The installer failed to create partition on disk with EFI (not BIOS)

Bug #1916356 reported by Leó Kolbeinsson
12
This bug affects 2 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Calamares
Fix Released
Unknown
kpmcore
Fix Released
Medium
calamares (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Critical
Dan Simmons
kpmcore (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Critical
Dan Simmons

Bug Description

See attached bugs for longer explanation but basically due to some changes in core software (dosfstools) EFI installs fail to create partitions because a null label is no longer acceptable. There is now a fix in kpmcore, which is what Calamares uses to do this work, that essentially sets "NO_LABEL" instead of a null ("") label.

Workaround: manual partitioning expressly setting labels on all partitions.

---

Testing Lubuntu Hirsute ISO 20210220 -
Test machine Lenovo V14 IIL - booting in UEFI+secure boot mode

Connected to WiFi network and ran the installer -

I selected "Erase disk with swap file" and then Calamares crashed with the error: "the installer failed to create partition on disk "WDC PC SN20 ......." see attached screenshot and files.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 21.04
Package: calamares 3.2.35-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.10.0-14.15-generic 5.10.11
Uname: Linux 5.10.0-14-generic x86_64
.etc.calamares.modules.finished.conf:
 ---
 restartNowMode: user-checked
 restartNowCommand: "systemctl -i reboot"
.etc.calamares.modules.shellprocess_logs.conf:
 ---
 dontChroot: true
 timeout: 30
 script:
     - calamares-logs-helper @@ROOT@@
.etc.calamares.modules.unpackfs.conf:
 ---
 unpack:
     - source: "/cdrom/casper/filesystem.squashfs"
         sourcefs: "squashfs"
         destination: ""
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu59
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CasperVersion: 1.456
CurrentDesktop: LXQt
Date: Sat Feb 20 20:23:48 2021
LiveMediaBuild: Lubuntu 21.04 "Hirsute Hippo" - Alpha amd64 (20210220)
RelatedPackageVersions:
 calamares-settings-ubuntu-common 1:21.04.1
 calamares-settings-lubuntu 1:21.04.1
 xfsprogs 5.6.0-1ubuntu4
 btrfs-progs 5.10.1-1
SourcePackage: calamares
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

Revision history for this message
In , Andrius Štikonas (stikonas) wrote :
Revision history for this message
In , Andrius Štikonas (stikonas) wrote :

Git commit 36dfae351ffac48134e2697b4fc1024e7557e319 by Andrius Štikonas.
Committed on 19/02/2021 at 17:51.
Pushed by stikonas into branch 'master'.

Add initial support for dosfstools 4.2.

Empty labels are not allowed anymore.
One can reset them with -r flag but that is not supported in older
dosfstools. So for now we just manually set label to NO_LABEL.

M +3 -1 src/fs/fat12.cpp

https://invent.kde.org/system/kpmcore/commit/36dfae351ffac48134e2697b4fc1024e7557e319

Revision history for this message
In , Andrius Štikonas (stikonas) wrote :

Git commit 00de13088995ae96cf660911196fceda096e5b19 by Andrius Štikonas.
Committed on 19/02/2021 at 17:53.
Pushed by stikonas into branch 'release/20.12'.

Add initial support for dosfstools 4.2.

Empty labels are not allowed anymore.
One can reset them with -r flag but that is not supported in older
dosfstools. So for now we just manually set label to NO_LABEL.

M +3 -1 src/fs/fat12.cpp

https://invent.kde.org/system/kpmcore/commit/00de13088995ae96cf660911196fceda096e5b19

Revision history for this message
Leó Kolbeinsson (leok) wrote :
Leó Kolbeinsson (leok)
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa) wrote :

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1916356

tags: added: iso-testing
Revision history for this message
Leó Kolbeinsson (leok) wrote :

Also ran 2 tests in Virtual machines - one in VirtualBox and another in QEMU - both installed with no errors. In both cases i selected "Erase disk with swap file".

Revision history for this message
Leó Kolbeinsson (leok) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Chris Guiver (guiverc) wrote :

I've experienced this today on
- sony vaio svp112a1cw (i5-9400u, 4gb, intel haswell-ULT)
which is a uEFI box.

I note @Leokolb noted reports as being uEFI+Secure OR uEFI (as this box is)

I did NOT have the issue earlier today on a BIOS box (dc7700)

Error report reminds me of https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/calamares/+bug/1864787 ie. "sfdisk --force --append /dev/sda"

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in calamares (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Chris Guiver (guiverc) wrote :

A later QA-test install (Manual partitioning, no internet, no encryption) on
- sony vaio svp112a1cw (i5-9400u, 4gb, intel haswell-ULT)
or box in comment #5 worked as expected.

Revision history for this message
Leó Kolbeinsson (leok) wrote :

So far this has only occurred when booting UEFI and UEFI + secure boot modes.
BIOS boot no problem.

summary: - The installer failed to create partition on disk
+ The installer failed to create partition on disk with EFI
Changed in calamares (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Triaged
Changed in kpmcore (Ubuntu):
status: New → Triaged
Changed in calamares (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Critical
Changed in kpmcore (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Critical
summary: - The installer failed to create partition on disk with EFI
+ The installer failed to create partition on disk with EFI (not BIOS)
Revision history for this message
ԜаӀtеr Ⅼарсһуnѕkі (wxl) wrote :

It should be apparent that this affects EFI only. I wouldn't expect secure boot or not to make a difference. Either way, let's hold off on reporting any results on this for a bit.

The only one thing I'm thinking that might be worth testing is whether or not manual partitioning with labels set on all partitions makes a difference. If it does, we at least have a workaround.

Meanwhile kc2bez is testing the fix. Applying to kpmcore alone wasn't sufficient, so we'll rebuild Calamares against that and see how it goes.

description: updated
Changed in calamares (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → Dan Simmons (kc2bez)
Changed in kpmcore (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → Dan Simmons (kc2bez)
Changed in calamares (Ubuntu):
milestone: none → ubuntu-21.04
Changed in kpmcore (Ubuntu):
milestone: none → ubuntu-21.04
Revision history for this message
ԜаӀtеr Ⅼарсһуnѕkі (wxl) wrote :

Nevermind that test I mentioned; leok already figured it out. ;)

description: updated
Changed in calamares:
status: Unknown → New
Changed in kpmcore:
importance: Unknown → Medium
status: Unknown → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package kpmcore - 20.12.2-4ubuntu1

---------------
kpmcore (20.12.2-4ubuntu1) hirsute; urgency=medium

  * d/patches/dosfstools4.2.patch:
    - Add initial support to kpmcore for dosfstools 4.2.
    - Necessary to make Calamares and EFI installations of Lubuntu work
      properly, which is a blocking bug. (LP: #1916356)

 -- Thomas Ward <email address hidden> Sat, 27 Feb 2021 18:55:34 -0500

Changed in kpmcore (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package calamares - 3.2.37-0ubuntu1

---------------
calamares (3.2.37-0ubuntu1) hirsute; urgency=medium

  * New upstream release.
    - Build against patched kpmcore so EFI installs don't fail.
      (LP: #1916356)

 -- Dan Simmons <email address hidden> Sun, 28 Feb 2021 14:01:46 -0500

Changed in calamares (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Fix Released
Changed in calamares:
status: New → Fix Released
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