USB flash drive won't mount

[Roy Kimbrell]

[ 0.000000] Linux version 4.15.0-22-generic (buildd@lgw01-amd64-013) (gcc version 7.3.0 (Ubuntu 7.3.0-16ubuntu3)) #24-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 16 12:15:17 UTC 2018 (Ubuntu 4.15.0-22.24-generic 4.15.17)
[ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-22-generic root=UUID=870f1d77-345c-44b2-99e6-79adea07159c ro quiet splash vt.handoff=1

Ubuntu version: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, software is up to date

Steps to create problem:

1. Reboot
2. Insert USB flash drive

USB flash drive does not appear on desktop or in Nautilus file window

dmesg | tail

[ 1435.463032] usb 2-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 8 using ehci-pci
[ 1435.685760] usb 2-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=05dc, idProduct=c75c
[ 1435.685763] usb 2-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 1435.685765] usb 2-1.3: Product: USB Flash Drive
[ 1435.685766] usb 2-1.3: Manufacturer: Lexar
[ 1435.685767] usb 2-1.3: SerialNumber: D2036779FCE9EDC016EF

lsusb

Bus 002 Device 007: ID 413c:8156 Dell Computer Corp. Wireless 370 Bluetooth Mini-card
Bus 002 Device 006: ID 413c:8158 Dell Computer Corp. Integrated Touchpad / Trackstick
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 413c:8157 Dell Computer Corp. Integrated Keyboard
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0a5c:4500 Broadcom Corp. BCM2046B1 USB 2.0 Hub (part of BCM2046 Bluetooth)
Bus 002 Device 008: ID 05dc:c75c Lexar Media, Inc.
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0c45:640f Microdia
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

This bug occurred on a Dell Studio XPS. It also occurred on an Alienware machine - both fairly old, perhaps 8 years. The Alienware machine was at the same software level as the Dell Studio XPS. On the Alienware machine, occasionally after some time (say five minutes). With an encrypted drive, the drive might appear (or not), but access was iffy - with the system asking multiple times for the password, but almost never granting access. When access was granted, access to the files was eventually terminated - the directory window in Nautilus eventually showing no files.

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

I've tried mounting several different flash drives: One Lexar, one encrypted Lexar, one Sandisk.

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1773597/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

[This is an automated message. I apologize if it reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

Tried ...

 apt-get install --reinstall nautilus

No change. Still cannot mount USB flash drives.

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

After a reboot, inserted encrypted USB flash drive (32G Lexar). Waited about 15 minutes and the request for the password was displayed. I entered the password, but nothing happened. Waited five minutes - then rebooted with the drive still inserted. It was not recognized (by Nautilus) upon completion of the reboot. Removed and inserted and it was eventually recognized, but no window asking for a password showed until I opened the "file cabinet" and clicked on the drive listed on the left. A request for password then appeared. I entered the password and was able to open the drive. However after about ten minutes, I could not open any files - a lock icon appeared on the file icon. Removed the USB flash drive and rebooted.

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

Booted a tower machine (it had been powered off) running Ubuntu 17.10 (Artful). Ran SW updates. Rebooted. Inserted encrypted USB flash drive. Was asked several times for the password. Gave it - multiple times. Finally I was able to open drive. That lasted about 10 minutes when all the files in the window disappeared (folder is empty message). Pulled the flash drive and reinserted it. This time it worked. Request for password showed up in its black window. I entered the password (twice - I might have screwed it up). Was able to access files with no problems.

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

Inserted an unencrypted USB drive.
dmesg showed it as /dev/sdc1
tried:
    sudo mount /dev/sdc1 temp

The drive mounted and I was able to access it.

Entered:
    sudo umount temp

and the drive appeared to unmount.

Tried the same with the encrypted drive and got this:

 sudo mount /dev/sdc1 temp
mount: /home/rek/temp: unknown filesystem type 'crypto_LUKS'.

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

I inserted a standard USB drive into my laptop (Ubuntu 18.04). After about five minutes it was recognized and mounted. I inserted my encrypted USB drive, but it was never mounted - presumably because the file system type was not recognized - because something is wrong with the decryption feature.

Five minutes is way(!) too long for the standard USB drive to wait to be recognized.

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

The feature for mounting both unencrypted and encrypted USB drives worked well(!) in Ubuntu 17.10. And it continues to work with the test USB drives I'm using. If I insert an encrypted USB drive in my tower machine (Ubuntu 17.10) I get a dialog box asking for my pass phrase right away. If I enter the correct phrase, I get immediate access to the contents of the USB drive.

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

This problem may be associated with the USB software. I shut down the machine and pulled the battery and the Logitech mouse USB receiver. Booted the machine. With just the sign-in box on the screen, both the mouse and the trackpad worked. Immediately after sign-in the mouse could not be controlled by the trackpad. The keyboard continued to work. I rebooted the machine after removing the Logitech USB receiver. The trackpad would not work. I inserted the Logitech USB receiver, but it did not allow the mouse to work. Rebooting reactivated the Logitech mouse.

