Same problem. Got a pop up saying new Ubuntu is available and figured it would be a quick easy upgrade. Hours later found myself using ChatGPT to upload photos of my problem and to eventually get it working again. ChatGPT also reference this known bug post.
Ubuntu 24.04 → 26.04 release-upgrade failure involving base-files/usr- merge that ultimately produced an unbootable installation with kernel panic and message KERNEL PANIC! VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0) The base-files package cannot be installed because /lib32 is a dangling symbolic link. checked and found: /lib32 -> usr/lib32 But /usr/lib32 didn't exist. Because base-files failed, a bunch of other packages were left unconfigured. I also noticed that the new 7.0.0-38-generic kernel was in /boot, but its initramfs was missing: /boot/initrd.img-7.0.0-38-generic After confirming /lib32 really was pointing to the missing /usr/lib32 directory, I created it: mkdir -p /usr/lib32 Then ran: apt --fix-broken install This time the upgrade continued normally. Most importantly, I saw: update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-7.0.0-38-generic After that GRUB found the kernel/initrd correctly. Rebooted and... Ubuntu booted normally again with the latest LTS upgrade working. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2131303 Title: package base-files 13ubuntu10.2 failed to install/upgrade: new base- files package pre-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1: /lib32 is a dangling symbolic link To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/base-files/+bug/2131303/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
