failed to boot from USB disk with error: gfxboot.c32: not a COM32R Image boot:

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/1325801

Also affects Kubuntu 64-bit

Ubuntu 14.04 Daily-0610.1 & UK 14.04 Daily-0610，U盘制作的系统启动盘问题依然存在，但在“boot:”后输入“live”可进入live模式，通过live模式可进行系统安装(之前的版本点击“安装”无效)。

An update on the Kubuntu daily image - after typing live at the command prompt I do now enter a live session and am given the option of trying Kubuntu or installing Kubuntu.

i would recommend first checking the md5 of the iso AND the usb against the published md5. if it fails, it is an error in either the download process (iso fails) or the usb creation (usb fails). try a re-download or a re-creation, depending on what's appropriate.

assuming that's no problem, i'd try it out on a different machine (or perhaps a different virtual machine).

failing that, and assuming everyone is using usb-creator-kde, it should be checked against usb-creator-gtk. i doubt there's any difference, but maybe. if that fails, too, then the next step would be to try unetbootin and dd.

if there's a consistent problem on all machines and all methods of creating the usb, i would file the bug against syslinux, since that suggests the issue is with the iso itself. i would do the same if it is specific to a particular machine, although we might want to dig deeper to find out what specifically is the issue (perhaps some driver or something).

if one usb creation method works where others don't, the bug should be filed against the ones that don't work. i have found in general the unetbootin provides pretty good results and dd never fails.

hope that helps!

oh and if the problem is the usb creation method, and especially if it's usb-creator-kde, i wouldn't call it a bug against the lubuntu in the iso qa tracker for future tests.

I've just tried to create USB images on two Kubuntu 14.04 PCs using USB Creator and the problem persists. This is using Lubuntu image 20140623.1 (64-bit).

I've also tried using UNetBootin and I find that I boot into a live desktop without any trouble.

The problem is clearly with the creation method and not the downloaded images themselves. I thought I was confirming someone else's bug report with findings of my own and I apologise for not using an alternative method. Kubuntu's USB Creator has always been reliable in the past so I had no reason to suspect that application has suddenly started to consistently fail.

I suggest that the focus of this bug report turns to the method of creating images rather than trying to find fault with the images themselves.

UNetBootin will be used for future testing. Thanks for your interjection Walter.

Not reproducible in Vbox or CDROM

@ Paul White
Hi, I just tried with unetbooting reproducing this same issue.
I reassign to Casper and Ubuntu CD Images

Ok .... basically the quick fix for me was to copy /usr/lib/syslinux/gfxboot.c32 onto the USB-disk to match the version of syslinux mbr actually installed on the USB-flash.

I guess a plausible fix would be to just copy over all syslinux files and not used those present in the iso-file from the beginning.

This issue also continues in Unetbootin as default boot download Ubuntu 14.04

I'm also affected in Utopic and Trusty on different configurations, using usb-creator-gtk. With Trusty and Utopic (daily, and Unity-Next daily images). Images are not corrupt.
Using Unetbootin in Utopic shows the same result

This issue seems to be random. After formatting\creating USB disk by usb-creator-gtk for over 7 times - it is working.

Workaround in comment #11 didn't work for me.

confirm this problem

系 统：UK 14.10 beta1 64bit
机器型号：Lenovo YangtianM6600N
现 象：用Ｕ盘制作启动盘，不能启动，提示信息：ｇfxboot.c32: not a COM32R Image boot，输入live也不可进入live模式

seeing the same xubuntu beta

Same issue with Kubuntu 14.10 Beta 1 (Plasma 5 Preview), created using usb-creator-kde. I checked the MD5, which is correct.

Workaround as suggested in #11 works for me by copying the file from Kubuntu 14.04 to the right spot on the USB disk.

I created using usb-creator-gtk for the latest iso 2014/9/3(ubuntu & ubuntukylin ), still have the problem.

I've just tried to create USB images on ubuntukylin 14.10 PCs using dd and without any trouble. This is using ubuntukyin image 20140911 (64-bit).

 Using Unetbootin the problem persists.

@shijing and @jackyu, I have tried unetbootin with image 20140914. There is no any problems. Can you have a try again? And also can you try again with usb-creator again?

BTW, the image I am using is Ubuntu utopic 64bits but not Ubuntu Kylin. Here is the link http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-desktop-next/daily-live/20140914/utopic-desktop-amd64.iso.

@joey
I created using usb-creator-gtk for the latest iso 2014/9/14(ubuntu & ubuntukylin 32&64bit ), very strange.

I installed ubuntu& UK 64bit on lattop HP-Pavilion-Sleekbook-15-PC , it works.
but on the other mache for example thinkpad-201i, dell inspiron, lenovo,it did not work.

for ubuntu & uk 32bit no matter what machine ,it did not work . it wierd.

I also used unetbootin for latest iso 2014/9/14 ubuntukylin 64bit , only works on HP-Pavilion-Sleekbook-15-PC, other machine
did not work.

@shijin
Thank you. The information is very helpful and useful!
Can you help have a further check in BIOS if the machine are in UEFI mode or legacy mode? And run "find ./ -name gfxboot.c32 -exec md5sum {} \;" on your usb stick, past the result here. Thanks in advance.

@Joey, I tested dailybuild iso (915), using usb-creator-gtk on dailybuild system, no matter what machine (ubuntukylin 32bit or 64bit) it works.
but using usb-creator-gtk on 1404.1 system, part of machines was not.

I contrast the version of usb-creator-gtk on the two systems.
1410 usb-creator-gtk version is 0.2.62, 1404.1 the application version is 0.2.56.2
It is perhaps for this reason。

@shijing, Good to know that you figure out a workable way. We may be able to close this issue, but before we can close this issue, can you still help compare the two USB sticks and show the differences? My assumption is that something else is root cause maybe.

I performed three tests this AM. In all cases I used my stable fully updated Trusty to create the live USB's and the versions of 'usb-creator-gtk' and 'unetbootin' used are the standard versions available in the Trusty repos. Tests were performed on bare metal:

Intel Atom CPU 230 @ 1.60GHz
Intel 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
Intel N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)
2GB DDR2 RAM

In test #1 I created an Ubuntu Utopic 20140922 i386 live USB using 'usb-creator-gtk' (aka: Startup Disk Creator) and attempting to boot the live USB produced this bug.

In test #2 I created an Ubuntu Utopic 20140922 i386 live USB using 'unetbootin' and the live USB boots as it should.

In test #3 I created an Ubuntu 14.04.1 live USB using 'usb-creator-gtk' (aka: Startup Disk Creator) and the live USB boots as it should.

Hope that's helpful. It seems that whatever is borked in the Utopic iso's does not effect UNetbootin but does effect Startup Disk Creator.

I performed another test, this time using the Ubuntu Utopic version of 'usb-creator-gtk' to create an Ubuntu Utopic 20140922 i386 live USB and it boots as it should. So right now I'd have to say, "Utopic live USB's created with the Trusty version of 'usb-creator-gtk' fail to boot and display the text reported in this bug".

I'll try and test using the Precise version of 'usb-creator-gtk' as soon as possible.

