Bootable USB Errors during Installation

[cullmancyber]

Describe the bug
I am not able to install Malcolm from a USB. Copied below are the error messages that I've received. Please advise on next steps.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:
USB Bootloader created with Balena Etcher received these error messages:
!! Partition disks
Unexpected error while creating volume group
Autopartitioning using LVM failed because an error occurred while creating the volume group.
Check /var/log/syslog or see virtual console 4 for the details

Continue
No root file system is defined
Please correct this from the partitioning menu.

USB Bootloader created with Rufus - GPT received these error messages:
!! Detect and mount installation media
Incorrect installation media detected
The detected media cannot be used for installation.
Please provide suitable media to continue with the installation.

Continue
An installation step failed. You can try to run the failing item again from the menu, or skip it and choose something else. The failing step is: Detect and mount installation media
Continue

USB Bootloader created with Rufus - MBR received these error messages:
!! Detect and mount installation media
Incorrect installation media detected
The detected media cannot be used for installation.
Please provide suitable media to continue with the installation.

Continue
An installation step failed. You can try to run the failing item again from the menu, or skip it and choose something else. The failing step is: Detect and mount installation media
Continue

Expected behavior
Install Malcolm

**Screenshots and/or Logs **
Not available

Malcolm Version:

• Version 25.06.0

How are you running Malcolm?

• ISO installed (on VM or dedicated hardware)
• via Docker on Linux
• via Docker on Microsoft Windows
• via Docker on macOS
• via Kubernetes (please provide platform details: e.g., on-prem K3s, Amazon AWS EKS, Microsoft Azure AKS, etc.)
• other (please describe)

Additional context
I am a high school cybersecurity teacher. Malcolm was recommended by my regional CISA rep. I am attempting to install and learn on the system in order to use in class.

[mmguero]

Could you double-check the SHA sum of the ISO against the one provided with the ISO? I think that's probably the issue.

$ ll
0644 1.9Gi user 2025-07-24 15:28  malcolm-25.06.0.iso.01
0644 1.9Gi user 2025-07-24 15:28  malcolm-25.06.0.iso.02
0644 1.9Gi user 2025-07-24 15:28  malcolm-25.06.0.iso.03
0644 792Mi user 2025-07-24 15:26  malcolm-25.06.0.iso.04
0644    86 user 2025-07-24 15:23  malcolm-25.06.0.iso.sha
$ release_cleaver.sh malcolm-25.06.0.iso.*
Joining...
malcolm-25.06.0.iso: OK
$ sha256sum malcolm-25.06.0.iso
3e2c2dbca7f36a1f807d1ae306f22537d445650b056b84a3742742fe3a25a8fa  malcolm-25.06.0.iso
$ cat malcolm-25.06.0.iso.sha 
File: malcolm-25.06.0.iso.sha
3e2c2dbca7f36a1f807d1ae306f22537d445650b056b84a3742742fe3a25a8fa  malcolm-25.06.0.iso

I just tested the ISO to USB (on Linux) with Balena Etcher and dd and the flash worked as well as booting from the drive and had no problems.

Either that or there's something wrong with the media you're trying to use: The detected media cannot be used for installation. seems to indicate an error on your end.

[mmguero]

I just released v25.07.0 and tested the release_cleaver.ps1 and release_cleaver.sh scripts. On Powershell in Windows 10:

PS C:\Users\vagrant\Downloads\tojoin> dir


    Directory: C:\Users\vagrant\Downloads\tojoin


Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
-a----         7/30/2025   7:35 PM     2000000000 hedgehog-25.07.0.iso.01
-a----         7/30/2025   7:35 PM     1187671040 hedgehog-25.07.0.iso.02
-a----         7/30/2025   7:35 PM             87 hedgehog-25.07.0.iso.sha
-a----         7/30/2025   7:37 PM     1496079304 hedgehog-25.07.0_raspi_4.img.xz.01
-a----         7/30/2025   7:37 PM             98 hedgehog-25.07.0_raspi_4.img.xz.sha
-a----         7/30/2025   7:36 PM     2000000000 malcolm-25.07.0.iso.01
-a----         7/30/2025   7:37 PM     2000000000 malcolm-25.07.0.iso.02
-a----         7/30/2025   7:37 PM     2000000000 malcolm-25.07.0.iso.03
-a----         7/30/2025   7:37 PM      879301632 malcolm-25.07.0.iso.04
-a----         7/30/2025   7:36 PM             86 malcolm-25.07.0.iso.sha

