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System Specs:

  • Processor: Intel Core i7-4790 @ 3.60 GHz

  • RAM: 32.0 GB

  • System type: x64-based processor

  • OS: Windows 10 Pro

  • USB Stick: Kingston 16 GB

Bug Description

I've followed the steps outlined in the following official Ubuntu tutorial link to a T: https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows#1-overview

Everything went smoothly, no errors during installation, yay! When I booted from the new USB, GNU GRUB appeared, again, so far so good.

However, when I selected Ubuntu, I immediately got an error that casper/vmlinuz is not found. I checked the USB drive (created with Rufus following the tutorial's instructions) and sure enough, vmlinuz was missing.

USB /casper directory:

Picture of USB /casper directory

I mounted the iso file used to generate the USB and sure enough, vmlinuz is there, along with a couple other files not seen on the USB drive, initrd and filesystem.squashfs.gpg.

ISO /casper directory:

Picture of ISO /casper directory

Repro Steps from a Windows PC

  1. Download a fresh iso image of Ubuntu (https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop)
  2. Download Rufus if not already installed (https://rufus.ie/)
  3. Follow all of the instructions on creating a bootable USB stick on Windows (https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows)
  4. Restart machine and open up BIOS to ensure boot order allows USB stick to boot before Windows
  5. Boot from USB stick created in Step 3.
  6. Observe the following error:
error: file `/casper/vmlinuz' not found.
error: you need to load the kernel first.

Press any key to continue...

Expected Results:

Ubuntu loads up correctly with no missing critical files that Ubuntu's startup depends on.

Actual Results:

The following error is seen:

Picture of Bootable USB OS Error

Suggested Fix:

Either fix the process or at the very least, we should include something in the tutorial page itself that the user may need to manually copy over specific installation files from a mounted ISO file onto the USB stick after writing the ISO to the USB stick using Rufus.

karel
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user2188400
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1 Answers1

5

Rufus author here. I am testing Ubuntu bootable media creation regularly (last test was 2 days ago) and I have never encountered this error, nor have I had reports of anything similar happening to the many people that use Rufus to create Ubuntu bootable media.

Can I please ask you to create an issue at the official Rufus issue tracker here and post the complete Rufus log of how you created your media?

If the vmlinuz file failed to copy, it should be apparent there.

And once again, I have to point out that, if you are encountering issues with Rufus, you should use its official issue tracker if you do care about having said issue investigated and possibly fixed. Posting on superuser or askubuntu is not an effective way get problems that are related to the use of a third party application sorted. Thank you.

Akeo
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