment does not match exactly, the system will enter Rescue Mode until the /etc/fstab is modified to only refer to the drives which are present in the system.

Fixing a machine in this situation requires logging in at the Rescue Mode prompt, remounting the root partition as read/write, modifying /etc/fstab to remove the line of the partition which is no longer present, then remounting the root partition as read-only before hard rebooting the machine. There are plenty of guides on the internet to help fix this particular issue. If you need further help, post on the support forum and you will receive detailed assistance for as long as it takes to fix your issues.

Please note, in some older Linux distributions it's not the partition's UUID that is used by /etc/fstab but the partition's device node (eg. /dev/sdc1). This means the Linux boot is expecting a hard drive connnected to an identical numbered SATA port! But don't worry, any problems can be resolved by modifying /etc/fstab. As mentioned, if you need more help please ask for it on the support forum.

Q: How do I install new software packages?

A: It is possible for advanced users to use the command-line to install software from Ubuntu (remember to first run 'apt-get update'). However any newly installed software lives only in your computer's main memory so will disappear when you reboot your computer (see next question). Also on machines without much RAM, please always double-check you have enough free space before installing anything.

Q: Can I modify Rescuezilla to save my settings between reboots?

A: No, not easily. The Rescuezilla USB stick operates in a read-only mode and loads a “nonpersistent” environment into your computer's memory. This environment disappear after you reboot your computer, along with any modifications you have made. Some users have requested Rescuezilla switch to a “persistent” environment. This feature request is tracked by task #8. Please support Rescuezilla by contributing $1/month on the crowdfunding website Patreon to support the implementation of this feature (and many others).

Q: I want to install Rescuezilla in a different Linux distribution

A: For advanced Linux users who don't want to use the 1 gigabyte Rescuezilla live ISO image, there is a 300 kilobyte deb package available which can be installed on any modern Ubuntu (and likely, Debian and Linux Mint) environment. But for many users it will be easier to just use the official ISO image.

Q: Can I use the same Rescuezilla USB drive with many computers simultaneously?

A: Yes. Select the 'Load USB into RAM' menu item and wait for the system to boot before removing the USB drive. Because this loads all of Rescuezilla into memory, please note the minimum RAM requirements are higher.