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ebrandt
Contributor
Contributor

ESXi7, Installing Ubuntu20.04 on guest VM fails repeatedly?

Hello,

I have a new ESXi7 install running on a Dell Poweredge440. I have successfully created, installed, and configured an Ubuntu20.04 Server and a Win10 Pro VM.

I am trying to install a second Ubuntu20.04 Server VM, using the same .iso file I used for the first VM that was successful. However, every time start the VM and run the installer, at the end I am met with "Sorry there was a problem completing the installation" and given the option 'Do you want to try starting the installation again?'  I am given the option to 'View full report' but I don't see anything particularly useful in the editor that is opened.

As far as I can tell, all the VM settings are the same between the first VM that was successful and this VM that is failing.  I have checked the SHA256 of the ubu 20.04 server iso I am using, and it matches the sha on the ubu download site.

Perhaps unrelated, but one other annoyance is about 50% of the time in the web browser console for the VM, the keyboard mysteriously starts applying the Shift key to every other character that is typed. Usually closing and re-opening the console window fixes this.

How can I troubleshoot this VM OS Install failure? Thanks in advance for your help!

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fabio1975
Commander
Commander

Ciao 

Can you post the detail of the report that you can see when you get the error "Sorry there was a problem completing the installation"? Have you tried downloading a new ISO anyway?
If you urgently need to create new linux VMs you can clone the current one (if you have a vCenter otherwise you can do it with script or manually clone the linux VM)

Fabio

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ebrandt
Contributor
Contributor

Hi thanks for the reply.  I'd be happy to post the full report...do you have any tips how to extract this full report when the viewer is within the confines of the installer menu system inside the in-browser console view of the VM? Thanks!

 

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fabio1975
Commander
Commander

CIao 

If the error log is not very long you could take screenshots.
Are the virtual hardware and devices associated with the VM on which you experience the error the same as the other VM on which you do not have the error?

Have you then tried to download a new iso?

On the same VM Do you have the same error even with older versions of Ubuntu?

 

Fabio

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ebrandt
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Fabio,

The error log is quite log, in fact I think it is the entire log file of the full install process. I have no idea how to extract it to a file I can retrieve and post here. I page through it, but do not see anything suspicious.

The Virtual Hardware setup for the new VM is identical to the existing ubuntu VM we have running, except pointing to a different virtual disk on the same datastore. I have tried increasing and decreasing the RAM and # of vCPUs with no effect (all fail). I am accepting all default values during the ubuntu install.

I did download a new iso, and pointed the new VM's CDROM to that new iso. The results were the same - error occurred during the 'kernel installation' step of the ubunutu install. 

I have not tried with older versions of ubu server, nor have I tried with ubu desktop. Both of those would be worth a try as 'more info on the problem', but the ultimate goal is to get a second ubu 20.04 server VM running.

Thanks for your continued help,

-Eric.

 

 

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ebrandt
Contributor
Contributor

Hmm, after a retry of the install, which also failed, the 'full error report' did have some interesting info at the top, that looks like it partially is being overwritten... (and in fact, after using using vi's cursor manipulation to scroll up and down, the blue text was gone forever...not sure how to see the full error without the rest of the log display overwriting it. See attached for what I was able to gather... 

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ebrandt
Contributor
Contributor

I found a little more error information. See attached.

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fabio1975
Commander
Commander

Ciao 

I've been gone for a few days, have you solved then?
Looking at the error images I thought it is not a problem installing some particular package ... do you add packages during installation? If yes, can you try to install without additional packages?

Fabio

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ebrandt
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Fabio, Thanks for checking back in.

I did not get this resolved with the ubu 20.04 server iso.  I am doing completely 'stock' install of the 20.04 server OS. The only thing I am changing from defaults in the installer is the username and password when prompted to enter one. I'm not picking any of the additional services. I have replaced the ubu 20.04 server iso with a freshly downloaded one with the same results.

I am able to install ubu 20.04 desktop and ubu 18.04 server (which then successfully can be upgraded to 20.04).

For now, it has worked to install an 18.04 server and upgrade it.

However, I'm still very curious about this failure, and would like to diagnose it in case it is indicative of a bigger issue that I am missing.

Thanks in advance for any additional info or ideas you have...

-Eric.

 

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fabio1975
Commander
Commander

Ciao 

Have you tried to do these things (I found them by looking for problem similar to yours....maybe you have already tried ... 😞
1)
disk.EnableUUID advanced VM setting is created and set to value TRUE
2)
Such errors usually occur if you try to install Ubuntu in a virtual machine that already has some partitioned storage. Try to purge your storage first or simply recreate the virtual disk for this virtual machine from scratch.

As an additional hint, it is worth try changing the SCSI controller to LSI Logic SAS or Paravirtual instead of the LSI Logic Parallel you probably have now.

 

 

Fabio

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ebrandt
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks Fabio.

I will try these ideas later today.

In my trials so far, I have always been starting with a newly created virtual disk, but I will re-try the EnableUUID and the controller settings you suggest.

-Eric.

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LoveSkylark
Contributor
Contributor

Have you found a fix for this?
I'm having the same problem, none of the suggestions above worked out for me.

 

Tried changing the controller, creating a new drive, and adding disk.EnableUUID=TRUE

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solutioon
Contributor
Contributor

Try disable network card. Install it. Enable it again.

GCS2
Contributor
Contributor

Tuve el mismo problema y la solución fue Generar VM sin tarjeta de red, con esto la instalación se realizo sin problema y ya instalado el SO le habilite la tarjeta de red a la VM.

Tibmeister
Expert
Expert

20.04 support Paravirtual SCSI out of the box, I strongly recommend using it.

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Elboph
Contributor
Contributor

 Disabling the NIC during the installation worked for me.

yashatrevm
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I am facing the same issue, and disabling NIC helped, however, is there a known issue that we can refer to? 

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rahimkhasiyev
Contributor
Contributor

Disabling the nic worked for me, thanks

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