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I'm facing a serious issue with my Kali Linux installation after running sudo apt upgrade. Here's what's happening:

  1. After booting, I get the error: Oh no! Something has gone wrong. A problem has occurred and the system can’t recover.
  2. When I try to access Recovery Mode (from GRUB) and select root (drop to root shell), I just get a blank screen with a blinking underscore (_) in the top-left corner. I can't see a login prompt or any text.
  3. What I've tried so far:
    • Booting into older kernels (available in GRUB) — same issue.
    • Switching TTYs with Ctrl + Alt + F1-F6 — all show blank screens.
    • Editing GRUB to add nomodeset — no change.
  4. I don't have a live USB right now, so I need a way to fix this without one.

Could someone please guide me on how to either:

  • Netboot Kali from GRUB without a USB?
  • Access logs or rescue the system another way?

Thank you in advance for any help!

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    It might be quicker to reinstall? (I assume you're not trying to use Kali as a daily driver.) Commented Aug 24 at 16:33
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    Are you to login via ssh over the network from another machine? While it is for a different distribution, AlmaLinux update from 8.8 to 8.9 broke desktop login is my notes how with Alma Linux used ssh to investigate and fix a On no! Something has gone wrong A problem has occurred and the system can't recover. error after an update. Commented Aug 25 at 11:38

1 Answer 1

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According to the Kali website running apt upgrade is not how to upgrade your system. It should be apt full-upgrade. Big difference. See https://www.kali.org/docs/general-use/updating-kali/

If you're at the attempted graphical login screen, use CtrlAltF3 to reach a terminal session and login there.

Another option might be to modify the kernel boot line to force maintenance mode by adding init=/bin/sh, but I haven't tested this on a Kali distribution.

Failing that you should look at using some sort of rescue environment.

Once you're at a shell prompt, you may need to bring up networking (possibly manually with ip addr and ip route). Then run the proper commands to see if that will pick up from where you left off.

sudo -s
apt update
apt full-upgrade
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    note that the error message OP sees is a gnome-shell error message. This might be due to some incompatible settings, gnome-shell extensions installed etc. Kali is a rolling release distro with little guarantees on longevitity of installations: As Kali is a rolling release, once in a while issues will sneak into rolling and may break a tool that is needed. That might totally have happened here. (and is one of the reasons why you wouldn't want to use Kali as a daily driver.) Commented Aug 24 at 17:21
  • @MarcusMüller yes, I'm aware of that, thank you. Are you suggesting it should be added to the answer? Commented Aug 24 at 17:49
  • I think the answer as is is good Commented Aug 24 at 20:58
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    use CtrlAltF3 to reach a terminal session - did you see the part of the question where OP states that Switching TTYs with Ctrl + Alt + F1-F6 — all show blank screens.? Commented Aug 24 at 22:03
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    "I used Kali as my daily driver" - don't do that. Read Kali's own documentation at kali.org/docs/introduction/should-i-use-kali-linux particularly, "it is NOT a recommended distribution if you’re […] looking for a general-purpose Linux desktop distribution […]" Commented Aug 25 at 18:08

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