I'm hitting the same bug. I plodded a little bit further down the road by running jim@krebstar:/tmp$ sudo debootstrap --arch amd64 --make-tarball=/tmp/wtf.tar xenial /tmp/whatever http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu and then sticking --debootstrap-tarball=/tmp/wtf.tar in my setup script. Now it dies in a different place: 2016-06-28 17:02:02,476 INFO : logging to file: /tmp/tmpFvJj7X 2016-06-28 17:02:02,500 INFO : Calling hook: preflight_check 2016-06-28 17:02:02,502 INFO : Calling hook: set_defaults 2016-06-28 17:02:02,503 INFO : Calling hook: bootstrap 2016-06-28 17:02:29,620 INFO : Calling hook: configure_os 2016-06-28 17:02:34,991 INFO : 2016-06-28 17:02:34,992 INFO : Current default time zone: 'Etc/UTC' 2016-06-28 17:02:34,993 INFO : Local time is now: Wed Jun 29 00:02:34 UTC 2016. 2016-06-28 17:02:34,993 INFO : Universal Time is now: Wed Jun 29 00:02:34 UTC 2016. 2016-06-28 17:02:34,993 INFO : 2016-06-28 17:02:36,194 INFO : Generating locales (this might take a while)... 2016-06-28 17:02:36,791 INFO : en_US.UTF-8... done 2016-06-28 17:02:36,791 INFO : Generation complete. Extracting templates from packages: 100% 2016-06-28 17:02:43,136 INFO : W: --force-yes is deprecated, use one of the options starting with --allow instead. 2016-06-28 17:02:45,411 INFO : Cleaning up 2016-06-28 17:02:45,412 INFO : Calling hook: preflight_check 2016-06-28 17:02:45,449 INFO : Calling hook: configure_networking 2016-06-28 17:02:45,460 INFO : Calling hook: create_partitions 2016-06-28 17:02:45,460 INFO : Creating disk image: "/tmp/tmpfgeOJ_" of size: 131072MB 2016-06-28 17:02:45,473 INFO : Adding partition table to disk image: /tmp/tmpfgeOJ_ 2016-06-28 17:02:45,482 INFO : Adding type 4 partition to disk image: /tmp/tmpfgeOJ_ 2016-06-28 17:02:45,483 INFO : Partition at beginning of disk - reserving first cylinder 2016-06-28 17:02:45,487 INFO : Warning: The resulting partition is not properly aligned for best performance. 2016-06-28 17:02:45,491 INFO : Adding type 3 partition to disk image: /tmp/tmpfgeOJ_ 2016-06-28 17:02:45,495 INFO : [0] ../../libparted/filesys.c:148 (ped_file_system_type_get): File system alias linux-swap(new) is deprecated 2016-06-28 17:02:45,495 INFO : Warning: The resulting partition is not properly aligned for best performance. 2016-06-28 17:02:45,499 INFO : Creating loop devices corresponding to the created partitions 2016-06-28 17:02:45,627 INFO : Creating file systems 2016-06-28 17:02:45,630 INFO : mke2fs 1.42.13 (17-May-2015) 2016-06-28 17:02:45,813 INFO : Calling hook: configure_mounting 2016-06-28 17:02:45,817 INFO : Calling hook: mount_partitions 2016-06-28 17:02:45,818 INFO : Mounting target filesystems 2016-06-28 17:02:46,761 INFO : Calling hook: install_bootloader 2016-06-28 17:02:49,723 INFO : E: Can not write log (Is /dev/pts mounted?) - posix_openpt (2: No such file or directory) 2016-06-28 17:02:50,355 INFO : update-rc.d: warning: start and stop actions are no longer supported; falling back to defaults 2016-06-28 17:02:50,366 INFO : invoke-rc.d: could not determine current runlevel 2016-06-28 17:02:50,377 INFO : Removing update-grub hooks from /etc/kernel-img.conf in favour of 2016-06-28 17:02:50,377 INFO : /etc/kernel/ hooks. 2016-06-28 17:02:50,452 INFO : Searching for GRUB installation directory ... 2016-06-28 17:02:50,452 INFO : No GRUB directory found. 2016-06-28 17:02:50,452 INFO : To create a template run 'mkdir /boot/grub' first. 2016-06-28 17:02:50,452 INFO : To install grub, install it manually or try the 'grub-install' command. 2016-06-28 17:02:50,452 INFO : ### Warning, grub-install is used to change your MBR. ### 2016-06-28 17:02:50,452 INFO : 2016-06-28 17:02:50,660 INFO : W: --force-yes is deprecated, use one of the options starting with --allow instead. 2016-06-28 17:02:51,692 INFO : Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub 2016-06-28 17:02:51,696 INFO : findfs: unable to resolve 'UUID=bcd8cdfb-14fc-4811-8409-6964b9811913' 2016-06-28 17:02:51,697 INFO : Cannot determine root device. Assuming /dev/hda1 2016-06-28 17:02:51,697 INFO : This error is probably caused by an invalid /etc/fstab 2016-06-28 17:02:51,763 INFO : Searching for default file ... Generating /boot/grub/default file and setting the default boot entry to 0 2016-06-28 17:02:51,764 INFO : Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub 2016-06-28 17:02:51,767 INFO : Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... 