I erased my kernel desperately trying to reinstall kernel from live distro using t
 

1. I use a distro called Black Lab Linux based on Umbutu 14.04. And my home folder is encrypted. All the files I care so much about are in this folder.

** 2.* I believe all my trouble started when i downloaded an update that said something about allowing you to update the kernel with no major issue or restarts. I belove i also updated the kernel.*

** 3. The OS was originally based on kernel3.16 I believe. I believe it had updated itself to something closer to kernel 4 though I'm not certain.

** 4.My next 2 acts of stupidity happened virtually simultaneously, though i definitely believe the second was the killer. I downloaded Umbutu Tweak and also Bleachbit. I used Teak well enough. Then i used Bleach Bit which found a bunch of files it said were candidates for deletion. Some were old kernels and there was more then 2 or 3. Of course I assumed they were all older unused kernels so of course I deleted them.*

* 5. Then the fun began -I didn't restart immediately I believe I watched a movie and fell asleep. Anyways on the next restart y
the computer wouldn't boot up at all. It asked me for a user name and a log in which it never does. It generally always asked for only a log in. It kept saying my login was wrong which it wasn't. I started it in recovery found my user name which was what i thought i had been typing anyways it doesn't boot. I tried it many times. It looks like it is loading the OS but it takes to long so it says hit S to skip C to continue and one other thing though no choices work. Also recovery mode asks me if i want to use a different kernel which doesn't work* it might be missing { It gives me a choice yo use a different kernel stored locally but i don't have one}

** 6. It boots into recovery and gives me a terminal but thats it I have a rescue disk thats live and threw that in. Its apparently Gentoo linux. The file manager does nothing so if i pick GPartd it shows me to identical drives in split screen and gives me choices like do you want to attempt file recovery.I can still see all the files or at least the space is being used* with GPrted. Not wanting to screw up my chance of recovering these files Ive moved nothing.
*** 7.Also somewhat Somewhat foolishly downloaded a boot recovery utility. It does nothing but gives me an error which I believe says there is no kernel to boot up.

*8. There really are no error codes or messages worth screenshoting.persay so I haven't included them. Also its worth mentioning that things i have on my side in this situation include a empty hard disk i can connect through USB thats large enough to clone the entire issue. As well as another laptop running the same O.S. I have the recovery disk* apparently based on Gentoo and I have a copy of clonezilla. Working against me is obv my own stupidity.

ANY HELP OR IDEAS PLEASE I DON'T WANT TO LOOSE THIS 100 GIGS OF FILES. ALSO DOES ANYONE KNOW IF I JUST COPY THE BLOCK OF FILES AS IS WOULD I BE ABLE TO ACCESS THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE COMING From MY Encrypted HOME FOLDER. ANY HELP IS GREATLY GREATLY APPRECIATED SO SOS BECAUSE I AM DESPERATE. THANKS FOR READING THIS.

You use Ubuntu so use an Ubuntu Live CD (or Live USB stick) and http://www.howtogeek.com/116297/how-...ory-on-ubuntu/ or https://help.ubuntu.com/community/En..._Data_Manually ?..

If it boots to recovery, I'd guess that kernel is still there - I'd doubt it would run from just the initramfs. But I don't have any Ubuntu systems to check.
I'd be more worried about filesystem(s) integrity. First thing from that liveCD/USB would be to fsck everything on the disk.

Just had a look at a Mint system - hopefully similar. Recovery mode uses the same kernel, and passes in a different set of kernel parameters. One of which is "recovery" which is parsed by the init scripts to mount everything read only and present the recovery menu.
So the kernel should still be there. Problem(s) exist elsewhere.

Hey syg00, where would you suggest looking for said issue or how to ascertain. It boots into recovery and allows me terminal only. Also I've tried advice for mountain in said partion to establish a kernel from live cd and terminal gives me custom@custom strange terminal I've never seen before. Any suggestions ?

No idea where to start looking.
My suggestion - as per unSpawns links, get the encyptfs container mounted, and get all your data off. Re-install and put all your data back.
Keep the backup you'll now have, and keep it current.

It might be educational to try and find out what is wrong, but get that data first. Sometimes you just have to re-install and accept it as a lesson learnt.

Black Lab contains their own fork of remastersys. When you get this running, take the time to create an installable ISO backup so you'll have a safety net.

BTW, I've been using bleachbit for years and it will not delete a kernel...