Arch Linux

SB112

Member

Registered: 2026-02-01

Posts: 4

[SOLVED] error: file '/vmlinuz-linux' not found

My pc froze because it was out of ram (not during an update btw) and alt+sysrq+f was not working so i forcefully shut down the pc, when i booted it back up it said "
Loading Linux linux ...
error: file '/vmlinuz-linux' not found
Loading initial ramdisk ...
error: you need to load the kernel first" i think this might be happening because i didnt update for 6 months or more and only a few days ago updated fully (this is my first reboot since i did that) i have some earlier threads on the arch linux discord server but i cant access discord on my phone which is why im making the thread here.

Last edited by SB112 (2026-02-03 12:03:05)

SB112

Member

Registered: 2026-02-01

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] error: file '/vmlinuz-linux' not found

I shouldve mentioned in the first post but i recently had pacman (not the 6 month worth of updates one) hang on 100% on one of the updates and so i just ctrl+c it

Last edited by SB112 (2026-02-01 07:45:56)

5hridhyan

Member

From: Asia

Registered: 2025-12-25

Posts: 306

Re: [SOLVED] error: file '/vmlinuz-linux' not found

the golden rule Never ever press ctrtl+c while pacman updating
first you will need a live arch usb, then boot fm it, identify you're partion, mount it, chroot the system, re-install the kernel and regenerate initramfs
when you boot into archlive ISO/USB; identify your partitions "lsblk" and mount your main system and boot partition  to "/mnt", then

arch-chroot /mnt

then

pacman -S linux linux-headers linux-firmware

also

mkinitcpio -P
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

then exit and reboot.

edit:
if you don't have separate boot partition then skip mounting it.
wait I forgot about internet, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Iwd#Usage
if you have ethernet; chill

Last edited by 5hridhyan (2026-02-01 09:14:12)

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cryptearth

Member

Registered: 2024-02-03

Posts: 1,982

Re: [SOLVED] error: file '/vmlinuz-linux' not found

@OP
you should get used to reboot your system more often
also: you should reboot your system after an update immediately
sorry not sorry to call out the blame straight away but this is clearly user misbehaviour
lucky you arch is quite a forgiving system and often can be restored even from such a state

btw: the system "hang up" from run out of memory hints towards hardware issues - as the kernel has protections in place to prevent exactly that

SB112

Member

Registered: 2026-02-01

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] error: file '/vmlinuz-linux' not found

Thanks a lot!! I did have to do some googling and manual trial&error (have to mount the boot partition in something thats not /mnt/@/boot because if do that the grub command wont find the vmlinux file in /mnt/@/boot) because i was too afraid to follow up on this thread for some reason but now everything works as usual, idk how to closr this thread so pls do. I agree that this is user error but uhhhh idk

Last edited by SB112 (2026-02-03 12:04:39)

seth

Member

From: Don't DM me only for attention

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 73,418

Re: [SOLVED] error: file '/vmlinuz-linux' not found

\o/
Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

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SB112

Member

Registered: 2026-02-01

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] error: file '/vmlinuz-linux' not found

I just fixed a different problem but this thread helped me again and i only had to ln -sf some file and other than that i followed these exact steps and everything worked (it said that it couldnt mount /boot and gave me emergency mode that i couldnt use because you can only use root user in emergency mode but i dont remember root password) i really should restart after a full update

Last edited by SB112 (2026-02-16 12:18:26)