installer crashed with IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/target/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d' during system installation

[Ed Wetmore]

The crash occurred after all of the files were copied. I elected to not include the "update during installation" selection when answering installation questions.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: ubiquity 2.8.7 [modified: lib/partman/automatically_partition/question]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic i686
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
Architecture: i386
CasperVersion: 1.287
Date: Fri Oct 21 16:34:32 2011
LiveMediaBuild: Mythbuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release i386 (20111012)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Robert Roth (evfool)]

Exception during installation:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 1641, in <module>
     install.run()
File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 55, in wrapper
     func(self)
File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 182, in run
     self.configure_hardware()
File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 773, in configure_hardware
    install_misc.chroot_setup(self.target)
File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/install_misc.py", line 110, in chroot_setup
     f = open(policy_rc_d, 'w')
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/target/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d'

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Exception during installation:
Oct 21 16:34:17 ubuntu plugininstall.py: Traceback (most recent call last):
Oct 21 16:34:17 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 1641, in <module>
Oct 21 16:34:17 ubuntu plugininstall.py: install.run()
Oct 21 16:34:17 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 55, in wrapper
Oct 21 16:34:17 ubuntu plugininstall.py: func(self)
Oct 21 16:34:17 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 182, in run
Oct 21 16:34:17 ubuntu plugininstall.py: self.configure_hardware()
Oct 21 16:34:17 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 773, in configure_hardware
Oct 21 16:34:17 ubuntu plugininstall.py: install_misc.chroot_setup(self.target)
Oct 21 16:34:17 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/install_misc.py", line 110, in chroot_setup
Oct 21 16:34:17 ubuntu plugininstall.py: f = open(policy_rc_d, 'w')
Oct 21 16:34:17 ubuntu plugininstall.py: IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/target/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d'
Oct 21 16:34:17 ubuntu plugininstall.py:

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

I'm not positive if this would negatively affect the install process but:

Oct 21 19:48:33 ubuntu ntfsresize: ERROR: This software has detected that the disk has at least 2 bad sectors.
Oct 21 19:48:33 ubuntu ntfsresize: ****************************************************************************
Oct 21 19:48:33 ubuntu ntfsresize: * WARNING: The disk has bad sector. This means physical damage on the disk *
Oct 21 19:48:33 ubuntu ntfsresize: * surface caused by deterioration, manufacturing faults or other reason. *
Oct 21 19:48:33 ubuntu ntfsresize: * The reliability of the disk may stay stable or degrade fast. We suggest *
Oct 21 19:48:33 ubuntu ntfsresize: * making a full backup urgently by running 'ntfsclone --rescue ...' then *
Oct 21 19:48:33 ubuntu ntfsresize: * run 'chkdsk /f /r' on Windows and rebooot it TWICE! Then you can resize *
Oct 21 19:48:33 ubuntu ntfsresize: * NTFS safely by additionally using the --bad-sectors option of ntfsresize.*
Oct 21 19:48:33 ubuntu ntfsresize: ****************************************************************************

[Ed Wetmore (edwetmore)]

This problem is easily repeatable for me, and I have discovered a workaround as well.
I have 2 systems on which I have installed Mythbuntu 11.10, the issue occurs on one but not the other.
For the system on which it occurs, the process begins by having an installation of Ubuntu or Mythbuntu already in place.
When I select "something else" from the disk partitioning choices, and if I intentionally delete the already created fdisk partitions that the previous Ubuntu/Mythbuntu occupies and then recreate the partitions, the problem does not occur. The failure always occurs when the installer is migrating files if I do not manually delete the existing Linux related partitions from the previous installation.
The system that this happens on was already configured to multiboot in to MS Windows, Solaris 10, and at least 1 distribution of Linux. The Linux installation has /boot on the BIOS disk0, and the swap and / file systems are on the BIOS disk1. While I had no issues when I first installed Mythbuntu 10.10, the crash first occured with Mythbuntu 11.04, and repeated with Mythbuntu 11.10. Since I chanced on the workaround with the 11.04 installation, I guessed that the problem was something related to my hardware configuration and I aborted the installers attempts to post the installer crash. When the 11.10 installation crashed also, I allowed it to file it's report.
I can provide more detailed system hardware information, but I'm beginning to wonder if the system age is beginning to show.

[dino99 (9d9)]

This version has expired for some time