Regression: usb-creator-gtk fails to set the boot flag on the partition and exits.

Bug #529366 reported by Delan Azabani
248
This bug affects 55 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
usb-creator (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
High
Unassigned
Nominated for Karmic by Sriram
Lucid
Won't Fix
High
Unassigned

Bug Description

As of the latest update (0.2.16), usb-creator-gtk doesn't work. When trying to install a live USB, the program says that the installation of the bootloader failed, and then quits. I have tried the Jaunty CD, Jaunty ISO and Karmic ISO with both space reservation options. Another side effect is that a loop device is created, but not unmounted, so after eight tries (eight loop devices), a different message ("Installation failed") appears because of the unavailability of a loop device.

Revision history for this message
Monkey (monkey-libre) wrote :

I´ve assigned this bug ti the usb-creator package.

Thank You for making Ubuntu better.

affects: ubuntu → usb-creator (Ubuntu)
Revision history for this message
Id2ndR (id2ndr) wrote :

I can confirm this bug.
The exact error is "Failed to install the bootloader." (window title : "Installation failed"). It occurs about 2 seconds after the beginning of the process at 0%.

Revision history for this message
Omer Akram (om26er) wrote :

I also face this bug. In simple words usb-creator dont work.

Changed in usb-creator (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → High
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Flávio Etrusco (etrusco) wrote :
tags: added: regression-potential
summary: - Regression: usb-creator-gtk doesn't work as of 0.2.16, unetbootin works
+ Regression: usb-creator-gtk doesn't work as of 0.2.16
Changed in usb-creator (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Triaged
assignee: nobody → Canonical Foundations Team (canonical-foundations)
Colin Watson (cjwatson)
Changed in usb-creator (Ubuntu):
assignee: Canonical Foundations Team (canonical-foundations) → Evan Dandrea (ev)
Revision history for this message
John S. Gruber (jsjgruber) wrote : Re: Regression: usb-creator-gtk doesn't work as of 0.2.16

When usb-creator runs it seems to mount the target partition right away.

When it tries to run /sbin/parted--that program appears to return a non-zero return code. It is attempting to set the boot flag for the target partition.

When I run /sbin/parted manually with the same parameters I seem to get an return code of 1 and I get the
following message:

WARNING: the kernel failed to re-read the partition table on /dev/sdb
(Device or resource busy). As a result, it may not reflect all of your changes
until after reboot.

(package parted file libparted/arch/linux.c)

Unmounting the target partition and running parted allows parted to run without the warning. This is from GNU parted 2.1.

I tried this on a karmic partition using parted 1.8.8.1.159-1e0e and, with the partition mounted, it doesn't produce this
message (or the problem when running usb-creator).

I suspect that this is what has changed. Perhaps unmounting the target partition for the length of the parted command would suffice.

Martin Pitt (pitti)
Changed in usb-creator (Ubuntu Lucid):
milestone: none → ubuntu-10.04-beta-1
Revision history for this message
Cedric Anderson (jintxo) wrote :

Thanks John (#5) !! I installed parted from karmic and it works as a temporary workaround.

Cedric

Revision history for this message
sparker256 (bgood) wrote :

My installed version is 0.2.17 and mine is still giving the "Failed to install the bootloader" error.
Ubuntu Lucid Lynx

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Evan (ev) wrote :

I've uploaded a workaround for this as usb-creator-common 0.2.18. It should be hitting the archive shortly.

Omer Akram (om26er)
Changed in usb-creator (Ubuntu Lucid):
status: Triaged → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
Omer Akram (om26er) wrote :

The change log suggests
"Provide a quick workaround for LP 529366 while a better fix is prepared. Ignore errors on setting the boot flag for the target partition." so marked fixed as it works for the user

Changed in usb-creator (Ubuntu Lucid):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Evan (ev) wrote :

Reopening. I'd like to fix this by unmounting all of the partitions before installing the bootloader.

Do note the original bug occurred as a result of parted 2.1 landing.

