I created a bootable USB using Startup disk creator (in ubuntu desktop 12.04 32bit), from an iso image of Ubuntu server 14.04 64 bit, when I want to boot another computer using this usb drive, The computer boots up, the installation process ok, it gets through the selecting the language, then it shows me the error that it can't mount the cd-rom to continue the installation, I tried several times with others USB devices but it shows me the same error. How can I get this work ?
9 Answers
This is how i got it to work.
When it gets the CD-ROM error, move the install USB stick from one port, to another USB port on your PC. Then retry.
This worked. I don't know why.
Not only that but I was reinstalling 14.04 later that night, and the CD-ROM error did not happen again. The 2nd install went without a hitch.
Yes it worked for me also.
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I'm to confirm that the "switch USB port" trick works on my machine. Very weird... Nov 6, 2015 at 1:08
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1
Problem is that the new image isn't meant to be used with unetbootin or any of the normal USB creators.
Just use dd
like:
dd if=ubuntu-14.04.2-server-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=16M
(obviously, replace /dev/sdb
with the path to your USB key, but don't use any partitions (i.e. don't use /dev/sdb1
, /dev/sdb2
, etc -- just the whole device)
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2This appears to be the most correct answer and doesn't require any mucking around. Oct 28, 2015 at 15:22
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2This is what I did (in ubuntu server 15.10) but the problem still occurs.– niboshiJan 17, 2016 at 3:44
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1Works perfectly! For OS X, use
sudo dd if=ubuntu-14.04.3-server-amd64.iso of=/dev/rdiskX
. Check for USB drive usingdiskutil list
.– JulesJan 26, 2016 at 15:04 -
This is a nice idea, but it's useless if you don't have a existing linux install. Mar 23, 2016 at 2:32
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http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2253860 has an answer.
Here are the steps that I took to get it to work
- When you get the error, Alt+F2 to a second console.
- Find out which device your USB stick is (
tail -n 100 /var/log/syslog
) - If the device is busy, umount it (umount /dev/sd[abcdef]1)
- Then mount it to
/cdrom
(mount -t vfat /dev/sd[abcdef]1 /cdrom
) - Alt+F1 to get back to the install console, and try detecting again
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Thank you for your question, I tried something like this, I did Alt-F2 to open a console, I tried to mount the USB myself by the command, but it failed and show me the same error. At the end I solve this by using anther iso image !! I changed this image
ubuntu-14.04.2-server-amd64.iso
and used this oneubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64.iso
, and it worked like a charm using the same startup disk creator and the same USB. finally I think this is a bug in that version of ubuntu server, because I'm not the only one who get this error.– LatyyfaMar 12, 2015 at 8:22 -
1This worked for me, however I had to exit the CD-ROM detection first by hitting "no" to stop retrying. Then, alt-f2 and mount the usb to /cdrom. Then, this is the key part, alt-f1 back and select the menu step AFTER "detect cd-rom". It skips auto detection and just keeps on going with whatever you've just mounted into /cdrom May 8, 2016 at 5:02
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@Monkpit Your comment got me further than any of the answers. But upon finishing the install I am now left with a system configured to only install packages from cdrom, which means it won't download packages from the Ubuntu repositories, which is what I really need.– kasperdAug 29, 2016 at 18:50
With the installation CD ubuntu-14.04.2-server-amd64.iso
I ran into the same issue, for me it was as easy as running: umount /dev/sdc1
My tail -n 20 /var/log/syslog
showed that the installer tried multiple times to mount /dev/sdc1
but since it was already mounted to /media
that obviously failed.
With the above command I unmounted the USB-CD-Drive and the following attempt to automatically mount succeeded right away. After Alt+F2 just check what is currently mounted by issuing mount
in the command prompt.
The steps here:
- At the third screen (don't wait until the next screen), hit Alt+F1, Enter
- Type:
df -h
to get information where is USB flash disk located/ mounted. in eg.: "/dev/sda1" mount as "/media" - Type command
mount -t iso9660 /media/ubuntu.iso /cdrom -o ro,loop
- Then hit alt+F1 to back at main screen of installation
- Finish. Now you can continue your process installation as usually.
