Only one disk shows in Xubuntu auto-resize partitioning dialogue

[Jane Atkinson]

The ISO version is Xubuntu Noble 20231204. I tried to report this from the ISO using apport-bug, but it wouldn't play.

When installing on an Acer TravelMate 4740 laptop, I may have a bootable SD card in the slot. If I forget to take this out, the installer wants to install to it and won't let me select the main (500GB) drive. (It is not even a greyed-out option.) As far as I'm aware, no other testcase is doing this.

I would expect the installer to default to the large drive, or at least give me the choice of which drive I want to install to.

If I remove the SD card, the installer finds the larger drive without problems.

[Jane Atkinson (irihapeti)]

I can replicate this on a QEMU/KVM VM. It appears that the USB drive doesn't need to be a bootable drive. The one I tested with is formatted to FAT32 and has some files on it. It is still the only drive showing in the partition dialogue, but ONLY when auto-resize is active.

ISO used: Xubuntu 20231208. Kubuntu installer is also exhibiting this behaviour.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[sudodus (nio-wiklund)]

See this link:

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2492322&page=6&p=14169386#post14169386

to a post in a thread at the Ubuntu Forums. See also the dialogue in the following posts.

If a developer wants/needs a summary or more details, I am willing to help also with more tests, but now I only state that the option 'Install alongside' is easily 'disturbed', very sensitive to what kind of USB drives that are connected.

[Jane Atkinson (irihapeti)]

I'm still seeing this behaviour on the 20231227 ISO.

My tentative conclusion is that the file system on the removable device must be one that the partitioner can manipulate. exfatprogs isn't in the ISO file system, so it's not seen as a system that can be resized. As a lot of removable storage nowadays comes pre-formatted with exfat, it may not affect many people.

Still, I think it would be better if auto-resize allowed one to choose the drive, or at the very least came with a warning not to leave anything other storage attached.

[Jane Atkinson (irihapeti)]

I also found https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub-installer/+bug/964331 in my bug list, and wondered if there's any connection between the two.

[Jane Atkinson (irihapeti)]

Happening on Kubuntu ISO of 20240102

QEMU/KVM VM with two SATA internal drives.
Installer is installing OS to /dev/sdb and UEFI to /dev/sda.

Same thing with Xubuntu installer of 20240102.

[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

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/2045535

[Jane Atkinson (irihapeti)]

This appears to be a ubiquity-only bug. It doesn't appear in either Subiquity or Calamares - tested in a VM with an external USB drive attached. The USB drive appears in Grub, which is to be expected, but the installers don't attempt to install to it.

Unless there's some flavour that I'm not aware of still using Ubiquity, could this bug be closed?