[Bug 1825355] Re: Error message if installing Ubuntu 19.04 to pre-formatted partition

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

** Changed in: ubiquity (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Confirmed

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1825355

Title:
  Error message if installing Ubuntu 19.04 to pre-formatted partition

Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  The error message is generated if you format a partition before the
  installation, then install Ubuntu 19.04 to that partition _without_
  requesting it be formatted during the installation.

  The pop-up message is:

  "Error restoring installed applications.

  "An error occurred while restoring previously-installed applications.
  The installation will continue, but you may have to manually reinstall
  some applications after the computer reboots."

  Hit OK on that, and a message says that the installation is complete,
  and the "restart now" button then boots the apparently undamaged
  Ubuntu 19.04 installation.

  Steps to reproduce:

  1. Before installation, format a hard-drive partition as ext4.
  2. Begin installing Ubuntu (ubuntu-19.04-desktop-amd64.iso) from a flash drive.
  3. At installer's "Installation type" step, select "Something else".
  4. Select the previously formatted partition and set its mount point to "/".
  5. Leave that partition's "format" box unchecked (the default).
  6. Press "Install" and click through a warning about not formatting.
  7. At the end of the installation, a popup says the installation has errors.

  Presumably the error message is invoked because it assumes that if you
  do not request that the partition be formatted, then you are
  installing into a previous installation (i.e. upgrading) but something
  breaks at the end of the installation when it can find no evidence of
  said previous installation.

  Formatting a partition _before_ the  installation is useful for
  specifying specific file-system labels and UUIDs so that other
  operating systems installed on the same PC may mount the partition as
  they did previously, so this is probably a fairly common user-case.

  I've had this same error appear for at least the past 5 years whenever installing a new release of Ubuntu, but since the process of establishing repeatable conditions for an installation problem that occurs at the _end_ of an installation is very time-consuming, it's only now that I've got around
  to making sure that non-formatting the partition during the installation _is_ the issue. It is. The problem goes away if the partition is formatted during the installation.

  There are pages of Google hits for the string "An error occurred while
  restoring previously-installed applications". Users that read the
  error message are understandably concerned, and ask how they find out
  which applications need to be "manually installed" as per the message.

  Here's two forum posts where the posters did eventually realize that
  formatting the partition during the installation made the problem go
  away:

  For Kubuntu 15.10: https://askubuntu.com/questions/698727
  For Ubuntu 16.04:  https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2394271

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