I pulled up the Utopic changelog for 'usb-creator-gtk' which I'll include but it's too technical for me.

An Ubuntu Utopic 20140922 i386 live USB created in Precise using Startup Disk Creator also fails with the error reported here, so I'd have to amend that last statement to say, "Utopic live USB's created with the Trusty or Precise versions of 'usb-creator-gtk' fail to boot and display the error reported in this bug".

Sort of leaves me wondering if we need to fix the image or if we should do separate SRU's for both Precise and Trusty 'usb-creator-gtk'???

It would be nice if someone could try creating a Utopic live USB in Windows (probably both Win 7 and Win 8) following the official USB creation methods linked to on the main download page. I have no Windows machines to test with.

I did not realize that we were now recommending UUI for creating live USB's in all versions of Windows but that is the case:

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

So I dusted off a seldom used Win XP and created an Ubuntu Utopic 20140922 i386 live USB using UUI and it boots fine.

So I'm fairly confident saying, "Utopic live USB's created with the Trusty or Precise versions of 'usb-creator-gtk' fail to boot and display the error reported in this bug".

It would be nice if someone could verify that though.

@Erick, Thank you very much for the information. Those are really very useful and helpful. Can you please download http://launchpadlibrarian.net/183886438/usb-creator-common_0.2.62_amd64.deb and http://launchpadlibrarian.net/183886439/usb-creator-gtk_0.2.62_amd64.deb, and use "sudo dpk -i" to force install them on your 14.04 system to see if this issue still exists or not?

Those package are the ones from utopic. As far as I tried, I still can reproduce this issue. So just from my point of view, this is not just an issue from "usb-creator".

@Joey
I did live usb using usb-creator-gtk ( 9.23 Ubuntukylin i386 dailybuild iso ) In two different systems（1404.1 and 1410）,
the usb-creator-gtk version in 1404.1 is 0.2.56.2 and in 1410 is 0.2.62.
I used "diff -Nur dir1 dir2 >diff.patch " order output diff file in attachment.
at the same time I paste the picture of two usb dirs.

On the one created on 1404.1 the file ldlinux.c32 gets lost. Does it show the relation with UEFI config?

@Joey, sorry for the delay. You're right, just upgrading 'usb-creator*' does NOT do the trick. I even tried changing the Trusty sources to Utopic, then updating the cache, then installing 'usb-creator-gtk' in case some other dependency needed upgrading. It was still not good.

The attachment "diff.patch" seems to be a patch. If it isn't, please remove the "patch" flag from the attachment, remove the "patch" tag, and if you are a member of the ~ubuntu-reviewers, unsubscribe the team.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by ~brian-murray, for any issues please contact him.]

remove tag "patch" as "diff.patch" is not a patch for fixing this issue, but it is for us to help see what the root cause is.

It may be helpful to add the log file for usb-creator, which is located in ~/.cache/usb-creator.log, to the the bug report to help track down if it is a problem with usb-creator.

Additionally, testing creating a USB stick with dd would be really helpful. Thanks!

For comparison here's the requested log from my Utopic that was used more than once to successfully create a Utopic live USB. I'll boot into my Trusty that continually produced bad Utopic live USB's momentarily.

Here is the log from my Trusty that most recently made bad Utopic live USB's.

I'll have to study how to create a live USB with dd, something I should learn anyway.

Using dd to create a live USB works just fine in that same Trusty that spits out bad live USB's using usb-creator.

diff 14.04.1 and 14.10 system usb-creator-gtk application , 14.04.1 looks like less a file .

@Erick - your last comment regarding dd isn't clear to me. Did dd create usable live USB sticks from Trusty and Utopic?

@Brian Murray, I didn't try using dd in Utopic because using 'usb-creator' in Utopic to create a Utopic live USB has never failed since I began testing on or around 20140922.

The only failures I've been able to reproduce can be summed up as, "Utopic live USB's created with the Trusty or Precise versions of 'usb-creator-gtk' fail to boot and display the error reported in this bug".

Creating a Utopic live USB using dd in Trusty produced a bootable live USB with no errors. I haven't yet tried using dd in Precise to create a Utopic live USB but I don't mind doing it if you'd like.

BTW if someone else wants to try it I found it quite simple:

sudo dd if=path/to/image.iso of=/dev/sd#

So my archived 20140922 iso was on the Desktop, and the desired flash drive was /dev/sdc so;

sudo dd if=Desktop/utopic-desktop-i386.iso of=/dev/sdc

Wish I'd taken time to learn that sooner.

Oh, so far I've been using my archived 20140922 iso for all of the testing but going forward I'll try the latest daily images just in case something unapparent changes.

I went to try a fresh install of Ubuntu Gnome 14.10 and used Unetbootin to write the ISO as usual.
The USB would not even boot so I tried one more time and it did the same.
I tried using Startup Boot Creator and I had full menu and everything worked as it should. Never had Unetbootin fail and Startup Boot Creator work.

All done from an up to date Utopic install

dd - works
usb-creator-gtk - works

unetbootin - failed with com32 error. <Tab> at boot: prompt gives me the option of unetbootindefault and ubnentry0 to ubnentry9

I am also affected by this issue using utopic kubuntu-plasma-5, built 2014-10-04.

Regarding #50: I copied /usr/lib/syslinux/gfxboot.c32 to USB/syslinux and the USB key worked as expected.

Regarding #51: in today's 14.10 daily I was affected by the same problem. I copied /usr/lib/syslinux/gfxboot.c32 from my 14.04 system into the usb /syslinux and it now boots fine.

This is 14.10 Ubuntu 64. The boot disk was created on a 14.04 Ubuntu 64 system, up to date, with usb-creator-gtk.

Less than 24 hours to go before Utopic is released :^(

Is this not a regression to bug #1112878?

Should we not at least mention it in the release notes?

I checked that the current 'utopic-desktop-i386.iso' works when flashed to USB with mkusb., which it should according to comment #49 by elfy - dd works.

-o-

What about the alternatives from Windows? If there are problems with Unetbootin, I would guess that

http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

will work (because it copies/flashes/clones the iso file in the same way as dd in linux).

As far as I can tell, it's not so much that it's a regression in usb-creator or in the images, it's that the interface between the core of syslinux and its COM32 modules is incompatible between 14.10 and earlier versions; this means that running usb-creator from a 14.10 system to write a 14.10 image works fine (e.g. comment #49) but it doesn't work if you're running it from a 14.04 or earlier system, and I suspect that it also doesn't work if you try to use usb-creator from a 14.10 system to write a pre-14.10 image. And no, Erick, it is not a regression from bug 1112878 even though it has the same final symptom - please don't conflate those two bugs.

This is obviously suboptimal and if we (relevant developers) had noticed this in time then we should certainly have fixed it in both 14.10 and earlier versions to reduce confusion. The least invasive fix is probably to copy the relevant .c32 files from the host system as well as running syslinux on the image, and comment #52 indicates that this approach works fine. However, since the most pressing need is to fix this in updates to usb-creator in 14.04 and earlier releases, there's no reason for it to block the release of 14.10.

I will write up something for the release notes, and see if we can get this patched up reasonably quickly.

