The installer needs to remove operating system files from the install target, but was unable to do so. The install cannot continue

I can't quite see what's going on here. Evan? It might help to add a bit more logging on the failure paths ...

This bug was fixed in the package partman-target - 52ubuntu3

---------------
partman-target (52ubuntu3) hardy; urgency=low

  * Updated translations.
  * Rework clear_partitions to not try to remove active mountpoints (LP:
    #186711).

 -- Evan Dandrea <email address hidden> Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:39:17 -0500

Is it fixed in the latest CD image ?

I get the same error with the current image (on 29/01/08).

And also on the 30th's desktop cd image :'( .

Ok, found how to see the version of packages on CD, fixed in the latest one. Sorry

I still get the problem on the hardy daily (i386) cd of 31/01/08... as in the test http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/result/1258/54

"I fill in all of the data of the installer, I manually partition.

After pressing the final install button, I get first "Removing conflicting operating system files" but this hangs for at least a couple of minutes. I then press skip on the dialog and I get "The installer needs to remove operating system files from the install target, but was unable to do so. The install cannot continue.".

This was on a dual boot system, and if I reboot I get a grub 15 error, and the windows boot partition is completely erased."

This was probably a separate bug. There have been several fixes since then - changelog excerpts follow:

partman-target (54ubuntu1) hardy; urgency=low

  [ Colin Watson ]
[...]
  * Don't clear partitions marked "do not use" (LP: #198106).
[...]

 -- Colin Watson <email address hidden> Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:49:56 +0000

partman-target (52ubuntu6) hardy; urgency=low

  * Fixed major bug in 60clear_partitions and re-enabled it.

 -- Evan Dandrea <email address hidden> Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:37:59 -0500

partman-target (52ubuntu4) hardy; urgency=low

  * Temporarily disable clear_partitions. It's removing directories on
    partitions that it should not be.

 -- Evan Dandrea <email address hidden> Fri, 01 Feb 2008 07:22:23 -0500

If you can still reproduce this with current daily builds, then please file a new bug and attach /var/log/syslog and /var/log/partman to it. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I also have this problem. It doesn't matter if I use Hardy 8.04.1 (AMD64) or Ibex alpha 5 (AMD64)
My system is setup with /, swap, /home, /media/Data and /media/Video all with JFS filesystem.
I recently did a complete new install with 8.04.1 using just JFS. Now I am trying to install Ibex a5
and my plan was to only format the / partition. Resulting in the above error message. If I now try to
install 8.04.1 I get the same error. With EXT3 I've never seen this problem.
I'm now installing Ibex A5 with just the / and SWAP enabled and this seems to work.

Trying to install kubuntu intrepid the installer stop on "Removing the conflicting.... etc". And stock on it!

After restarting Grub is erased... I hope the windows partition wasn't destroyed!!! fuck Kubuntu!

As a reaction to the previous 2 comments (#13 and #14), and as I have been personally frustrated myself with this error related to *buntu's installer unable to reuse an existing JFS /home partition, here's my hint on what it *should* usually do the trick when this happens.

1. Boot the LiveCD of your preferred flavor of *buntu/Mint, or any other LiveCD who has jfsutils -- you'll need either "fsck.jfs" or "jfs_fsck" (it's the same thing).

2. Make sure the JFS partition is *not* mounted.

3. Run whatever of the following two works -- assuming /dev/sda3 is the JFS home partition:
jfs_fsck /dev/sda3
or:
fsck.jfs /dev/sda3

4. Now try to mount the partition -- make sure the mounting point exist or replace it accordingly:
mount -t jfs /dev/sda3 /mnt/sda3

If you can cd to the mounted partition and the contents is fine, Ubuquity should be able to install and make use of it (you can umount it back).

Oh, prefixing with "sudo" might be needed in order to fsck, OK.

I've just been through this bug and it also wipes out my Windows XP partition (curiously it left one part of the Windows directory).

Clearly this bug is not fixed and is very damaging. Could it be reopened please?

I've reopened the bug, but it's unfortunate that none of the people who encountered it thought to attach log files to this bug. We may well need some before we can proceed.

... and indeed I said in comment 12:

  "If you can still reproduce this with current daily builds, then please file a new bug and attach /var/log/syslog and /var/log/partman to it. Sorry for the inconvenience."

I'll waive the "file a new bug" bit for now, but do that in future - it really is easier for us to keep track of, which results in better results for all of you!

i can confirm it too, i tried to install ubuntu 8.04 on my HDD after grub crashed

what do you need?

happens in 12.04 as well

Gon please follow the instructions in comment #19 and file a new bug report and let us know what it is.

Happens with 12.04 and XFS for me.

happened just now on trying to repair a 13.10 installation