Ubuntu 2020 VM open to black screen with blinking underscore character after compact disc

Solution 1:

That underscore is usually there when Ubuntu tries to load OS Files and hasn't loaded them completely or is unable to do so. So you might have corrupted that install. But you can try extracting files from it:

Option 1:

1. Download any Linux distro you're familiar with
2. Open the vmware sphere Client
3. Go to Hosts and Clusters, select your VM and click on Edit Settings
4. Go to the CD/DVD drive options, select datastore ISO File and select the ISO of the Linux Distro of your Choice
5. Start the VM and boot from the DVD Drive
6. Continue without installing
7. Then open a Terminal:

Give Yourself root privileges:

sudo -i

List available Disks:

ls -al /dev/sd*

Create Directories for the Partitions to mount:

mkdir /mnt/vmDisk1

Mount the partitions of the VM Drive:

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/vmDisk1

To check if it worked:

ls -al /mnt/vmDisk1

This should allow you to access all of your data

Option 2:

1. Go to File < Mount Virtual Disk
2. Select the broken VMDK file
3. Create a Directory to mount to:

mkdir /mnt/vmDisk1

4. Select that directory as the target directory.

Now you should be able to access your data(if it isn't completely corrupted).

Sources: this post