And, to be clear, you need a 14.10 (etc.) *system*, not just usb-creator. The relevant packages would be the various syslinux-related binaries.

I've release-noted this now, here:

  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UtopicUnicorn/ReleaseNotes#Boot.2C_installation_and_post-install

Somebody may also want to update the usb-creator section of https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick.

Thanks Colin.

I updated the wiki page I mentioned.

time for syslinux-semi-legacy & syslinux-future packages in addition to the syslinux-legacy and syslinux packages?!

Wow the image released contains this bug! Just tried it on my System76 gazelle 8.

Sorry I should mention that I created the bootable USB on a 14.04 system.

The workaround, that is typing "live" into the boot prompt, eventually yields a live session.

This is Ubuntu 14.10 downloaded today from the regular release page.

Yes, I tried running "live-install" at the boot: prompt and it worked.

I added some text at this web address

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick#Known_Issues

which points to mkusb (for linux) and Win32DiskImager (for Windows). I made a new wiki page with screenshots to help in this acute situation until the Startup Disk Creator and Unetbootin work again.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Win32DiskImager/iso2usb

I think this is a bug in UNetbootin. I found that it is fixed by using the latest version of UNetbootin which can be downloaded from SourceForge.

I've had no problem with Unetbootin, only usb-creator*.

Ahem sorry to all I did not read the last ten or so comments.

Having more carefully read through them, and having re-read the earlier notes, I have (I believe) a more useful question.

Would it not be reasonable to mention on the release notes and related pages that it may be possible to use usb-creator-gtk on a 14.04 system to make a 14.10 bootable usb stick provided that the user is prepared to type "live" when informed that gfxboot.c32 is not bootable, or is prepared to copy the gfxboot.32 file from the 14.04 system onto the usb stick prior to use?

I have been fiddling for two days with this issues trying many different methods and iso.

My results are as follow:
- error COM32 with both Xubuntu 14.04 and 14.10 prepared with Unetbootin (ver. 603-1 in repository, I saw there is a new version out on their website but I didn't compile it). The fix of typing 'install' on the prompt did not work either.
- error with dd method: 'no syslinux.bin'
- success (finally!) with the least likely option: usb-creator-gtk.

I hope this helps.

with unetbootin you can use unetbootindefault at boot:

it doesn't give you any options - but it does boot to the live desktop

@pa_card:

If you got this error with the dd method: 'no syslinux.bin', I think you copied/flashed/cloned the iso file to a partition rather than to the whole drive.

I have a similar problem, see
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthread.php?66770-Live-USB-does-not-boot&p=361703#post361703

I tried some more things, and the only thing I get to work is with the dd command:
- Kali Linux
- Ubuntu 14.04.1 iso image
- Kubuntu 14.04.1 iso image

What does not work: (dd nor usb creator nor Unetbootin)
- Kubuntu 14.10 (I even borrowed a dvd RW from a neighbour and burned the image on the dvd)
- Kubuntu 14.04 initial iso image
- Kubuntu 15.04 daily
- mint 17

As 14.04 is an LTS, IMO the problem should be corrected there as wel.

Hi Marc (mbbs)

In the cases where dd does not make a bootable drive for you, there is another problem. This bug does not affect the dd method. Please describe your problem in detail at the Ubuntu Forums and I think you can receive help from there.

-o-

I tried a couple of days ago. Unetbootin worked. This bug was still there in updated 12.04.5 and 14.04.1 systems affecting attempts to boot 14.10 with pendrives prepared with the Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator.

This also happens when using Startup Disk Creator on Ubuntu 14.04 x64 using ISO images for Trusty, Utopic and Kylin-Ubuntu. Downloaded images are fine, tried several different USB-sticks for the creating of the boot media and several laptops (Thinkpad X240 and Samsung Ultrabook)

The /isolinux/gfxboot.c32 file in 14.10 is 10.4kB. The same file in 14.04 is 21.3kB.
I have remade the iso image after replacing gfxboot.c32 with the one from 14.04 and usb-creator now produces working pendrives.

I've tried 'Disks' alias gnome-disks in Lubuntu 14.04.1 and Vivid.

I could make it create an iso file from a partition, but not from the whole drive. Trying from the whole drive gave me an error both running as a regular user and with sudo. (I tested with a Tiny Core iso file, which is small so it was fast.)

When I restored from the image of the partition I got a working boot drive. (I cloned the Ubuntu mini.iso in between so that the pendrive was changed.) I think this is not logical (and not corresponding to how dd is used). Restoring a partition should not restore the whole drive, but I guess it is intended to work this way.

I could make it flash, clone alias 'restore' a boot USB drive from another iso file (I tested with the Ubuntu mini.iso (because it is small
so it was fast).

-o-

Conclusion:

I'm glad that I learned about this feature of 'Disks'. It is certainly possible to use in order to make a USB boot drive. There is an extra 'final warning window', so it should be safe enough to use. And best of all, it offers a working solution, when the Startup Disk Creator suffers from this really bad bug (# 1325801) plus several minor bugs.

-o-

But of course, I still think that my mkusb is better ;-)

One important extra feature of mkusb is the ability to use general compressed image files (an iso file often contains the compressed container squashfs, but is not itself compressed). Another extra feature of mkusb is the ability to check if the content of the iso file matches that of the pendrive, and suggest updating for iso-testing. And there are several informative windows including a final warning with red background.

I can confirm that the same problem arises when running usb-creator on Ubuntu 14.10 to write an older operating system (boot-repair in this case).

Why are we bothering with this error? Is not this a SHAME?

All time when I try people to use Linux, Ubuntu installation sucks! Especially after saying 5 minutes is enough for installation I was unable to boot. Trying to work around for bugs.

I think Canonical should have some policies for this kind a thing! Don't make us shame on other f**king ms users...

Same problem with Kubuntu-Plasma5-14.10-amd64, using USB creator. Trying now UNetbootin

Also reproducible when using the below mentioned versions and 14.10 ISO: http://releases.ubuntu.com/14.10/ubuntu-14.10-desktop-amd64.iso.torrent

:~$ usb-creator-gtk --version
0.2.23

:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS
Release: 14.04
Codename: trusty

It really sucks when I try to convince people about ubuntu having the fastest installation and it's unable to boot

Similar issue with 14.04.1 ISO:
http://releases.ubuntu.com/trusty/ubuntu-14.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso.torrent
written with usb-creator-kde version 0.2.62 from utopic.
The message I get is "failed to load com32 file gfxboot.c32".
Typing "live" boots the live system.

The solution presented on comment #11 worked for us with "ubuntu-14.10-server-i386.iso" with an USB Boot PEN created by "Universal-USB-Installer-1.9.5.5.exe" under Windows 8.1.

We've copied the "gfxboot.c32" file from a "Linux Mint 17 Qiana" distro.

cp /usr/lib/syslinux/gfxboot.c32 /media/user/UUI/isolinux/

Hi guys, attached is a patch which will sync the *.c32 files from host system to the target. With this patch I create a 14.10 usb stick on a 14.04 machine, and the usb stick can boot with Legacy BIOS successfully without any error.