The source is here...
I solved this by using anther iso image !! I changed this image ubuntu-14.04.2-server-amd64.iso
and used this one ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64.iso
, and it worked like a charm using the same startup disk creator and the same USB. finally I think this is a bug in that version of ubuntu server, because I'm not the only one who get this error.
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There is no ubuntu-14.04.1-server-amd64.iso - there is a ...amd64+mac.iso which I am assuming is equivalent. I also tried the umount advice which did get me past the initial error, but then "Unable to find 'pool/main/l/linux-lts-utopic/block-modules-3.16.0-generic-di_3_10.0.40~10.04.1_amd64.udeb' came up. 14.04.2 doesn't seem USB friendly at all :/ May 14, 2015 at 21:43
Ran into this problem as well with ubuntu-14.04.3-server-amd64.iso
. Unmounting the /sda/ drive from /media and remounting it as /cdrom worked but I ran into installation error further down the line when it was trying to extract files for the install. The USB drive I was trying to install from was created with Linux Live (LILI) USB creator. I recreated the usb installer with Universal USB installer from PenDriveLinux and everything worked perfectly.
mkusb works in and with Ubuntu Server as well as Ubuntu Desktop
mkusb version 12 alias
dus
works in text mode, so you can use it also when running Ubuntu Server via its console or remotely via ssh.mkusb version 12 alias
dus
works in graphics mode in standard Ubuntu (Desktop).mkusb uses
dd
under the hood to clone linux hybrid iso files to a USB drive or memory card. This is a reliable method to create a boot drive, and all current Ubuntu iso files are hybrid iso files, including mini.iso and the Ubuntu Server iso files.dd
is straightforward, very powerful but also very dangerous. You can easily overwrite valuable data by writing to the wrong drive. mkusb wraps a safety belt arounddd
.Install mkusb with the following command lines
If you run standard Ubuntu, you need an extra instruction to get the repository Universe. (Kubuntu, Lubuntu ... Xubuntu have the repository Universe activated automatically.)
sudo add-apt-repository universe # only for standard Ubuntu sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mkusb/ppa # and press Enter sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install mkusb mkusb-nox usb-pack-efi
Lean alternative in Ubuntu Server: install only mkusb-nox
mkusb-nox
is a command line tool, that also wraps security arounddd
, and that does not want to install a lot of extra program packages, onlypv
.sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mkusb/ppa # and press Enter sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install mkusb-nox
Run
mkusb-nox
for example with the following command linesudo mkusb-nox ubuntu-16.04.1-server-amd64.iso
The manual provides more details,
man mkusb-nox
Links
Install GRUB2 on USB to boot Ubuntu Linux ISO
Another benefit is you can setup the GRUB2 to boot from different ISO. [See Multi-ISO below]
Steps See pendrivelinux for details
Install GRUB2 to USB (assume the USB drive is on /dev/sdx1
partition)
sudo mkdir /mnt/USB && sudo mount /dev/sdx1 /mnt/USB
sudo grub-install --force --removable --boot-directory=/mnt/USB/boot /dev/sdx
cd /mnt/USB/boot/grub
wget pendrivelinux.com/downloads/grub.cfg
[1]- download the iso you want and rename it to
/mnt/USB/ubuntu.iso
. Make sure it's namedubuntu.iso
and not the originalubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-i386.iso
Note: If you are using a 64-bit ISO, then you need to modify the grub.cfg. See [1] below for detail
Done. You should be able to boot your machine with the USB.
[1] Here the content of the grub.cfg
set timeout=10
set default=0
menuentry "Run Ubuntu Live ISO" {
loopback loop /ubuntu.iso
linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/ubuntu.iso splash --
initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}
64-bit ISO's vmlinuz
is named vmlinuz.efi
. so line 6 of the grub.cfg will be
linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz.efi boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/ubuntu.iso splash --
Multi-ISO
- Put your ISO (e.g.
ubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso
) in/mnt/USB/
- Add a
menuentry
to grub.cfg with the correct ISO name
menuentry "Run Ubuntu 16.04.1 Live ISO" { loopback loop /ubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz.efi boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/ubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso splash -- initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz }