Installation hung up on 'Creating user'

[mkamerick]

I am trying to install Linux Lite on an Acer Aspire One netbook.
The installation hangs up a the 'Create user' point and never gets past it.
This is my second attempt.  The first one went on for over 24 hours before
I shut down the netbook.

The netbook does boot the LiveOS off of a USB stick perfectly well.
Linux Lite seems to run well on this little machine.

I am trying to install a dual boot configuration in order to preserve
the user files still in the XP partition.
If that is a real source of problems I could just do a full wipe and install.

Tia.

M. Kamerick

[gold_finger]

I'm not familiar with netbooks, but this link shows that the Acer Aspire One netbook only has an 8GB SSD.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ace...Arch_Linux

If that is the case with you, then it's likely that there isn't enough room left on the drive for the Linux installation with Windows XP on it.

That link also recommends using a separate SD card in card reader slot for to use as a separate /home partition because of the SSD size limitation.  In effect, it's saying the best way to install on a system like yours is to have the "/" (root) partition installed to the SSD and have /home and swap partitions on the SD card.  Do you have an SD card you could use for this purpose?  (If not, you will still be able to fit the Linux Lite installation on the SSD -- you just won't have a whole lot of room for saving things.)

To confirm that this may be your problem, boot-up using the live USB.  Then open a terminal (Menu -> Accessories -> Terminal), and enter these commands in the terminal one at a time:

Code:

sudo fdisk -l
lsblk

(Note:  the first command ends in a lowercase "L", not the number 1.)

Copy/Paste that output from terminal back here for us to see.  To do that, hit the code button "#" above where you type reply, then paste the output between the two code blocks -- [ code ]...[ /code ].

[mkamerick]

Thanks very much for your thoughtful reply, but this netbook has a 160GB hard drive, not a small SSD,
so I don't see space per se as the issue.
It may be that the partition map the installation is selecting for the dual boot option
is an issue.
At this point, I think an MBR has been (re)written, because the machine won't boot XP anymore.
Or anything.

I can still boot off the USB stick.

One other thought I had is that I selected the option to encrypt my own user directory.
Since the install hangs up at 'Create user', I thought perhaps that was an issue.
I am going to try this one more time without that option.

But I do appreciate any suggestions.

MK

[gold_finger]

netbook has a 160GB hard drive, not a small SSD, so I don't see space per se as the issue.

Ok -- space probably not the issue then.

At this point, I think an MBR has been (re)written, because the machine won't boot XP anymore.
Or anything.

Can probably solve that easily by following these instructions:  How to Repair MBR (Windows Boot Loader) From Ubuntu.  Open a terminal (Menu -> Accessories -> Terminal), then follow the instructions beginning at step #2.  (Step #1 is unnecessary.)  It would be best to copy/paste those commands as opposed to typing them out.  That way you'll avoid potential typos and/or syntax issues.  Definitely do that for the step #3 command!  If you make a typo, it could wipe out the drive.

When you're done with above, reboot w/o USB and see if it worked.  Then reboot into live LL USB again and post back the output of the two commands in my first post so we can see what partitions are on the drive now.

Let us know your experience level with Linux also.  Will know how detailed to make answers then.

P.s.  Did you have to shrink any Windows partitions before the LL install?  And if so, did you defragment drive before doing that?

[mkamerick]

Thanks again for your response.
I was able to get through the install on my last try.
I did end up redoing the partition map by hand, as two failed installs
had left two Linux root partitions and two swap partitions laying around.
I also did NOT click the box to have my own account encrypted.
The install went just fine.
I can dual boot now.  The first time through booting XP I did have to run
all the CHKDSK stuff, but it worked.

Without question this limited little machine runs better on Linux Lite than XP,
so I am pleased to have finally gotten through the install.

And I can still access the original user files.

[N4RPS]

Hello!

Glad you were able to get this all sorted out! Yes, if you resize a Windows partition, it triggers a CHKDSK on the next boot into Windows...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob

[Valtam]

Ticking the encrypt box will cause it to hang at Create User, this is a known Ubuntu bug.

[n7tek]

So if encryption of the /home directory doesn't work (it's a known bug) - how do I recover from this?  Will following theses steps recover my installation?


"Can probably solve that easily by following these instructions:  How to Repair MBR (Windows Boot Loader) From Ubuntu.  Open a terminal (Menu -> Accessories -> Terminal), then follow the instructions beginning at step #2.  (Step #1 is unnecessary.)  It would be best to copy/paste those commands as opposed to typing them out.  That way you'll avoid potential typos and/or syntax issues.  Definitely do that for the step #3 command!  If you make a typo, it could wipe out the drive.

When you're done with above, reboot w/o USB and see if it worked.  Then reboot into live LL USB again and post back the output of the two commands in my first post so we can see what partitions are on the drive now.

Let us know your experience level with Linux also.  Will know how detailed to make answers then.

P.s.  Did you have to shrink any Windows partitions before the LL install?  And if so, did you defragment drive before doing that?[/font]
« Last Edit: March 29, 2014, 02:18:08 PM by gold_finger »

[gold_finger]

n7tek,

It is best to start a new post of your own for support rather than adding on to someone else's.  Otherwise things get too confusing with posts aimed at more than one person in the same thread.

When making your post, state the problem you have and provide details on what you've done and what you are stuck on along with basic information about the computer you are using.  Try to clear up the following:

So if encryption of the /home directory doesn't work (it's a known bug) - how do I recover from this?

The answer I gave to mkamerick was about restoring the Windows XP bootloader.  It's unclear from your post whether that is even your problem.  Is it?

Will following theses steps recover my installation?

Not unless booting Windows XP is what you need to recover.

In your new post, state whether this is an installation that you had done and working for a while -- that went bad; or if you had similar problem getting it installed in the first place when checking the option to use encryption?

Let us know if there are any other operating systems on the drive also and what those are?

[n7tek]

I'm pretty sure I had the exact same issue as "mkamerick".  I followed the steps listed in this thread and I was able to get the Linux Lite installation completed.  It's good to know that the encryption of the home directory folders & files has a BUG causing the installation to hang since I have to install Linux Lite on 4 more machines.  I did install Linux Lite as a dual boot install with WinXP.  Sorry for the confusion.

I need to learn more about GPart & the other partition programs (which is best & how to do it) but I will post that elsewhere.

Thank you,
John