Startup Disk Creator fails to clear USB drive

[Richard Appleby]

Downloaded latest Gnome Ubuntu 14.04 Beta 2 ISO. Attempted to create new startup USB key using Startup Disk Creator, and the USB key that I previously used to install the Alpha 2 code. System apparently failed to clear the disk, and reported the following error message:

org.freedesktop.DBus.Python.gi._glib.GError: Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/dbus/service.py", line 707, in _message_cb
    retval = candidate_method(self, *args, **keywords)
  File "/usr/share/usb-creator/usb-creator-helper", line 239, in Format
    block.call_format_sync('dos', GLib.Variant('a{sv}', {'erase': GLib.Variant('s', '')}), None)
gi._glib.GError: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.UDisks2.Error.Failed: Error synchronizing after initial wipe: Timed out waiting for object

Closed Startup Disk Creator, and checked the USB Key with "Disks", which also appeared unable to clear the drive (this time without any helpful messages - it just didnt work).

Dropped to command line, and checked USB Key with fdisk. Deleted all the partitions, and cleared / reset the partition table to a clear default. Resynced the disks and rebooted.

Attempted to create the USB key again with Startup Disk Creator & the 14.04 beta 2 ISO, and this time the now *blank* USB key appeared in the menu as being full (0 bytes available). Attempting to clear the USB key again results in exactly the same message as before:

org.freedesktop.DBus.Python.gi._glib.GError: Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/dbus/service.py", line 707, in _message_cb
    retval = candidate_method(self, *args, **keywords)
  File "/usr/share/usb-creator/usb-creator-helper", line 239, in Format
    block.call_format_sync('dos', GLib.Variant('a{sv}', {'erase': GLib.Variant('s', '')}), None)
gi._glib.GError: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.UDisks2.Error.Failed: Error synchronizing after initial wipe: Timed out waiting for object

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: usb-creator-gtk 0.2.56
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-23.45-generic 3.13.8
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-23-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Wed Apr 9 12:35:49 2014
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/usb-creator-gtk
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-03-18 (21 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-GNOME 14.04 "Trusty Tahr" - Alpha amd64 (20140226)
InterpreterPath: /usr/bin/python3.4
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: usb-creator
UDisksDump: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'udisks'
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Camo Ninja (castinnett)]

I had the same problem I used Gparted to format the usb to fat 32 then the Start up disk creator worked fine.

[marco (nazgul17)]

I have the same problem. I tried formatting the disk in fat32, ntfs, ext4 and leaving it unformatted. With fat32 the error message is different:

org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.

[Ish Sookun (coffee-bar)]

I had the same errors on Ubuntu 14.04 64Bit. usb-creator would fail to erase ext4 formatted pendrive. I re-formatted to FAT32 (using mkfs.vfat) and was able to successfully create a Live pendrive (with no need to erase using usb-creator).

[Ankur Pandey (matrixbegins)]

Its correct. USB must be formatted to FAT32. then it'll work again. I was creating the live USB stick fo rubuntu 14.04. when I encountered it andnow its working fine.

[papasky (papasky0202)]

After reformat to FAT. It's normal to make bootable usb.

[Bryan Pederson (haykeye13)]

Affects me as well. This bug is ridiculous please fix it. Unetbootin doesn't work properly now this doesn't either.

[Nick Romensky (nromensky)]

getting this error on Ubuntu 14.04 and 12.04. usb flash and SD card give same error.

[Nick Romensky (nromensky)]

just a month ago I was able to make startup disk successfully on the same laptop...

[Rajeev Jayaswal (justjayaswal)]

I was also facing the same issue. I formatted my pendrive using FAT file system and I was able to make my pendrive bootable with ubuntu 14.04.1 :D

[korba (korba2)]

I have the same error. Gparted doesn't work properly with the usb. I had to use windows to format the usb... :(

[Yu Ning (yuningdodo)]

hmm, if gparted doesn't work I think that is a different issue. usb-creator and gnome-disk-util share the same cause because they both use udisks2, but gparted not.