BTW, I wonder if we could fix this issue in a different way. Per previous comments we know the root cause is that the mbr on the usb stick is installed from the host system, which may be incompatible with the syslinux files included in the CD/ISO. So a possible fix is:
1. mount the CD/ISO to self.source (this is already done in current code)
2. mount the squashfs image self.source + 'casper/filesystem.squashfs' to self.sourcefs
3. install syslinux boot loader in the self.sourcefs chroot instead of host system
4. burn self.sourcefs/usr/lib/legacy/mbr.bin instead of /usr/lib/legacy/mbr.bin

Not sure if step 3 is necessary. By doing this we can make sure the mbr and all the syslinux files are in the same version, the version used in the source CD/ISO.

However to achieve this we have to change the dbus interface since previously the source mount point is not passed to the InstallBootloader dbus method. I'll make some actual test and feedback later.

Here is a patch implemented in the "different way" I described in comment #83, it also works on my trusty system to create a utopic usb stick.

Looking at the attachments in this bug report, I noticed that an attachment was not flagged as a patch. A patch contains changes to an Ubuntu package that will resolve a bug and this attachment is one! Subsequently, I've checked the patch flag for it. In the future when submitting patches please use the patch checkbox as there are some Launchpad searches that use this feature. You can learn more about the patch workflow at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Patches.

About the patch in comment #84, it has no effect for xubuntu 14.10 iso image since there is no syslinux installed in the squashfs image, so the patch in comment #83 is better in such a case, it always works.

Same bug in Vivid alpha 2 and the daily live iso.

A fix for the next release is great, but what are we doing to get current version installations working, today--short of buying an external DVD drive?

Hi, guys, I have proposed a patch for this issue against lp:ubuntu/usb-creator (or should I submit it against lp:usb-creator ?):
https://code.launchpad.net/~yuningdodo/usb-creator/usb-creator.lp1325801-sync-syslinux-c32-files/+merge/249454

Would anyone help to review it? Thanks in advance. For any concerns and suggestions please let me know, I would have the patch improved ASAP.

@LanceHaverkamp, once the issue is fixed in next release I believe we can also backport the solution to previous releases via the SRU process.

It seems like the logic is probably good, but it doesn't appear to solve the issue for burning a 14.04 USB key from 14.10... Though it may not be as much of an issue as the other way around. Just copying the files in place doesn't appear to be sufficient to get that working.

@Mathieu, thanks very much for the review, well, yes, I have only tested the patch with 14.04 as host system. Actually I have two patches in comment #83 and #84 with two different approaches:

#83: copy the *.c32 files to target, the one I proposed in the merge request
#84: install the target's mbr.bin instead of the host's one

At first I thought #84 would be the best solution since it won't install the host files to the usbstick at all. However this was turned to be not always work since that on some images, xubuntu for example, syslinux was not pre-installed in the target squashfs system. That's why I finally decide to push the #83 patch.

For the file path changing, let me check if I can get the *.c32 files by a "find". I'll resubmit my improved patch later.

Hi Mathieu and all the other friends, I've improved the previous patch and resubmitted it here against the trunk branch:
https://code.launchpad.net/~yuningdodo/usb-creator/usb-creator.lp1325801v2-sync-syslinux-c32-files/+merge/249769

Any suggestions are welcomed, let's push hard on this issue, I really don't want to see ubuntu being blamed with such kind of bugs :)

Hmm, I'm afraid the usb-creator (Ubuntu) hasn't been fixed yet, so let's move it back to Confirmed. Please correct me if I have a misunderstanding.

Confirmed in Vivid Daily 20150305

This bug was fixed in the package usb-creator - 0.2.67

---------------
usb-creator (0.2.67) vivid; urgency=medium

  * Find and use the syslinux from the source squashfs. (LP: #1325801)
 -- Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre <email address hidden> Tue, 10 Mar 2015 11:24:34 -0400

Thanks for the fix and the sponsor of the fix! Now the Stable Release Updates?

Yes, next step is to do the SRUs for this patch, I'll take care of them.

使用UK15.04-0311-Daily-amd64镜像，在Ubutu12.04上制作的启动盘存在该问题；在UK15.05-Daily上制作的启动盘不存在该问题。

测试机器型号：HP-Pavilion-Sleekbook-15-PC

使用UK15.04-0315-Daily-amd64镜像，在UK13.04/13.10/14.04.2-amd64系统上制作的启动盘存在该问题；在UK14.10-amd64上制作的启动盘不存在该问题。

测试机器型号：HP-Pavilion-Sleekbook-15-PC

Bug is still present in Xubuntu amd64 20150324.2 iso image. (Vivid beta 2)

Sergio, the current patch for the issue can't fix the bug in all cases, it requires a) the source ISO image contains a squashfs image and b) syslinux is pre-installed in the squashfs image. So Xubuntu iso image still can't be fixed due to b), and debian netinst iso image can't be fixed due to a).

Please also refer to the patch for details:
https://code.launchpad.net/~yuningdodo/usb-creator/usb-creator.lp1325801v3-use-source-syslinux/+merge/250877

Yu, in fact the bug is still present also in Ubuntu amd64 20150326 live ISO as well as Xubuntu amd64 20150326.

Now the complete message is:

Missing parameter in configuration file. Keyword: path
gfxboot.c32: not a COM32R image

I'm not sure if it's a different bug now but the "type live and press enter" workaround works well.

Hello shijing, or anyone else affected,

Accepted usb-creator into utopic-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/usb-creator/0.2.62ubuntu0.2 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, and change the tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

Sergio, could I know what's your host system? I attempted to reproduce the issue with 0326 image, but the usbstick can boot into syslinux successfully. Here is my steps:

1. download vivid amd64 0326 daily image
2. install the image
3. boot into the installed system
4. burn ubuntu trusty/vivid ISO image with usb-creator-gtk to an usbstick
5. boot with the usbstick with Legacy BIOS

To make things clear for anyone interested in this bug, let me say something about the cause and what has been fixed and what not. Just skip below lines if you already know :)

The cause. In the bug comments we know the root cause is that usb-creator a) copy syslinux .c32 modules from the ISO image to usbstick, and b) install mbr.bin from host system to usbstick. If the host system has different version than the ISO image, then the .c32 modules will be incompatible with the mbr.bin, for example burn an vivid ISO on an trusty host system.

The patch. So one possible fix for the issue, is to install mbr.bin also from the ISO image to keep it compatible with the .c32 modules. This is what the applied patch does. However the limitation for this patch is obvious, if there is no mbr.bin stored in the ISO then we can do nothing. This will happen if a) no suqahsfs image in the ISO such as the debian netinst image or b) syslinux not pre-installed in the squashfs such as the xubuntu image.

At the moment the patch is only applied in vivid, so we have to use latest vivid as host system to get the fix. For other host system such as trusty we have to wait for the SRU.

Verified on a fresh installed utopic system, the initial usb-creator package version is 0.2.62, with this version we can reproduce the issue by burning an trusty ISO. Then I upgrade usb-creator-common and usb-creator-gtk to 0.2.62ubuntu0.3, I can burn the trusty ISO successfully, and with the usbstick we can boot into the syslinux menu successfully. So I think the issue is fixed on utopic. I'll update the tags.

