Today, I was upgrading my Ubuntu 18.04 LTS system. Unfortunately, the power has gone in mid-way and the system powered off while updating Ubuntu OS. When the power is back, I boot the system again. Right after entering the password at the login screen, it’s gone blank and didn’t respond. Keyboard and mouse also didn’t work. All I see is just a blank screen! Thankfully, It’s just a test machine and there were no important data in it. I can simply wipe off the entire OS and install it again. But, I don’t want to do that. Since I have nothing to lose, I just wanted to repair my broken Ubuntu system without reinstalling it completely and it worked!!! If you ever find yourself in a situation like mine, don’t panic. This brief tutorial describes how to easily fix broken Ubuntu OS without losing data and without reinstalling it completely.
### Fix Broken Ubuntu OS
First of all, try to login with live cd and **backup your data** in an external drive. Just in case, if this method didn’t work, you can still have your data and reinstall everything!
At the login screen, press **CTRL+ALT+F1** to switch to **tty1**. You can learn more about switching between TTYs [**here**][1].
Now, type the following commands one by one to fix the broken Ubuntu Linux.
```
$ sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock
$ sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock
$ sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend
$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
$ sudo apt clean
$ sudo apt update --fix-missing
$ sudo apt install -f
$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
$ sudo apt upgrade
$ sudo apt dist-upgrade
```
Finally, reboot the system using command:
```
$ sudo reboot
```
You can now be able to login to your Ubuntu system as usual.
After I followed these steps, all of my data in Ubuntu 18.04 test system was there and everything is the same as I left it. This method may not work for everyone. However, this small tip worked for me and saved a couple minutes from reinstalling. If you know any other better way, please let me know in the comment section. I will add them in this guide as well.
