disk format hang during install of 19.10 in KVM virtual machine

[Tom Horsley]

I'm trying to install a KVM virtual machine using the ubuntu 19.10 live iso. It always gets as far as the step where it is going to format the blank disk (in this case a newly created qcow2 image with a 20G size limit). I then see the virtual machine go to 100% cpu usage and the installer goes completely unresponsive.

I've tried this on a centos 7 host and a fedora 31 host with the same result on both.

I've tried telling it to let me customise the partitions and letting it automatically create partitions with the same result - 100% cpu loop and hung unresponsive interface (sometimes a black screen, sometimes the partition tool, but not responding).

The specific iso file is ubuntu-19.10-desktop-amd64.iso. I've checked the checksums and verified the signature, so it doesn't seem to be corrupted.

[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/1851383/+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.]

[Tom Horsley (tom-horsley)]

Just tried a new experiment: I attached the new qcow2 image to a different virtual machine, used gnome-disks to create a MSDOS partition table, one large ext4 partition and a small swap area, then detached the image from that VM and used it for the install of the new ubuntu 19.10 virtual machine. I selected custom disk configuration and just told it to install on the existing ext4 partition, mounting it as /. It appeared to install correctly (with one mysterious error about not being able to restore previously installed apps).

It is however, now taking forever to boot from the virtual disk. I just get animated dots under the word "ubuntu". If I hit ESC it appears to have advanced one or two steps each time, but it is almost like it will only advance the boot if I keep hitting ESC over and over. Or perhaps it is in a loop desperately trying to start GDM over and over on a virtual display which probably doesn't support wayland.

[Tom Horsley (tom-horsley)]

Don't know what I managed to screw up in the previous experiment, but I just tried again and I can install a working virtual machine by first formatting the virtual disk, then telling the installer to use the partition without reformatting. I used the system rescue CD iso and gparted this time rather than gnome-disks, maybe it likes gparted created partitions better.