I got to this issue on Ubuntu 12.04.5 amd64 host and Ubuntu 15.04 beta2 guest.

What I did:
1. I downloaded official Ubuntu 15.04 beta2 iso (MD5SUM e838edda85712d283bd94b34dbb5d6ec)
2. launched "usb-creator-gtk" for creation of LiveUSB, selected ISO and target USB-flash, pressed "Make Startup Disk"
3. LiveUSB was created ("Installation Complete" window)
4. Pressed "Test Disk"
5. Got error message in QEMU window ("gfxboot.c32: not a COM32R image")

If I enter manually "live" I get into other issue with VGA adapter ( "The system is running in low-graphic mode" see bug 1437740 ).

So "usb-creator-gtk" from Ubuntu 12.04.5 Precise Pangolin produces Vivid Vervet image that is unusable in QEMU/KVM.

Please fix this bug in all LTS versions of Ubuntu - 12.04 and 14.04.

While we wait for Xubuntu-vivid-daily-build to include the syslinux packages to see if the patch works.
I took the liberty of downloading the daily iso and repackaging it with the required syslinux packages. I'm glad to say, that it works; usb memory stick boots straight into the menu, as it should.

Details :
Host system = Xubuntu 14.04.2 (Trusty) , xfce4 4.12
usb-creator-gtk 0.2.62ubuntu0.2 (Utopic version force installed)
xubuntu-vivid-desktop-amd64.iso (build date 2015-03-29)

cheers!

Glad to hear that, just wonder is there already a plan to include syslinux into xubuntu? If not how could we push this?

The verification of the Stable Release Update for usb-creator has completed successfully and the package has now been released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.

This bug was fixed in the package usb-creator - 0.2.62ubuntu0.2

---------------
usb-creator (0.2.62ubuntu0.2) utopic; urgency=medium

  * Find and use the syslinux from the source squashfs. (LP: #1325801)
 -- Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre <email address hidden> Fri, 20 Mar 2015 11:06:08 -0400

Do you plan to fix this bug in Ubuntu Precise and Trusty?

Hello, bug is still present in Xubuntu live 20150422.1 amd64 but is fixed in Ubuntu live daily.

This bug is still present when creating bootable USB from Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet release ISO with Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS Trusty Tahr's usb-creator-gtk.

(the workaround "cp /usr/lib/syslinux/gfxboot.c32 /path/to/usb-media/syslinux/" works though)

@janne
I confirm it, I tried to make another Vivid bootable USB using 14.04.2 as host system, and I still get this error.

Bug exists in Ubuntu 12.04.5 host and Ubuntu 15.04 final guest.
Please fit in previous but supported LTS version of Ubuntu - 12.04.
It's annoying as bug 1437740.

Hello shijing, or anyone else affected,

Accepted usb-creator into trusty-proposed. The package will build now and be available at http://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/usb-creator/0.2.56.3ubuntu0.2 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, and change the tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

Computer: http://www.toshiba.se/laptops/satellite-pro/c850/satellite-pro-c850-19w/

I have used it for iso-testing of trusty, utopic and vivid - so I know that it is compatible with Ubuntu and Lubuntu.

I tested to install Lubuntu 15.04 from the desktop 32-bit bit iso file with usb-creator-gtk in a system installed from

ubuntu-14.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso

added

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-proposed restricted main multiverse universe

to

/etc/apt/sources.list

and updated/dist-upgraded to make the system completely up to date.

This bug affected the installation before adding the proposed repository. The version of usb-creator-gtk from 'proposed' fails to install the bootloader. The version that comes with 14.04.2 LTS could install the bootloader but suffers from this bug (1325801).

I tried again after wiping the drive separately (new partition table and new FAT32 partition), unmount, un-plug and re-plug the pendrive for usb-creator-gtk to work, but it failed again. I started with the installed system running via USB 3, which works with Unetbootin and mkusb. I moved the SSD to the internal bay, and tried again, but I still had the same problem.

Maybe this is a problem with the authentication method? Or a problem with chroot (if that is used)?

Anyway, I tried to boot from the pendrive, which seems to have 'all the files' but not the bootloader. But it does not work, I get a flashing cursor at the top left corner of the screen.

Finally I tried to create a pendrive without persistence. But usb-creator-gtk still fails when trying to install the bootloader.

I do not feel authorized to change any tag.

I tried also from a live session of Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS booted from

ubuntu-14.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso

where I made the proposed repository available and installed usb-creator-gtk from it. 'Nothing else' was changed from the content of the iso file.

It still fails to install the bootloader and exits with the same message window (as when trying in the installed system),

"Failed to install the bootloader.
[Quit]"

This bug still exists in UK14.04-Release-amd64&i386 with usb-creator 0.2.56.3ubuntu0.2.

I got similar result with sudodus, on a fresh install ubuntu 14.04.2 I can't burn the 15.04 ISO with the error "Failed to install the bootloader".

I have the same problem with #119 on 14.04.2, "Failed to install the bootloader" message on creating and unable to boot from the created disk.

Oh, sorry, forgot to mention in comment #121, on the fresh installed ubuntu 14.04.2 I have upgraded usb-creator to 0.2.56.3ubuntu0.2 from trusty-proposed.

I checked the source code, in /usr/share/usb-creator/usb-creator-helper:InstallBootloader() we should perform s/syslinux_exe/syslinux/g and s/syslinux_var/syslinux/g , after that I can 1) burn 15.04 ISO on 14.04.2 host and 2) boot into the syslinux menu with the usbstick.

I never could get Vivid's usb-creator to create a working live USB, always ending with the error "Failed to install the bootloader", so I filed bug #1446646. You might want to compare logs to see if the errors look the same. I've just been too busy to deal with it any further - for all intents and purposes I've just given up on usb-creator ever working properly.

Let us hope that Yu Ning's fix and Erick Bunzell's old bug report address the same problem, and that there is only this bug to squash to get this poor bug-ridden program working again.

I tried Yu Ning's bug-fix, but it did not help me. usb-creater-gtk failed with the same error message (running an installed Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS system as in comment #118). Something is different between our systems.

I tried Yu Ning's bug-fix in the live Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS system, but it failed too (like the result in comment #119).

Indeed, this is very broken.

Hello shijing, or anyone else affected,

Accepted usb-creator into precise-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/usb-creator/0.2.38.3ubuntu0.2 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, and change the tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

Comment #117:

Hello shijing, or anyone else affected,

Accepted usb-creator into trusty-proposed. The package will build now and be available at http://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/usb-creator/0.2.56.3ubuntu0.2 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Comment #130:

ello shijing, or anyone else affected,

Accepted usb-creator into precise-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/usb-creator/0.2.38.3ubuntu0.2
-----
The version numbers are confusing. Is version 0.2.38.3ubuntu0.2 newer (and improved) compared to version 0.2.56.3ubuntu0.2 ?

No, those are different version numbers for different releases of Ubuntu. Notice the words "precise-proposed" and "trusty-proposed".

@sudodus, thanks for the test in #127, could you help to collect some logs?

