# Can't create Mender images for Ubuntu Server x64
**URL:** https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897
**Category:** General Discussions
**Tags:** ubuntu
**Created:** [May 9, 2020, 12:41am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897 "2020-05-09T00:41:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@krystof](https://hub.mender.io/u/krystof)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2020, 12:41am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/1 "2020-05-09T00:41:48Z")
I’m trying to build an Ubuntu Server x64 (20.04) image for [this board](https://www.advantech.com/products/68ccaea2-9ff5-4f85-97f2-3d11244b0a08/aimb-286/mod_ad53f4ec-0d78-4995-aeed-337921f3c837), and I keep getting this error from mender-convert:
```
mount: /mender-convert/work/boot: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/loop5, missing codepage or helper program, or other error.
```
Here’s what I’ve done:
**1. Installed Ubuntu Server x64 20.04 on the board**
**2. Created an .img file from the disk like so:**
```
sudo dd if=/dev/sdc of=ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img bs=1M conv=fdatasync
```
**3. Run mender-convert**
After several failed attempts of my own, I found the `generic_x86-64_hdd_config` file in the master branch of mender-convert, and tried using that, modifying just the `MENDER_STORAGE_TOTAL_SIZE_MB` to match my disk, and noting that it was indeed mounted at `/dev/sda` on my target device (I booted the device to check).
Here is the output:
```
$ MENDER_ARTIFACT_NAME=artifact-v0.0.1 ./docker-mender-convert \
--disk-image input/ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img --config ./configs/krystofs-config-for-mender-convert
Running mender-convert --disk-image input/ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img --config ./configs/krystofs-config-for-mender-convert
Running mender-convert-extract: --disk-image input/ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img --config ./configs/krystofs-config-for-mender-convert
2020-05-09 00:11:12 [INFO] [mender-convert-extract] Using configuration file: configs/mender_convert_config
2020-05-09 00:11:12 [INFO] [mender-convert-extract] Using configuration file: ./configs/krystofs-config-for-mender-convert
2020-05-09 00:11:12 [INFO] [mender-convert-extract] Validating disk image
2020-05-09 00:11:12 [INFO] [mender-convert-extract] Disk parsed successfully
2020-05-09 00:11:12 [INFO] [mender-convert-extract] NUMBER OF PARTS: 2 TYPE: gpt
2020-05-09 00:11:12 [INFO] [mender-convert-extract] PART 1: SIZE: 1M TYPE: 21686148-6449-6e6f-744e-656564454649
2020-05-09 00:11:12 [INFO] [mender-convert-extract] PART 1: extracting to work/part-1.fs
2020-05-09 00:11:12 [INFO] [mender-convert-extract] PART 2: SIZE: 119.2G TYPE: 0fc63daf-8483-4772-8e79-3d69d8477de4
2020-05-09 00:11:12 [INFO] [mender-convert-extract] PART 2: extracting to work/part-2.fs
mender-convert-extract has finished. Cleaning up...
Running mender-convert-modify: --disk-image input/ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img --config ./configs/krystofs-config-for-mender-convert
2020-05-09 00:18:25 [INFO] [mender-convert-modify] Using configuration file: configs/mender_convert_config
2020-05-09 00:18:25 [INFO] [mender-convert-modify] Using configuration file: ./configs/krystofs-config-for-mender-convert
mount: /mender-convert/work/boot: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/loop5, missing codepage or helper program, or other error.
mender-convert-modify has finished. Cleaning up...
umount: work/boot: not mounted.
2020-05-09 00:18:25 [ERROR] [mender-convert] mender-convert failed
2020-05-09 00:18:25 [DEBUG] [mender-convert-extract] When running: (modules/disk.sh:61): run_and_log_cmd():
dd if=input/ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img of=work/part-2.fs skip=4096 bs=512 count=250062848 conv=sparse status=none
2020-05-09 00:18:25 [ERROR] [mender-convert] mender-convert exit code: 32
```
Any idea on what I need to do to successfully create the artifacts?
Thanks,
Krystof
---
### Author:  [@MarekBelisko](https://hub.mender.io/u/MarekBelisko)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2020, 5:50am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/2 "2020-05-09T05:50:06Z")
Hi,
I have added generic\_x64\_hdd\_config and I hit same issue and problem was that GPT table was not correct. Can you please try to run on copied image from hdd command:
```auto
sgdisk -e ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img
```
Please look at help here: [config](https://github.com/mendersoftware/mender-convert/blob/master/configs/generic_x86-64_hdd_config) steps are described here.
