kubuntu/Ubuntu 18.04 ubi-partman failed with exit code 141. Does not detect my drive

Question

So i have the same problem as many others while installing , Kubuntu 18.04 , Linux mint KDE and Ubuntu 18.04 tried all 3 and give me the same error. Error : ubi-partman failed with exit code 141 .

The problem is gparted or KDE-partion does not detect my main drive 1 TB ssd. which has Windows 10 installed. I have already created an unallocated space to install linux into. Yes i am trying to dual boot both Windows 10 and linux. My SSD seems to disappear and only my 64 GB usb is shown as available.

System i am installing on is Dell XPS 15 9550. I have disabled UEIF secure boot from boot manager. I used rufus to burn to my USB , using GPT and ISO(and DD) options(Default options for UEIF).

May 24 22:29:08 mint ubiquity: Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 54.
May 24 22:29:08 mint ubiquity: debconf: DbDriver "targetdb": could not open
May 24 22:29:08 mint ubiquity[2172]: log-output -t ubiquity debconf-copydb configdb targetdb -p ^console-setup/ --config=Name:targetdb --config=Driver:File --conf$
May 24 22:29:08 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:08 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d1$
May 24 22:29:08 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:08 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:08 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:08 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x$
May 24 22:29:14 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:14 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d1$
May 24 22:29:14 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:14 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:14 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:14 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x$
May 24 22:29:14 mint ubiquity[6616]: Ubiquity 2.21.63+linuxmint8
May 24 22:29:15 mint ubiquity[6616]: switched to page language
May 24 22:29:16 mint localechooser: info: debian-installer/language preseeded to 'en' (seen: false)
May 24 22:29:16 mint localechooser: info: debian-installer/country preseeded to 'US' (seen: false)
May 24 22:29:16 mint localechooser: info: debian-installer/locale preseeded to 'en_US.UTF-8' (seen: false)
May 24 22:29:16 mint ubiquity[6616]: switched to page language
May 24 22:29:18 mint localechooser: info: Language = 'en'
May 24 22:29:18 mint localechooser: info: line=en;0;US;en_US.UTF-8;;console-setup
May 24 22:29:18 mint localechooser: info: Set debian-installer/language = 'en'
May 24 22:29:18 mint localechooser: info: Default country = 'US'
May 24 22:29:18 mint localechooser: info: Default locale = 'en_US.UTF-8'
May 24 22:29:18 mint localechooser: info: Set debian-installer/consoledisplay = 'console-setup'
May 24 22:29:18 mint localechooser: info: Set debian-installer/country = 'US'
May 24 22:29:18 mint localechooser: info: Set debian-installer/locale = 'en_US.UTF-8'
May 24 22:29:18 mint localechooser: info: System locale (debian-installer/locale) = 'en_US.UTF-8'
May 24 22:29:19 mint ubiquity[6616]: debconffilter_done: ubi-language (current: ubi-language)
May 24 22:29:19 mint ubiquity[6616]: Step_before = language
May 24 22:29:19 mint ubiquity[6616]: switched to page page
May 24 22:29:21 mint ubiquity[6616]: Step_before = page
May 24 22:29:21 mint ubiquity[6616]: switched to page Form
May 24 22:29:21 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:21 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:21 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:21 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x$
May 24 22:29:21 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:21 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d1$
May 24 22:29:21 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:21 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x$
May 24 22:29:21 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:21 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d1$
May 24 22:29:21 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:21 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x$
May 24 22:29:25 mint ubiquity[6616]: debconffilter_done: ubi-prepare (current: ubi-prepare)
May 24 22:29:25 mint ubiquity[6616]: Step_before = Form
May 24 22:29:25 mint activate-dmraid: No Serial ATA RAID disks detected
May 24 22:29:25 mint partman:   No matching physical volumes found
May 24 22:29:25 mint partman:   Reading all physical volumes.  This may take a while...
May 24 22:29:25 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:25 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:25 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:25 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x$
May 24 22:29:25 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:25 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d1$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d1$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d1$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d1$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1704]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx2018.3\x5cx20KDE\x5cx2064\x2dbit.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-Linux\x5cx20Mint\x5cx$
May 24 22:29:26 mint systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x2d00.device: Dev dev-disk-by\x2duuid-2017\x2d11\x2d27\x2d10\x2d50\x2d11\x$
May 24 22:29:26 mint ubiquity[6616]: debconffilter_done: ubi-partman (current: ubi-partman)
May 24 22:29:26 mint ubiquity[6616]: dbfilter_handle_status: ('ubi-partman', 141)

Update So the solutions at Ubi-partman failed with exit code 141 from usb install are useless as i cant find the main hard disk partition at all and formatting my disk is not an option as i have windows 10 installed.

Answer 1

After trying all options i seem to at last stumbled upon the answer and its all Dells Bios.

You have to make sure that you turn off UEFI secure boot and Legacy secure boot. For whatever reason linux could not see my SSD because secure Legacy mode was on.

After you install you will NOT be able to start of windows directly , you will need to go to BIOS settings and change the boot order and make Ubuntu last. And every time you want to start Linux you need to press f12 and manually start it.

Update So after playing around with a bit more i figured out that you cant use Linux unless you turn of both secure boot off and load through Legacy mode. On down side if you load through legacy Mode to launch windows or ubuntu you will have to press f12 and manually open the boot otherwise it goes to a partion and fails to recognise any boot system.

If you load with UEIF windows loads fine but linux throws 2 times an error

  pkcs#7 signature not signed with a trusted key

And falls to ash terminal. Will update if i figure out this . But if somone else does please let me know

Update 2 : So at last i figured it out. The problem lies with Dell SSD format. You need to Make sure your running in AHCI mode and not any other mode. I recommend changing that and only then proceed with installation (if you dont want to uninstall windows 10 there is an other method).