1. sudo sed -ri '/syslinux_(var|exe)/syslinux/g' /usr/share/usb-creator/usb-creator-helper
2. (in terminal 1) sudo killall usb-creator-helper ; sudo /usr/share/usb-creator/usb-creator-helper
3. (in terminal 2) usb-creator-gtk -n

When the error dialog is popped please help to collect the output in terminal 1.

@ Yu Ning,

I hope the following information helps :-)

I updated/dist-upgraded the system to be up to date (Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS). I also purged and re-installed usb-creator-gtk.

Collected output:
-----
tester@tester-SATELLITE-PRO-C850-19W:~$ sudo sed -ri '/syslinux_(var|exe)/syslinux/g' /usr/share/usb-creator/usb-creator-helper
sed: -e uttryck #1, tecken 30: oavslutat "s"-kommando
tester@tester-SATELLITE-PRO-C850-19W:~$ sudo sed -ri 's/syslinux_(var|exe)/syslinux/g' /usr/share/usb-creator/usb-creator-helper
tester@tester-SATELLITE-PRO-C850-19W:~$ sudo killall usb-creator-helper ; sudo /usr/share/usb-creator/usb-creator-helper
usb-creator-helper: ingen process hittades
DEBUG:root:['mount', '-r', '-o', 'loop', b'/home/tester/H\xc3\xa4mtningar/vivid-desktop-i386.iso', '/tmp/tmpwojzqdo0']
DEBUG:root:['mount', '-o', 'remount,rw', dbus.String('/dev/sdb1')]
DEBUG:root:WTF?!: /dev/sdb1
DEBUG:root:['mount', '-r', '-o', 'loop', b'/media/tester/ADE8-AECA/casper/filesystem.squashfs', '/tmp/tmpcfaxrhpt']
DEBUG:root:['/tmp/tmpcfaxrhpt/usr/bin/syslinux', '-f', dbus.String('/dev/sdb1')]
-----
Startup Disk Creator finishes with the message window "Failed to install the bootloader".

Comments to the collected output:

sed: I think you missed an s in the instruction (so copy and paste did not work out of the box).

WTF?!: My Sandisk Cruzer Blade 4GB is cheap, but reliable, and should do well also for the Startup Disk Creator ;-)

@sudodus, thanks a lot for the logs. I guess you are burning the i386 ISO on an amd64 host machine? This was a blind spot in previous patch for vivid, it assumes host arch == target arch.

Yes, I was trying to flash the Lubuntu 15.04 desktop i386 iso file (that I iso-tested recently) from an Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS amd64 installed system and I expected that it should work too :-P

I'll check if it works to flash an amd64 iso file from my Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS amd64 installed system with the Startup Disk Creator.

This time it worked better. It was possible to install the bootloader, and the Startup Disk Creator finished with a window

"The installation has finished ..."
-----
tester@tester-SATELLITE-PRO-C850-19W:~$ sudo killall usb-creator-helper ; sudo /usr/share/usb-creator/usb-creator-helper
[sudo] password for tester:
usb-creator-helper: ingen process hittades
DEBUG:root:Unmounting /dev/sdb1
DEBUG:root:['dd', 'if=/dev/zero', 'of=/dev/sdb', 'bs=446', 'count=1']
DEBUG:root:['mount', '-r', '-o', 'loop', b'/home/tester/H\xc3\xa4mtningar/vivid-desktop-amd64.iso', '/tmp/tmpy5cw14c0']
DEBUG:root:['mount', '-o', 'remount,rw', dbus.String('/dev/sdb1')]
DEBUG:root:WTF?!: /dev/sdb1
DEBUG:root:['mount', '-r', '-o', 'loop', b'/media/tester/246D-CF02/casper/filesystem.squashfs', '/tmp/tmpsql3x1em']
DEBUG:root:['/tmp/tmpsql3x1em/usr/bin/syslinux', '-f', dbus.String('/dev/sdb1')]
DEBUG:root:['dd', 'if=/tmp/tmpsql3x1em/usr/lib/SYSLINUX/mbr.bin', 'of=/dev/sdb', 'bs=446', 'count=1', 'conv=sync']
DEBUG:root:['umount', '/tmp/tmpsql3x1em']
DEBUG:root:['/sbin/parted', '/dev/sdb', 'set', '1', 'boot', 'on']
DEBUG:root:['umount', dbus.String('/dev/sdb1')]
DEBUG:root:['umount', dbus.String('/tmp/tmpy5cw14c0')]
DEBUG:root:Asked to run KVM with 2060.679688 M free
DEBUG:root:Shutting down.
tester@tester-SATELLITE-PRO-C850-19W:~$
-----

It is still disliking the pendrive, but installed to it anyway. And it finished nicely by unmounting the pendrive and the loop mounted devices (which it did not with the i386 iso file as a source).

The pendrive is good. I can boot a[nother] computer with it, and the live session works well :-)

The option to create persistence (and select the size of the casper-rw file) has disappeared. It seems to be because of the -n option. (This is not a problem for me, because I know how to create persistence manually. But some beginners would appreciate the built-in option to create persistence.)

So I flashed the amd64 iso to the pendrive again, this time without -n and created persistence (I selected 1.5 GB).

This was a big step forward :-)

@sudodus, thanks for the test.

So the new case is "burn iso for arch A on a arch B host, where A, B can be i386 or amd64, and A != B". For this case I think there could be several different solution:

a) do not attempt to install the target syslinux if host arch != target arch. this will only prevent the popup error, however the generated usbstick will still not work

b) attempt to install the target syslinux in a chroot environment. this will work when burning an i386 image on an amd64 host, but still won't work when burning an amd64 image on an i386 host.

c) similar to method b), but also put the qemu-ARCH-static binary in the chroot so it will also work when burning an amd64 image on i386 host.

personally I have tested solution b) in my side (amd64, 15.04) with below target ISO images:

* ubuntu-13.10-desktop-amd64.iso, ubuntu-14.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso, ubuntu-14.04.2-desktop-i386.iso, ubuntu-14.10-desktop-amd64.iso, ubuntu-15.04-desktop-amd64.iso: no error during burning, can boot into the syslinux with the usbstick successfully
* ubuntu-14.04.2-server-amd64.iso, xubuntu-14.10-desktop-amd64.iso: no error during burning, can't boot into the syslinux since there is no syslinux pre-installed in the squashfs
* debian-7.7.0-amd64-netinst.iso: no error during burning, can't boot into the syslinux since there is no squashfs at all

so the behavior are all as expected.

Here is my patch:
https://code.launchpad.net/~yuningdodo/usb-creator/usb-creator.lp1325801v4-exec-syslinux-in-chroot/+merge/258346

So it works with the patch according to case b) in the previous post (#138), and you think it will work for all combinations of i386 and amd64 architectures according to case c).

Are you able / have you got time enough to make a patch for case c) too, or should we ask someone else to make it?

My concern for c) is that it will introduce new dependence 'qemu-user-static' to usb-creator, not sure if this is acceptable for SRU.

I see, and I agree :-) So let us wait for comments from other people.

In my opinion, if the current release fixes the problem for some cases (does it?) and does not regress in any way, I'd mark the bug as verified and address the remaining problems in 0.3 upload. This way, users would get some of the fixes earlier.