Also note LVM partitioning is not supported so you need to manually setup partitioning on your host OS. Hope this help. Pls let me know ;). Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@krystof](https://hub.mender.io/u/krystof)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/3 "2020-05-09T23:54:18Z")
Thanks @MarekBelisko. Here’s the output of the sgdisk command:
```
$ sgdisk -e ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img
Warning: The kernel is still using the old partition table.
The new table will be used at the next reboot or after you
run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8)
The operation has completed successfully.
```
Following the steps from the config file / guide you linked, I tried running mender-convert again, but the result was the same as before.
I also tried running `partprobe` on the image as suggested by the `sgdisk` output, and running `mender-convert` after that. The result is always the same as I wrote my original post.
For completeness, here are the contents of my config file:
```
MENDER_STORAGE_TOTAL_SIZE_MB="122104"
MENDER_STORAGE_DEVICE_BASE=/dev/sda
MENDER_DEVICE_TYPE="x86_64"
MENDER_COPY_BOOT_GAP="n"
```
Any ideas?
I am not sure what you mean about the partitioning on the host OS. Do you mean that before I first create the .img file, that disk should not use LVM? The disk from which I created the .img. file does not use LVM.
---
### Author:  [@MarekBelisko](https://hub.mender.io/u/MarekBelisko)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2020, 5:46am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/4 "2020-05-10T05:46:11Z")
@krystof can you please post output of:
`fdisk -l ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img` or `partx -l ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img`
By partitioning on host os I mean when you install Ubuntu on your test PC how do you partitioned disk (manually or automatically by installer)? I have experience with CentOS that automatic partitioner use LVM and when try to convert such image I have same issues (that mender-convert cannot detect partitions and mount them). Output of fdisk or partx should help better to understand what can be wrong. Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@krystof](https://hub.mender.io/u/krystof)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/5 "2020-05-10T21:14:16Z")
Thanks @MarekBelisko. Here’s the output:
```
$ fdisk -l ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img
Disk ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img: 119.25 GiB, 128035676160 bytes, 250069680 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: ABD2060A-7176-4254-A6DE-8E8EDCA92627
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img1 2048 4095 2048 1M BIOS boot
ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img2 4096 250066943 250062848 119.2G Linux filesystem
```
and
```
$ partx -l ubuntu-server-image-from-HW-2020-05-07.img
# 1: 2048- 4095 ( 2048 sectors, 1 MB)
# 2: 4096-250066943 (250062848 sectors, 128032 MB)
```
What do you think?
---
### Author:  [@MarekBelisko](https://hub.mender.io/u/MarekBelisko)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2020, 6:27am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/6 "2020-05-11T06:27:30Z")
AFAIK mender look for boot partition (where efi is installed). Above partition layout don’t have efi partition so could you please try to install ubuntu with separate efi (can be ~200M) and separate rootfs (e.g. 15G). Then you don’t need to copy whole HDD just e.g. 16G (more convenient when transferring image from test device to PC for conversion). Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@drewmoseley](https://hub.mender.io/u/drewmoseley)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2020, 3:33pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/7 "2020-05-11T15:33:13Z")
Interesting. So does this mean that we assume EFI only with mender-convert? I recently did an Ubuntu install on my desktop system and it ended up without EFI support. I had to manually create the EFI partition and install grub-efi using boot-repair to get it to boot un EFI mode.
@mirzak any thoughts here?
Drew
---
### Author:  [@mirzak](https://hub.mender.io/u/mirzak)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/8 "2020-05-11T15:46:19Z")
Hm, the image posted by @krystof seems to be BIOS (legacy boot). This we do not support yet in mender-convert.
