Recover Files from Corrupted Linux or Windows VPS – Windows is not loading!

Linux and Windows are two of the most frequently used VPS operating systems. Sometimes, a few errors within their script may cause a failure. In this tutorial, we will tell you how to Recover Files from Corrupted Linux or Windows VPS.

If, for any reasons, the Operating System, whether Windows or Linux, does not load on your VPS server, you can follow this step by step guide and learn how to load the VPS into the Rescue Mode and grab your files off the server before formatting your VPS and installing a new Operating System on it.The first thing you need to do is to confirm that the Operating System does not load by connecting to the server via VNC and then reboot the VPS from your control panel a couple of times.

Note: If you don’t know how to use VNC — Please click here

As most of the corruptions happen in Windows VPS servers, we have written this guide around Windows VPS servers, but the same steps work for other Operating Systems as well.

How to Recover Files from Corrupted Windows VPS

Step 1: Log In

First, log in to your Control Panel from https://support.cloudzy.com/clientarea.php.

Then click on ‘Services‘.

Click on the target VPS server which you want to reboot into Rescue Mode. (if you have multiple VPS servers, please make sure that you select the appropriate VPS instance.)

Step 2: Choose Rescue Mode

Choose the ‘Rescue Mode‘ just like the picture below:

Step 3: Enable Rescue Mode

Pick a password for the Rescue Mode. Then, click on Enable Rescue Mode.

Wait until the server reboots into Rescue mode.

It will show you a page like:

In this step, please wait 2-5 minutes. Then, refresh the page and you will see this message:

Now the VPS is loaded into the Rescue Mode. The Rescue Mode is Linux based utility for grabbing your data out of the server.

Step 4: Install NTFS-3G

Now, open the Terminal and enter the following command to install NTFS-3G. NTFS-3G is an open-source application that implements NTFS file system.

sudo apt install ntfs-3g

Step 5: Mount VDB

Then, use the following command to mount your Virtio Block Device.

mount -t ntfs /dev/vdb2 /mnt

Step 6: Fix NTFS (for I/O Error)

If you got an I/O error, enter the following command into the Terminal. An I/O device error is an issue with the device. It prevents your operating system from perusing its content or writing on it.

ntfsfix /dev/vdb2 

Some of the common locations you may have stored your files are:

/mnt/Users/Administrator/Desktop /mnt/Users/Administrator/Downloads

 /mnt/Users/Administrator/Documents

After you have downloaded all the files/folders you were looking for, please go back to the VPS control panel and click on ‘Rescue Mode.’ then, click on disable button and press ‘OK.’

At the end, Now you can re-create the VPS by reloading to your desired Operating System. Please check here to find out how you can do that.

How to Recover Files from Corrupted Linux VPS

Step 1: Login and Enable Rescue Mode

First, follow the first three steps from the instructions above.

Step 2: Instal WinSCP

To transfer the data you have to download WinSCP software, which is used for transferring files between Windows and Linux Operating Systems. So, follow the upcoming steps:

• A) Download WinSCP.
• B) Install the software and run it. You will see the following window:

• Insert your VPS’s IP address into ‘Host Name:’
• Enter ‘root’ in the Username field.
• Enter the password that you had chosen when you enabled Rescue Mode.
• Click on ‘Login‘
• Press ‘Ctrl + ‘T‘ keys to open the Terminal, then click ‘OK‘ on the warning message so a Terminal window opens.

Now, type the following code:

mount -o ro /dev/vdb1 /mnt

Press ‘Enter‘ or click on ‘Execute‘

When the Windows hard drive is loaded into the Rescue Mode. It is time to go and find your files located on the drives and transfer them to your computer.

Step 3: Head Over to Root

Click on the right pane, then press ‘Ctrl + O‘ so the Open Directory window will pops- up. Write ‘/mnt‘, like in the following picture, and click on ‘Ok‘

Excellent! Now you can see the root page of your Windows drive which will be like the image below:

Step 4: Download the Files

After doing all the above-mentioned steps, you can go to the folder/location where you have stored your files, right-click on files/folder, and click on download to download them onto your computer.

After you have downloaded all the files/folders you were looking for, please go back to the VPS control panel and click on ‘Rescue Mode.’ Then, click on disable button and press ‘OK.’

At the end, you can re-create the VPS by reloading to your desired Operating System. Please check here to find out how you can do that.