2016-06-28 17:02:51,767 INFO : 2016-06-28 17:02:51,767 INFO : Could not find /boot/grub/menu.lst file. 2016-06-28 17:02:51,767 INFO : Generating /boot/grub/menu.lst 2016-06-28 17:02:51,805 INFO : Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ... 2016-06-28 17:02:51,890 INFO : grep: /boot/config*: No such file or directory 2016-06-28 17:02:51,928 INFO : Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done 2016-06-28 17:02:51,928 INFO : 2016-06-28 17:02:52,036 INFO : Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub 2016-06-28 17:02:52,038 INFO : findfs: unable to resolve 'UUID=bcd8cdfb-14fc-4811-8409-6964b9811913' 2016-06-28 17:02:52,039 INFO : Cannot determine root device. Assuming /dev/hda1 2016-06-28 17:02:52,039 INFO : This error is probably caused by an invalid /etc/fstab 2016-06-28 17:02:52,082 INFO : Searching for default file ... found: /boot/grub/default 2016-06-28 17:02:52,084 INFO : Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst 2016-06-28 17:02:52,135 INFO : Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ... 2016-06-28 17:02:52,206 INFO : grep: /boot/config*: No such file or directory 2016-06-28 17:02:52,245 INFO : Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done 2016-06-28 17:02:52,245 INFO : 2016-06-28 17:02:52,263 INFO : Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub 2016-06-28 17:02:52,287 INFO : Calling hook: install_kernel 2016-06-28 17:02:55,219 INFO : E: Can not write log (Is /dev/pts mounted?) - posix_openpt (2: No such file or directory) 2016-06-28 17:02:55,328 INFO : grep: /proc/cpuinfo: No such file or directory 2016-06-28 17:02:55,328 INFO : This kernel does not support a non-PAE CPU. 2016-06-28 17:02:55,332 INFO : dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic_4.4.0-28.47_amd64.deb (--unpack): 2016-06-28 17:02:55,333 INFO : subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1 2016-06-28 17:02:55,341 INFO : Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d . 2016-06-28 17:02:55,342 INFO : run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 4.4.0-28-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-28-generic 2016-06-28 17:02:55,343 INFO : run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 4.4.0-28-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-28-generic 2016-06-28 17:02:55,357 INFO : Errors were encountered while processing: 2016-06-28 17:02:55,357 INFO : /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic_4.4.0-28.47_amd64.deb 2016-06-28 17:02:55,440 INFO : W: --force-yes is deprecated, use one of the options starting with --allow instead. 2016-06-28 17:02:55,440 INFO : E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) 2016-06-28 17:02:55,441 INFO : Cleaning up 2016-06-28 17:02:58,796 ERROR : Process (['chroot', '/tmp/tmp6eTArv', 'apt-get', '--force-yes', '-y', 'install', 'linux-image-virtual']) returned 100. stdout: Reading package lists... Building dependency tree... Reading state information... The following additional packages will be installed: linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic Suggested packages: fdutils linux-doc-4.4.0 | linux-source-4.4.0 linux-tools linux-headers-4.4.0-28-generic The following NEW packages will be installed: linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic linux-image-virtual 0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 18.8 MB of archives. After this operation, 55.6 MB of additional disk space will be used. Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic amd64 4.4.0-28.47 [18.7 MB] Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 linux-image-virtual amd64 4.4.0.28.30 [2320 B] Fetched 18.8 MB in 2s (7414 kB/s) Selecting previously unselected package linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic. (Reading database ... 