+1 to Timo's proposal.

If I understand correctly, the current release (in the trusty/proposed ppa) should not be made official. Yu Ning's patch, now available via their own account at Launchpad should be tested by some more people and then uploaded. See post #138.

It means that I would '+1' for that patch, but not for the current release(in the trusty/proposed ppa).

sudodus: can you point out a regression/fault in the current trusty/proposed PPA release, other than it doesn't fix all the existing issue?

The same fix landed in Ubuntu 14.10 already, so is there a reason to not provide the fix to 14.04 LTS users?

Since it'll take weeks before any next upload gets to 14.04 users, and the 0.2 release is already in -proposed, I was suggesting to mark the 0.2 as verified-done so that users can get that one fix while the remaining fixes are being handled in the new patch.

"The same fix landed in Ubuntu 14.10 already"

It shouldn't have because it resulted in a new bug where SDC can now only create bootable iso's of the same arch as the host and the steps below should be followed to address that issue in Utopic:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates#regressions

It's simply not true that "it doesn't fix all the existing issue" - it introduces an entirely new bug therefore earning verification-failed status.

Please take time to read the entire SRU process:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates

See comments #121, #124 and #138.

If I understand it correctly, the version in trusty-proposed fixes this bug ( 1325801) but needs Yu Ning's patch to work because of another bug. (There is also a third bug, that is not addressed by any of these bug-fixes: 'This was a blind spot in previous patch for vivid, it assumes host arch == target arch', as described in comments #135 and #138)

Please try it yourself with and without Yu Ning's patch. If you get another result, I'm willing to help verify that result.

On the other hand, if you think it will help users to copy the current version from trusty-proposed to trusty, I will not try to stop it. You are welcome to do it (I only said what I think).

Thanks for sudodus' reminder, I almost forgot that issue in comment #121. Yes, current version in trusty-proposed is broken IMO, the patch backported from trunk doesn't work in the context of trusty, so we need to manually fix it on the installed source code (comment #124). The tests performed by sudodus and myself are both based on this manually modified version. What I "+1"ed in comment #143 was also for the modified version.

BTW, about the "target and host arch" issue, it's not introduced during the backporting to trusty. In fact you can also reproduce it on vivid/trunk (I'm sorry I am the person who made the patch in trunk).

Thanks for the clarifications! Indeed that I was just asking for. Indeed 0.2 shouldn't land to trusty.

I get the error when using the Startup Disk Creator on Ubuntu 14.04 to make a startup USB stick of ubuntu-15.04-desktop-amd64.iso and booting it within Startup Disk Creator (using the Test button, or running "sudo qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -m 512 -hda /dev/sdb" manually).

njin@BestOS:~$ apt-cache policy usb-creator-common
usb-creator-common:
  Installed: 0.2.67ubuntu0.1
  Candidate: 0.2.67ubuntu0.1
  Version table:
 *** 0.2.67ubuntu0.1 0

running on Wily

I can reproduce the bug running usb-creator in Wily and burning a Trusty flavor ubuntuStudio.
So is not fixed

This bug still exists in UK15.10-0614-Daily-amd64&i386.

Using Ubuntu/Ubuntu Kylin under V14.04 will have this problem. Using Ubuntu/Ubuntu Kylin 14.10 or higher is OK.
Configuration:
PC: HP-Pavilion-Sleekbook-15-PC
OS: UK15.10-0614-Daily-amd64&i386

This bug still exists in UK15.10-0622-Daily-amd64&i386.

This bug still exists in UK15.10-0714-Daily-amd64&i386.

This bug still exists in UK15.10-0726-Daily-amd64&i386.

This bug still exists in UK15.10-0730-Daily-amd64&i386.

According to comment #149, comment #129, and others this is broken on trusty.

I am not sure what the status is of the precise SRU.

This bug still exists in UK15.10-0823-Daily-amd64&i386.

This bug still exists in UK15.10-0916-Daily-amd64&i386.

The poor Startup Disk Creator has been suffering from many bugs for many years now, and in spite of great efforts, our developers have not managed to make it work properly. There are still several bugs and strange features.

At the Ubuntu Forums we started a discussion about replacing the Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator with another tool. See these links,

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2289225

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2291946

I suggest that we look for a tool that is

- reliable

- easy to use for a beginner

- easy to maintain, for example more likely to work without tweaks (or with few and simple tweaks) between Ubuntu versions.

How about instead we just fix the bugs, given that it mostly works for people? We however can't do this unless the individual bugs are reported, and it helps a lot like people like Yu Ning provide patches too when it's very specific corner cases. There is no other tool which satisfies all of the "reliable", "easy to use" and "easy to maintain" requirements -- it's not like usb-creator is very hard to maintain, we're just dealing here with corner cases.

This particular issue here we've been at for a while, and this is simply because while I'm happy to test things and to sponsor things, usb-creator isn't the only thing I look after. Given that this isn't my top priority, I was relying on Yu Ning to complete the fixes. I did not see there was a new branch. Thankfully, we have Timo who also chimed in to help with the SRU.

As it's been mentioned previously, there are other issues which may affect behavior and make a SRU fail verification, something that we might not have thought of -- the answer to this is to iterate over these fixes, just as we've been doing now.

Can we please summarize the current state of this?

- Verification fails on Trusty and Precise.
- Does it work properly on Vivid? Presumably not because of the requirement for the architecture to be the same?

Given the same issue, it will also need to be fixed in Wily before the fix can make it to the stable releases. I'm still happy to review and sponsor proposed fixes.

Yu Ning, please confirm that this works properly as it is in Wily and Vivid -- it seems to me like it mostly should, and we can deal with other issues in separate bugs so as not to confuse the matters worse than it already is.

'Opinion' from the Ubuntu Forums:

S-D-C is borked - it's useless to create live USB's of either older or newer versions of Ubuntu than the version you're running S-D-C on. And the proposed fix that made it into Vivid and got backported into Utopic resulted in S-D-C being able to only produce live USB's of the same architecture.

My comment:

This is not only a corner case, it is a severe bug. But the main problem is not a few single bugs, red or grey (at the iso qa tracker), but the never ending stream of bugs that is affecting this poor piece of software.

sudodus:
That's simply false. Sure, there are some gotchas, but it largely works modulo this bug report. You're not answering the question I asked.

As you may have noticed I've reset the statuses for this bug to something I think is closer to reality, and we'll close things as appropriate. We also have to consider architecture matching issues separately -- those are in bug 1446646.

Architecture matching is unfortunately an unavoidable issue. Either we run the syslinux from the system, and then you'll get the COM32R error when you boot an >utopic image written from a Trusty system, or we run the syslinux from the image about to be written and we have to match architecture or pick in-between and run the system syslinux if an i386 system tries to write a 64-bit image, and the image syslinux otherwise. Some careful application of syslinux parameters or copying additional files on the image may help too.

So I got these results from Marc Deslauriers:
- Vivid amd64 can write images from Precise and up, amd64 or i386.

I think we also should strongly suggest that users run usb-creator on a recent enough system if they don't want this bug here to happen. I'll see how release notes can be updated accordingly.