We run tests on the following Ubuntu image (EFI boot):
```auto
$ fdisk -l Ubuntu-Bionic-x86-64.img
Disk Ubuntu-Bionic-x86-64.img: 2,12 GiB, 2270532608 bytes, 4434634 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 3B4BAD4E-D5CB-5F40-B03D-7BBF5F306C3E
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
Ubuntu-Bionic-x86-64.img1 2048 526335 524288 256M EFI System
Ubuntu-Bionic-x86-64.img2 526336 4434600 3908265 1,9G Linux root (x86-64)
```
Rebuilding the “golden image” image with EFI support might help, if the hardware supports EFI. Any modern hardware should support it and the linked hardware seems “modern”
---
### Author:  [@dellgreen](https://hub.mender.io/u/dellgreen)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2020, 4:04pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/9 "2020-05-11T16:04:27Z")
As an aside, if you get a chance to play with mkosi as recommended in a different discussion, as a replacement for golden image, then mkosi only produces EFI images which I can confirm having had success processing with mender-convert. (assuming your hardware supports EFI)
---
### Author:  [@krystof](https://hub.mender.io/u/krystof)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2020, 12:54am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/10 "2020-05-12T00:54:19Z")
Thanks everyone for your advice. The good news is that I’ve managed to get `mender-convert` to work.
I created a new image using `mkosi`, and confirmed that it was using EFI boot. I converted the image to an .img file, and running `mender-convert` on it succeeded.
From there, I wasn’t quite sure how to copy that image to the device, since the [official documentation](https://docs.mender.io/2.3/artifacts/provisioning-a-new-device) seems to only talk about Yocto, while I am using Ubuntu.
I tried following the steps suggested in `configs/generic_x86-64_hdd_config`
I copied the data to the disk with
```
zcat mkosi-image-x86_64-mender.img.gz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdc bs=1M status=progress
```
Running fdisk on it showed some partition issues:
```
$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc
[sudo] password for krystof:
GPT PMBR size mismatch (250068991 != 250069679) will be corrected by write.
The backup GPT table is not on the end of the device. This problem will be corrected by write.
Disk /dev/sdc: 119.25 GiB, 128035676160 bytes, 250069680 sectors
Disk model: 2115
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 33553920 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 411C0010-B3FA-498A-BD46-09B615FD9042
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sdc1 16384 540671 524288 256M EFI System
/dev/sdc2 540672 125157375 124616704 59.4G Linux filesystem
/dev/sdc3 125157376 249774079 124616704 59.4G Linux filesystem
/dev/sdc4 249774080 250036223 262144 128M Linux filesystem
```
I tried to correct these with sgdisk, again as suggested by generic\_x86-64\_hdd\_config:
```
$ sudo sgdisk -e /dev/sdc
Warning: The kernel is still using the old partition table.
The new table will be used at the next reboot or after you
run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8)
The operation has completed successfully.
```
This did remove the warning:
```
$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc
Disk /dev/sdc: 119.25 GiB, 128035676160 bytes, 250069680 sectors
Disk model: 2115
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 33553920 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 411C0010-B3FA-498A-BD46-09B615FD9042
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sdc1 16384 540671 524288 256M EFI System
/dev/sdc2 540672 125157375 124616704 59.4G Linux filesystem
/dev/sdc3 125157376 249774079 124616704 59.4G Linux filesystem
/dev/sdc4 249774080 250036223 262144 128M Linux filesystem
```
…but the device does not boot.
I am contacting AdvanTech to confirm that the board I have does indeed support EFI boot.
Do any of you see anything that I’ve missed that could be a problem?
Thanks again!
---
### Author:  [@dellgreen](https://hub.mender.io/u/dellgreen)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2020, 5:43am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/11 "2020-05-12T05:43:49Z")
The manual for your device does imply that it should be set to uefi boot by default, unless some of the bios settings have been changed to legacy boot.
Any boot messages output to your screen or serial port?
---
### Author:  [@mirzak](https://hub.mender.io/u/mirzak)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2020, 6:39am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/12 "2020-05-12T06:39:07Z")
I do not see anything wrong in your workflow @krystof, and as @dellgreen pointed out I would check out that the firmware settings are set to support EFI
> [@krystof](#):
>
> zcat mkosi-image-x86\_64-mender.img.gz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdc bs=1M status=progress
This is correct, but I would also add an `sync` call at the end, e.g:
```auto
zcat mkosi-image-x86_64-mender.img.gz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdc bs=1M status=progress && sync
```
---
### Author:  [@dellgreen](https://hub.mender.io/u/dellgreen)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2020, 7:09am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/13 "2020-05-12T07:09:40Z")
@mirzak that’s a good catch, I recall having created the odd unbootable sdcard and usb stick in the past by forgetting the sync command, I believe newer dd versions also have a built in sync option also which I have used in the past with success.