Changed in usb-creator (Ubuntu Lucid):
status: Fix Released → Triaged
Evan (ev)
Changed in usb-creator (Ubuntu Lucid):
milestone: ubuntu-10.04-beta-1 → ubuntu-10.04-beta-2
Evan (ev)
summary: - Regression: usb-creator-gtk doesn't work as of 0.2.16
+ Regression: usb-creator-gtk fails to set the boot flag on the partition
+ and exits.
Revision history for this message
Helder Fraga (whise) wrote :

this is so easily fixed...

i hope it works properly in lucid

Evan (ev)
Changed in usb-creator (Ubuntu Lucid):
milestone: ubuntu-10.04-beta-2 → ubuntu-10.04
Revision history for this message
Lothar (lothar-tradescape) wrote :

Same error here on Kubuntu Licud beta 2 with usb-creator-kde

Revision history for this message
Lothar (lothar-tradescape) wrote :

here's the console output:

$ usb-creator-kde -i ~/Torrents/kubuntu-10.04-beta2-desktop-amd64.iso -n
QInotifyFileSystemWatcherEngine::addPaths: inotify_add_watch failed: No such file or directory
QFileSystemWatcher: failed to add paths: /home/lothar/.config/ibus/bus
Bus::open: Can not get ibus-daemon's address.
IBusInputContext::createInputContext: no connection to ibus-daemon

$ usb-creator-kde -v
Qt: 4.6.2
KDE Development Platform: 4.4.2 (KDE 4.4.2)
Startup Disk Creator: 0.2.21

Revision history for this message
Roderick B. Greening (roderick-greening) wrote :

Lothat, Can you attach ~/.usbcreator.log with the failed install of bootloader? (Hint: remove the old .usbcreator.log first then start the process and send attach the newly created file after it fails).

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Roderick B. Greening (roderick-greening) wrote :

Of course I meant Lothar :)

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Matheus Pacheco de Andrade (matheusp-andrade-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

In Lucid (all updated as of April 14) I was having the same "Cannot install bootloader" stuff (only in portuguese, but it meant the same).
Solution?
sudo apt-get install parted

Kind of dumb this dependency inconsistency, isn't it?

Revision history for this message
Lothar (lothar-tradescape) wrote :

Here is the requested .usbcreator.log file.

Revision history for this message
Evan (ev) wrote :

This is no longer an issue given the BLKPG changes in parted 2.1. If you're getting an error in usb-creator, please file a new bug.

Changed in usb-creator (Ubuntu Lucid):
status: Triaged → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote :

I've fixed the missing dependency raised in comment 16, although it may not really have been the cause of the original bug report.

Revision history for this message
AllenS (thehousecat) wrote :

I'm using 0.2.22 and I still get the "Failed to install bootloader" message.

usb-creator 2010-05-01 18:11:17,338 (DEBUG) install.py:72: install thread source: /tmp/tmpK3SafI
usb-creator 2010-05-01 18:11:17,338 (DEBUG) install.py:73: install thread target: /media/704F-FF0E
usb-creator 2010-05-01 18:11:17,338 (DEBUG) install.py:74: install thread persistence: 0
usb-creator 2010-05-01 18:11:17,342 (DEBUG) install.py:176: remove_extras
usb-creator 2010-05-01 18:11:17,343 (DEBUG) install.py:153: initialize_progress_thread
usb-creator 2010-05-01 18:11:17,346 (DEBUG) install.py:189: install_bootloader
usb-creator 2010-05-01 18:11:18,158 (CRITICAL) install.py:92: Failed to install the bootloader.
usb-creator 2010-05-01 18:11:18,183 (ERROR) frontend.py:669: Installation failed.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/usbcreator/install.py", line 212, in install_bootloader
    timeout=MAX_DBUS_TIMEOUT)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/proxies.py", line 68, in __call__
    return self._proxy_method(*args, **keywords)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/proxies.py", line 140, in __call__
    **keywords)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/connection.py", line 620, in call_blocking
    message, timeout)
DBusException: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: Method "Get" with signature "vs" on interface "org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties" doesn't exist

Revision history for this message
zhaopei (waterreg) wrote :

i've met the same problem with lucid, and it's solved after parted 2.2 installed.

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djmerk (djmerc808) wrote :

i'm kinda a noob but parted 2.2 is installed on my 10.04 netbook edition and i still get the error using a 2GB stick with a fresh format and fresh iso directly from ubuntu. i don't think this bug is fixed.