In light of all this, this bug should be Triaged/Critical for all supported releases -- we'll do another upload to -proposed to re-do the changes from Yu Ning (which appear to be fine), along with a fix for bug 1446646.

"That's simply false. Sure, there are some gotchas, but it largely works modulo this bug report. You're not answering the question I asked."

Well, there are shades of grey between white and black. Sure, there are several cases, where it works well to use the Startup Disk Creator ;-)

I will try to answer your questions, but it will take some time (to test what works and what does not work in and between the currently supported versions of Ubuntu). Let us hope that the SDC is much better now than we think at the Ubuntu Forums :-)

"Architecture matching is unfortunately an unavoidable issue."

Yes, for the SDC.

But it does not create any problems at all for tools which use cloning with dd or cp under the hood (like mkusb and Disks). And I think the other tools in our poll can manage this issue. At least Unetbootin from the developer's PPA can manage it, and I recently added 'making persistent live drives' to mkusb, and I have tested that it works for all the current Ubuntu versions, flavours and also several re-spins based on Ubuntu.

@ Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre

Does the attached spreadsheet answer some of your questions?

And I have filed a bug report about old versions of Unetbootin in the Ubuntu repos:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unetbootin/+bug/1497604

If I missed a question, please ask again :-)

@ Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre

"How about instead we just fix the bugs, given that it mostly works for people?"

It is very obvious that this is what you want. Maybe the suggestion from Marc Deslauriers at Canonical is the way to go. (You have probably read his post in the ubuntu-quality mailing list)

"... I believe a simple way to eliminate every one of these issues at once in UDC would be to get rid of the persistence functionality. All of the currently supported images can now be written directly to a usb device as-is ... Perhaps in the future persistence
could be added back by creating a partition in the free space left over after copying over the image."

This is pretty much what I do with mkusb. I would be very happy with such things under the hood of the SDC. It will be easy for you to implement cloning. If you want to implement my method to make persistent live drives, I am willing to help and explain.

This bug still exists in UK15.10-0924.1-Daily-amd64&i386.

jiaowen520li, please do not adjust the Status. For more on this, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status .

This bug still exists in UK15.10-1019-Daily-amd64&i386.

Yes, isolinux does not work. Moreover when booting it don't even ry to read isolinux.cfg complainig with error shown earlier.

I'm use my own scripts to make bootable WinPE images. And after upgrade ir FAIL.

just try to create bootable fat32 image without any files. Syslinux will be installed succeesfully (like in previous ubuntu) but unlike previous ubuntu it will show boot error innstead of complainig about missing syslinux.cfg

Also, syslinux-legacy does not work too, it shows boot menu, but with generate invalid opcode when tried to boot os.

I am using Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and used usb-disk creator to install ubuntu mate on a 8gig pny usb drive, I would like this to be fixed as I am going to create a lot of usb boot drives

You can use another tool until the usb disk creator is debugged and works again. See this link and links from it,

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick

I tried with usb-creator-gtk version 0.3.2 and it is fixed.

Got same errors on 16.04 daily & beta2

@lotuspsychje,

If you run the Startup Disk Creator in a 16.04 host system, you are running a new version, that should not be affected by this bug, whatever version of the target system you select.

But if you run the Startup Disk Creator in a previous version of Ubuntu (host), and try to install a newer version of Ubuntu (target), for example 16.04, you can still be affected, because you are running an old version of the Startup Disk Creator.

-o-

If my description is wrong, please describe with as much detail as possible how to reproduce the bug in 16.04!

I can confirm that I experience this same problem, after trying to boot Ubuntu 16.04 from a usb-stick, which I created on an Ubuntu 14.04 system. Pressing TAB and selecting live from the menu doesn't help.

So I think that sudodus is right.

I guess I have to wait for an update for my 14.04 system, before I can use it to create a working usb stick.

Installing from a DVD doesn't help either.

The newest usb-creator-gtk in the repositories is 0.2.56.3, which was probably used when creating my usb stick.

I have to withdraw my comment in my previous post, that installing from a DVD doesn't help either.
I think that this is another bug, not related to the one we are talking about here.
On another computer the computer boots nicely from this DVD.

The version of usb-creator in the proposed pocket of Precise that was purported to fix this bug report has been removed because the bugs that were to be fixed by the upload were not verified in a timely (105 days) fashion.

The version of usb-creator in the proposed pocket of Trusty that was purported to fix this bug report has been removed because the bugs that were to be fixed by the upload were not verified in a timely (105 days) fashion.

In order to make usb-creator work not only in UEFI mode but also in BIOS mode, please replace the version in precise, trusty and wily with the *cloning* version in xenial, version 0.3.2.

That version, usb-creator version 0.3.2, should be tested enough by now, to be reliable.

This also affects Kubuntu 16.04 64bits when creating a bootable USB from Kubuntu 14.04.

I meant to say: This also affects Kubuntu Xenial 16.04 64bits when creating a bootable USB from Kubuntu 14.04 32bits.

Please take the opportunity to SRU usb-creator-gtk: to replace the current version in Trusty and Wily with version 0.3.2 (which comes with Xenial and should be tested enough to be considered stable now).

I think it is a good time to do it now, well in time before making the 'final point release' 14.04.5 LTS and before the Wily end of life, when we can expect many people to try to install the new version(s).

The problems with the current version in Trusty and Wily affect booting in BIOS mode, where syslinux is used.

I had this problem with the 16.04.1 desktop amd64 stick I made on my 14.04 system, but I just had to enter "live" at the prompt to boot into the live desktop and install as normal.

After doing that and booting into the new live system, it was also easy to "fix" the USB stick permanently with the new syslinux available therein, as detailed here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/486602/ubuntu-14-04-lts-live-usb-boot-error-gfxboot-c32not-a-valid-com32r-image/746412#746412

As for the newer version of creator included with 16.04, its behavior was rather unexpected. Instead of copying files into the existing filesystem and installing syslinux nondestructively, it seems to simply write a raw binary image over the first 1.5GB of the disk. It warned me and all, but I didn't see any other option.

It didn't have the COM32R error at boot, but I personally feel the destructive copying is much worse. Did I mess something up, or is that the intended behavior now?

Yes ndorf, this is the intended behaviour now. The Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator is *cloning* the iso file, which is a much more robust process that the previous method.

The easiest method to restore the pendrive to a 'normal' data drive (for storage and transfer of files) is to create a new partition table and file system, for example with mkusb according to the following link

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb/wipe

or with gparted according to the following link

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Win32DiskImager/iso2usb/FormatHelp

I just encountered the same issue after creating a Bionic Beaver 18.04 USB boot disk, using usb-creator-kde in Trusty. It is a little hard to understand the current status from this long bug page, but is this something that would seem to start cropping up more as people do the 14.04-to-18.04 LTS updates.
It is an ugly enough experience that some people may just bail in disgust.
Can it be fixed?

sa

The cloning version of usb-creator introduced with Ubuntu Xenial (16.04 LTS) should work also in Trusty.

Other cloning tools work, so if you want to bother with this bug, I suggest that you port that version to Trusty.