@krystof also if you use bmaptools with the bmap file produced by the mender-convert process to image your device, you won’t need to do zcat/dd/sync combo and your imaging will also be faster.
---
### Author:  [@mirzak](https://hub.mender.io/u/mirzak)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2020, 7:12am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/14 "2020-05-12T07:12:57Z")
> [@dellgreen](#):
>
> @mirzak that’s a good catch, I recall having created the odd unbootable sdcard and usb stick in the past by forgetting the sync command, I believe newer dd versions also have a built in sync option also which I have used in the past with success.
Yeah, you can also do:
```auto
# Same as running 'sync' after the call
zcat mkosi-image-x86_64-mender.img.gz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdc bs=1M status=progress conv=fdatasync
```
or
```auto
# This will sync on each block write
zcat mkosi-image-x86_64-mender.img.gz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdc bs=1M status=progress oflag=dsync
```
---
### Author:  [@MarekBelisko](https://hub.mender.io/u/MarekBelisko)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2020, 7:30am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/15 "2020-05-12T07:30:47Z")
> [@krystof](#):
>
> Do any of you see anything that I’ve missed that could be a problem?
Can you boot image which is generated by mkosi (without mender-convert)? Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@krystof](https://hub.mender.io/u/krystof)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2020, 12:01am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/16 "2020-05-13T00:01:04Z")
OK, so the issue isn’t in the hardware/firmware. As @MarekBelisko suggested I tried booting directly the image generated by mkosi, and that works fine (after adjusting the boot order in BIOS).
With the mender-convert created image, after adjusting the boot order in BIOS in the same way that I did for the mkosi image, I get a GRUB screen that I am unfamiliar with. It does not seem to offer an easy way to boot anything:
I did add a `sync` call to `dd` command as @mirzak suggested, and also fixed the partition issue after running `dd` with `sudo sgdisk -e /dev/sdc`.
I am not sure what to do from here.
Any suggestions?
---
### Author:  [@MarekBelisko](https://hub.mender.io/u/MarekBelisko)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2020, 4:59am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/17 "2020-05-13T04:59:49Z")
@krystof can you please try this commit [mender](https://github.com/nandra/mender-conversion-tools/commit/0f500f215a9c944c85df731b2e499c6e111a5cc8) Some x86 seems to doesn’t work without this (at least from my experience). Pls use this repo of cherry pick commit to mender-convert repo and try to convert and test. Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@krystof](https://hub.mender.io/u/krystof)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/18 "2020-05-13T22:13:46Z")
@MarekBelisko I cherry-picked your commit, and things changed, though I am unsure whether for the better or worse:
which after 10 seconds goes to this:
which does not really let me do anything.
Any ideas?
---
### Author:  [@MarekBelisko](https://hub.mender.io/u/MarekBelisko)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2020, 6:22am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/19 "2020-05-14T06:22:23Z")
```auto
lock:OK
lock:OK
```
looks good but what is issue with `error: not a regular file.` needs to be debuged.
I check in grub source and only places are those:
```auto
gg 'not a regular file'
grub-core/fs/btrfs.c:2070: return grub_error (GRUB_ERR_BAD_FILE_TYPE, N_("not a regular file"));
grub-core/fs/fshelp.c:307: return grub_error (GRUB_ERR_BAD_FILE_TYPE, N_("not a regular file"));
grub-core/fs/jfs.c:835: grub_error (GRUB_ERR_BAD_FILE_TYPE, N_("not a regular file"));
grub-core/fs/zfs/zfs.c:3804: return grub_error (GRUB_ERR_BAD_FILE_TYPE, N_("not a regular file"));
```
@krystof which fs do you use for rootfs? ext4 or something else?
@mirzak @drewmoseley ideas where this can come from?
Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@krystof](https://hub.mender.io/u/krystof)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2020, 5:53am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/cant-create-mender-images-for-ubuntu-server-x64/1897/20 "2020-05-15T05:53:43Z")
@MarekBelisko yes, I use ext4 as the rootfs.
The images are created by mkosi based on this config file:
```
[Distribution]
Distribution=ubuntu
Release=focal
[Output]
Format=raw_ext4
Bootable=yes
[Partitions]
RootSize=20G
```
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