10978 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic_4.4.0-28.47_amd64.deb ... Selecting previously unselected package linux-image-virtual. Preparing to unpack .../linux-image-virtual_4.4.0.28.30_amd64.deb ... Unpacking linux-image-virtual (4.4.0.28.30) ... , stderr: E: Can not write log (Is /dev/pts mounted?) - posix_openpt (2: No such file or directory) grep: /proc/cpuinfo: No such file or directory This kernel does not support a non-PAE CPU. dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic_4.4.0-28.47_amd64.deb (--unpack): subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1 Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d . run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 4.4.0-28-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-28-generic run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 4.4.0-28-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-28-generic Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic_4.4.0-28.47_amd64.deb W: --force-yes is deprecated, use one of the options starting with --allow instead. E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/bin/vmbuilder", line 24, in cli.main() File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/VMBuilder/contrib/cli.py", line 228, in main hypervisor.install_os() File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/VMBuilder/hypervisor.py", line 71, in install_os self.call_hooks('install_kernel', self.chroot_dir) File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/VMBuilder/distro.py", line 67, in call_hooks call_hooks(self, *args, **kwargs) File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/VMBuilder/util.py", line 159, in call_hooks getattr(plugin, func)(*args, **kwargs) File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/VMBuilder/plugins/ubuntu/distro.py", line 192, in install_kernel self.suite.install_kernel(destdir) File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/VMBuilder/plugins/ubuntu/dapper.py", line 307, in install_kernel run_cmd('chroot', destdir, 'apt-get', '--force-yes', '-y', 'install', self.kernel_name(), env={ 'DEBIAN_FRONTEND' : 'noninteractive' }) File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/VMBuilder/util.py", line 120, in run_cmd raise VMBuilderException, "Process (%s) returned %d. stdout: %s, stderr: %s" % (args.__repr__(), status, mystdout.buf, mystderr.buf) VMBuilder.exception.VMBuilderException: Process (['chroot', '/tmp/tmp6eTArv', 'apt-get', '--force-yes', '-y', 'install', 'linux-image-virtual']) returned 100. stdout: Reading package lists... Building dependency tree... Reading state information... The following additional packages will be installed: linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic Suggested packages: fdutils linux-doc-4.4.0 | linux-source-4.4.0 linux-tools linux-headers-4.4.0-28-generic The following NEW packages will be installed: linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic linux-image-virtual 0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 18.8 MB of archives. After this operation, 55.6 MB of additional disk space will be used. Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic amd64 4.4.0-28.47 [18.7 MB] Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 linux-image-virtual amd64 4.4.0.28.30 [2320 B] Fetched 18.8 MB in 2s (7414 kB/s) Selecting previously unselected package linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic. (Reading database ... 10978 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic_4.4.0-28.47_amd64.deb ... Selecting previously unselected package linux-image-virtual. Preparing to unpack .../linux-image-virtual_4.4.0.28.30_amd64.deb ... Unpacking linux-image-virtual (4.4.0.28.30) ... , stderr: E: Can not write log (Is /dev/pts mounted?) - posix_openpt (2: No such file or directory) grep: /proc/cpuinfo: No such file or directory This kernel does not support a non-PAE CPU. dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic_4.4.0-28.47_amd64.deb (--unpack): subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1 Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d . run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 4.4.0-28-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-28-generic run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 4.4.0-28-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-28-generic Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-4.4.0-28-generic_4.4.0-28.47_amd64.deb W: --force-yes is deprecated, use one of the options starting with --allow instead. E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)