April 7, 20251 yr My unraid flash drive wont boot after a power outage. I tried using backup from the Unraid Connect but it fails and wont boot at all. Should I be doing something to make it bootable? I also tried a backup from the CA backup app but that just wont copy the zip to the flash drive due to file size difference? So I am totally stuck how to proceed. How do I get my server back working? What other options do I have to get this back up.?
April 7, 20251 yr Community Expert 6 minutes ago, dOM152 said: My unraid flash drive wont boot after a power outage. I tried using backup from the Unraid Connect but it fails and wont boot at all. Should I be doing something to make it bootable? I also tried a backup from the CA backup app but that just wont copy the zip to the flash drive due to file size difference? So I am totally stuck how to proceed. How do I get my server back working? What other options do I have to get this back up.? so you have a zip backup of the flash drive. You will need a new flash drive... See docs: https://docs.unraid.net/connect/flash-backup/#restoring-a-flash-backup
April 7, 20251 yr Author 9 minutes ago, bmartino1 said: so you have a zip backup of the flash drive. You will need a new flash drive... See docs: https://docs.unraid.net/connect/flash-backup/#restoring-a-flash-backup Just tried with a brand new usb still wont boot.
April 7, 20251 yr Community Expert and you did all th steps: As the unriad connect may be better.. appdata back pulgin works. but unraid connect usualy has a more uptodate version... 1Log in to Unraid Connect. 2Select Details. 3Click Generate flash backup from the Flash backup tile. 4This will combine your OS configuration data with the OS release version you were running and put them both into a zip file that can be used with our flash creator tool to restore the backup to a new flash device. 5After the backup has been generated, you can click Download flash backup to obtain it. 6Use the Unraid USB Flash Creator to restore your backup to a new flash drive. So you have a new flash drive and you unziped the conetens onto a flash drive? There should be a make bootable script. Yes you need to run this. On your motherboard you may need to enter bios and update cmos time and disable secure boot. by default unraid will boot in non uefi mode. TO make sure the flash drive is good and properly restored, I would recommend you run the unraid make flash program. Review: https://docs.unraid.net/legacy/FAQ/usb-flash-drive-preparation/ and https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/manual/changing-the-flash-device/ using the software found here: https://unraid.net/download and point to your flash drive for a restore.
April 7, 20251 yr Author I've been using the Unraid Creator tool to create the flash drive from the backup. (A brand new Samsung flash drive) Why do I need to change BIOS settings when the server has been working perfectly until the flash drive failure. I've now tried everything I know to get this to boot. Been into the BIOS and changed Secure boot etc. but it still wont boot at all . I'm pretty to new to Unraid so this is a VERY steep learning curve for something that should be a straightforward forward fix. Have I now lost my licence because I cant start this server? How xccan I proceed please. I'm at my wits end with this .
April 7, 20251 yr Community Expert Please read the docs... Review: https://docs.unraid.net/connect/flash-backup/#restoring-a-flash-backup and https://docs.unraid.net/legacy/FAQ/usb-flash-drive-preparation/ and https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/manual/changing-the-flash-device/ The issue your fighting in the backup comes down to how you originally were running unraid example as noted here: and how syslinux is called to boot unraid bzroot This tells me that your syslinx in the backup is not set correctly and that you are not booting in UEFI mode... as explained in the docs and how to fix... https://docs.unraid.net/legacy/FAQ/usb-flash-drive-preparation/#if-the-flash-will-not-boot-read-over-the-following-tips by default unraid doesn't enable the UEFI boot... When making trail flash drive I often have to use windows to run the make boot script but pre-format the flash drive and copy the files out of the zip in a ubuntu linux. I could never personal get the unraid creator tool to work correctly... UEFI boot can conflict with secure boot due to keys and key changes. In bios via a boot override, you should see the unraid usb device... You may need to also turn off fast boot and enable csm capability to boot into unraid as it is not using uefi... Regardless, its clear that the flash drive is not setup correctly to be used as a bootable system for unraid either how you have the files on the drive or how syslinux on the drive is currently set... ################ I would keep the backup and just make a new unraid flash drive and get that bootable and working first... then once in unraid on the new flash drive. turn off the system and copy the config folder in teh zip / backup onto the unraid working flash drive replacing the configurations and restoring your previous unraid... YOU FIRST NEED TO FIX THE FLASH DRIVE TO BOOT UNRIAD! Whether that be bios CSM compatibility to allow non uefi boot, or other things that yo need to do to the flash diver... As outlined in the docs and links above..
April 9, 20251 yr Author After many attempts I got unraid to boot using the Samsung flash drive with an old flash backup created two months ago. Unfortunately my drives have changed since then and so have my apps and dockers. I don't know how zI can get back to where I was at with my most recent config but I did find another flash backup of more recent date.I tried flashing that and unraid starts booting okay but then after 90 seconds shuts down. Is there any way I can load the config files from that backup onto the one that's working?
April 9, 20251 yr Community Expert 2 hours ago, dOM152 said: After many attempts I got unraid to boot using the Samsung flash drive with an old flash backup created two months ago. Unfortunately my drives have changed since then and so have my apps and dockers. I don't know how zI can get back to where I was at with my most recent config but I did find another flash backup of more recent date.I tried flashing that and unraid starts booting okay but then after 90 seconds shuts down. Is there any way I can load the config files from that backup onto the one that's working? now that you have a working unraid booting flash drive. As Trurl has said Quote Just copy the config folder In your lattest backup, there should be a config folder. unzip the config folder from the backup file and copy the config folder to the root of the working flash drive. -(Replace the config folder currently on the unraid flash drive with the config folder from your backup...) This will restore everything unraid is from keys, disk configuration, dockers at the time of that backup file. good luck.
April 10, 20251 yr Author Hi again and thanks for your patience and contined help with this. I've now swapped over the config files to the working backup and rebooted. What worked before now fails after login with 90second shutdown. Something in the config must be causing this but Ive no clues as to what. I've booted up in safe mode and downloaded diagnostics here in the hope there is something an expert can see. If not what else can I try? Because I moved the config over I also can't start the array because it wants me to register my key again. tower-diagnostics-20250410-0840.zip
April 10, 20251 yr Community Expert 1 hour ago, dOM152 said: Because I moved the config over I also can't start the array because it wants me to register my key again. If you are using a new flash drive, you must transfer the key: https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/manual/changing-the-flash-device/#why-replace-your-usb-flash-boot-device
April 10, 20251 yr Author 4 hours ago, JorgeB said: If you are using a new flash drive, you must transfer the key: https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/manual/changing-the-flash-device/#why-replace-your-usb-flash-boot-device Hello Yes thanks I've now done this. I am running in Safe mode and can see all dockers but no apps. I dont want to restart in case it auto shuts down .I'm hoping an expert can look at the diagnostics I posted and see what it is preventing booting in normal mode..
April 10, 20251 yr Community Expert Solution If safe mode works, it suggests a plugin problem, remove all plugins (delete/rename all the .plg files on /config/plugins) and reboot, you can then try to reinstall them one or a few at a time.
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