PS C:\Users\vagrant\Downloads\tojoin> release_cleaver.ps1 .\hedgehog-25.07.0.iso.*
Joining...
"hedgehog-25.07.0.iso" OK

PS C:\Users\vagrant\Downloads\tojoin> release_cleaver.ps1 .\malcolm-25.07.0.iso.*
Joining...
"malcolm-25.07.0.iso" OK

PS C:\Users\vagrant\Downloads\tojoin> release_cleaver.ps1 .\*raspi*
Joining...
"hedgehog-25.07.0_raspi_4.img.xz" OK

I also tested the .sh version in Linux and macOS with the same successful results.

Please make sure the files you've downloaded from the Malcolm GitHub release are fully downloaded without error. GitHub itself now shows checksums for individual asset files:

Make sure that these individual files' checksums all match the ones GitHub shows, and then you shouldn't have a problem joining them together with release_cleaver.ps1.

[cullmancyber]

I completed all of the recommended steps above.

Attempted Malcom Installation using a new USB thumbdrive
After setting up hostname, domain name, root password, Malcolm service account username, and password, I received the following error:

!!Partition disks - Partition(s) 1,2,3,4 on /dev/sha have been written, but we have been unable to inform the kernel of the change, probably because it/they are in use. As a result, the old partition(s) will remain in use. You should reboot now before making further changes.
ERROR!!!

Rebooted
Installation USB thumbdrive was no longer recognized.

[mmguero]

So during the joining of the files with release_cleaver.ps1 you got "Ok" thas time?

I have seen the "but we have been unable to inform the kernel of the change" error before from Linux, but a reboot has always taken care of it. As far as the installation USB thumbdrive no longer being recognized... that almost makes me think that the installation was trying to install on the thumb drive rather than the system's internal storage, which I wouldn't have thought would be possible.

I'd probably recommend flashing the ISO to the thumb drive again and restarting the installation. If you're familiar enough with Linux you could choose the expert installation option from the menu and step through it that way, and when you get to partitioning see what disks it recognizes?

[cullmancyber]

Yes, after joining the files with release_cleaver.ps1 I got "Ok".

As recommended, I flashed the ISO on a new thumb drive and then went step-by-step through the expert installation. At the "Partition disks" step, the only disk listed was 'SCSI5 (0,00) (sda) - 8.1 GB General Udisk' (i.e. my USB).

Perhaps you are correct that the installation was trying to install on the thumb drive rather than the system's internal storage.

What would you recommend that I try next to address this issue?

[mmguero]

Hmmm, well Malcolm's installer is just based on the standard Debian 12 Linux installer, so my guess is if you tried to download Debian and install it you'd see the same problem. What type of storage is on the machine that doesn't seem to be recognized (e.g., NVMe, SSD, HDD, RAID, etc.)? Where all of this is handled by the Debian installer itself there's not a ton I really have control over that I could fix in the Malcolm installer, as I'm relying on the base installer handling it correctly.

You could try this, just to gather more information:

1. Flash the ISO to the USB again
2. Boot it, but this time instead of going into the installer choose Live (amd64) (or the corresponding option, it might be slightly different wording for BIOS vs EFI) so it boots into the live installer.
3. Once it's in there, open a terminal (second icon from the right on the top) and run these commands:
   • sudo lsblk
   • sudo parted -l
   • sudo lshw -c storage

And share the output.