Changed in usb-creator (Ubuntu Lucid):
status: Fix Released → In Progress
papukaija (papukaija)
tags: added: lucid regression-release
removed: regression-potential
Revision history for this message
Alexander (lanpirot) wrote :

got the same problem with my netbook,

usb-creator-gtk --version
0.2.22

parted --version
parted (GNU parted) 2.2

Revision history for this message
Jack (jcoats) wrote :

I have the same issue with usb-creator-gtk

usb-creator-gtk
0.2.22

parted --version
parted (GNU parted) 2.2

Thanks for taking a look ... I will admit it could be an RTFM issue, and I tried, just no joy.

Revision history for this message
Jack (jcoats) wrote :

Tried it again... And it worked.

Differences:
  Rather than working from a downloaded 10.04LTS image, I tried it from a CD as the source.
  Rather than starting usb-creator-gtk from the System menu, I started it from a command line window.
  Had some space committed to a 'file system' area, rather than letting the entire 4G USB key be the drive.
     (allocated 2G to data, remaining (about 2.3G) went to the install.

Yes, changing multiple things at once doesn't allow for much real analysis, but I thought I would report it.
  Still seems odd.

Thanks ...

Evan (ev)
Changed in usb-creator (Ubuntu Lucid):
assignee: Evan Dandrea (ev) → nobody
Changed in usb-creator (Ubuntu):
assignee: Evan Dandrea (ev) → nobody
Revision history for this message
Phillip Griego (phillipguy-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

I am trying to run usb-creator-gtk to create either a Maverick 32bit or Karmic 32bit LIVE CD on my USB Flash Drive or Hard Drive but when usb-creator-gtk FINISHES it says "Failed to install the bootloader". I find all the files placed on my USB but when I try to boot it says there is no bootloader found.

I have tried usb-creator-gtk with BOTH reserving extra space option and discarding extra space option
I have tried usb-creator-gtk -n & usb-creator-gtk -s
It is still not working.

Below is my info:

phillipguy@phillipguy-laptop:~$ uname --all
Linux phillipguy-laptop 2.6.35-22-generic #35-Ubuntu SMP Sat Oct 16 20:45:36 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux
phillipguy@phillipguy-laptop:~$ usb-creator-gtk --version
0.2.23
phillipguy@phillipguy-laptop:~$ parted --version
parted (GNU parted) 2.3
Copyright (C) 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Written by <http://git.debian.org/?p=parted/parted.git;a=blob_plain;f=AUTHORS>.
phillipguy@phillipguy-laptop:~$

Revision history for this message
papukaija (papukaija) wrote :

@Urock: Please open a new bug by running from terminal "ubuntu-bug usb-creator". Thanks in advance!

Revision history for this message
Phillip Griego (phillipguy-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

@papukaija: Okay I just did. Bug#722019

Revision history for this message
Thiago Santini (haoennorath) wrote :

Same problem here under 10.04.3
Solved by creating a new fat32 partition using fdisk then running usb-creator-gtk through alt+f2.
After that, from usb-creator-gtk, erased the usb-stick which created a new partition on the stick and everything went okay from there.

Revision history for this message
Alroger Filho (alroger-cafe-ti) wrote :

Thanks, Thiago. That helped. Wrote a new partition table to the USB drive, created a FAT32 partition, used sudo usb-creator-gtk --iso=ubuntuxxx.iso, told it to erase drive, than it worked.
Can't believe usb-creator is still full of problems.
Using 11.10 64 bits here, fully updated.

Revision history for this message
Denis-Carl Robidoux (deniscarl) wrote :

As I wrote in bug #722019:

I had the problem and my workaround was to run usb-creator-gtk as a regular user (i.e.: not as root) and also by slowly take my time to enter my password when usb-creator-gtk is trying to install the bootloader.

My best guess as the why: I believe the partition table is set to be re-read just before installing the bootloader and since a USB device can sometimes take a while to disappear/reappear the application is just trying too fast to install the bootloader.

There could be something also with the FTL layer being busy as hell with the copying/unmount/sync that just happened. (FTL being an important component in the USB key's firmware)

Revision history for this message
Bryan Quigley (bryanquigley) wrote :

Ubuntu 10.04 won't be getting this fix as it's desktop support already expired and the rest goes at the end of this month.

Changed in usb-creator (Ubuntu Lucid):
status: In Progress → Invalid
status: Invalid → Won't Fix
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