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

The latest Ubuntu update included Linux version 4.15.0-23-generic. This appears, after a single test after a reboot, to have allowed a FAT-formatted USB memory stick to be recognized and mounted. I opened the device and copied a file to it then unmounted it with no problem.

However, the encrypted device still does not work. When inserted, a dialog box appears that allows no input except in it. I entered the pass phrase, but nothing happened except the pass phrase (dots only) were spread out beyond their input area. The machine was effectively locked out. Previously, I had power cycled the machine to get out of this condition, but this time I had an appointment and just left it. When I returned several hours later, the dialog box had disappeared. Yet I was not able to access the device: a box with an error message appeared instead. Nor could it be ejected: "Writing data to Lexar USB Flash Drive Device should not be unplugged."

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

dmesg output after plugging in encrypted flash drive:

[ 919.639686] usb 2-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 26 using ehci-pci
[ 919.757260] usb 2-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=05dc, idProduct=a838
[ 919.757264] usb 2-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 919.757266] usb 2-1.3: Product: USB Flash Drive
[ 919.757268] usb 2-1.3: Manufacturer: Lexar
[ 919.757269] usb 2-1.3: SerialNumber: AAAE359Y7BWXS1P7
[ 919.758328] usb-storage 2-1.3:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 919.758543] scsi host6: usb-storage 2-1.3:1.0
[ 920.936918] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access Lexar USB Flash Drive 1100 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[ 920.937343] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[ 920.938391] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] 62517248 512-byte logical blocks: (32.0 GB/29.8 GiB)
[ 920.939511] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 920.939514] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
[ 920.940674] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 920.948341] sdb: sdb1
[ 920.952267] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

Could not mount a video DVD unless the DVD had been inserted and then the machine rebooted. At this point, the DVD is mounted and can be played. After ejecting the DVD and inserting another DVD, the newer DVD is not recognized unless the machine is rebooted.

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

Inserted a regular USB memory stick after the most recent update and a reboot. I always try this after an update in case something got fixed. The memory stick appeared on the desktop 4 minutes and 20 seconds after I inserted it. Too long, wouldn't you say?

I tried inserting my encrypted USB memory stick. Nothing happened after 7 minutes. Here's the dmesg stream:

[ 660.298830] usb 2-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 10 using ehci-pci
[ 660.416427] usb 2-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=05dc, idProduct=a838
[ 660.416430] usb 2-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 660.416432] usb 2-1.3: Product: USB Flash Drive
[ 660.416434] usb 2-1.3: Manufacturer: Lexar
[ 660.416435] usb 2-1.3: SerialNumber: AAAE359Y7BWXS1P7
[ 660.417374] usb-storage 2-1.3:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 660.417629] scsi host6: usb-storage 2-1.3:1.0
[ 661.604039] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access Lexar USB Flash Drive 1100 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[ 661.604446] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[ 661.605782] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] 62517248 512-byte logical blocks: (32.0 GB/29.8 GiB)
[ 661.606942] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 661.606946] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
[ 661.608069] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 661.615900] sdb: sdb1
[ 661.619979] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[ 683.875699] usb 2-1.3: USB disconnect, device number 10
[ 683.876481] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[ 683.876526] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Synchronize Cache(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_NO_CONNECT driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
[ 987.207732] usb 2-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 11 using ehci-pci
[ 987.715730] usb 2-1.3: device not accepting address 11, error -71
[ 988.780035] usb 2-1-port3: Cannot enable. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
[ 988.780161] usb 2-1-port3: attempt power cycle

No attempt to decrypt.

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

My apologies. Sorry, but the encrypted USB drive was defective. I put it in another computer (Ubuntu 17.10) and it would be recognized only if it were held in the drive in a particular way. Either an internal connection is bad or the external contacts are not aligned properly.

The other USB drive still takes 4+ minutes to be recognized and mounted by the OS. In the other computer (Ubuntu 17.10) it comes up in less than 30 seconds.

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

I booted the Dell Studio XPS machine from a USB drive loaded with Ubuntu 16.04. I inserted multiple USB drives (one holding the OS was already there) and two others. They mounted within seconds and Nautilus displayed their contents when the drive was clicked on.

This did not happen in Ubuntu 18.04. A drive would not come up for 4+ minutes. And would not mount multiple USB drives.

HOWEVER, something hinky did happen. When multiple drives were mounted, the USB mouse would not function. So there is something wrong with the USB subsystem in that machine.

But, 16.04 definitely worked better than 18.04.

[Roy Kimbrell (roy-kimbrell)]

I booted another machine (currently running 18.04) from the USB memory stick with 16.04 on it. I plugged in three USB memory sticks. Each came up in a couple of seconds. When that machine is running 18.04 it takes 4+ minutes for a single memory stick to be available.

Note that dmesg shows that the OS sees the memory stick nearly immediately. It's Nautilus (guessing) that doesn't make it available.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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