[Bug 896647] Re: Ubuntu Boot halts if a windows partition is hibernated

[Steve Langasek]

On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 07:46:07PM -0000, fig_wright wrote:
> The message during boot (if you are lucky enough to see it) is:

> -----------------
>  Windows is hibernated, refused to mount 
>  NTFS partition is hibernated {blah, blah}
> 
>  {several lines of more blah about mounting hibernated partitions}
> 
>  An error occurred while mounting /media/winxp
>  press S to skip mounting or M for manual recovery
> -----------------

Ok, thanks.

> There is no serious reason why 's' couldn't default after 60 seconds. If
> Ubuntu is serious about winning over windows users, then functioning
> properly in dual-boot situations is a *MUST* work scenario. Failing to
> boot Ubuntu because windows is hibernated on another partition somewhere
> is a show-stopper.

The reason is that mountall doesn't know how to distinguish between "this is
an optional filesystem that should be ignored if it can't be mounted" and
"this is a critical filesystem that we can't boot without".

However, you can *tell* mountall this by adding a 'nobootwait' option to the
entry in /etc/fstab.

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek at ubuntu.com                                     vorlon at debian.org


** Changed in: mountall (Ubuntu)
       Status: Incomplete => Triaged

** Changed in: mountall (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided => Medium

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/896647

Title:
  Ubuntu Boot halts if a windows partition is hibernated

Status in “mountall” package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  When booting Ubuntu 11.04, if there is an NTFS partition in the
  /etc/fstab file set to automount during boot, and if there is a
  hibernated windows system on that partition... then the boot will halt
  permanently, waiting for user input to a question about proceeding.

  Why is this a bug? It is a bug because so many users now do not have
  functioning visuals during boot due to the complexities of Plymouth -
  in one way or another many users have blank or unresponsive screens
  during boot - until the GDM screen comes up. These users will not be
  able to see the prompt for their input to resolve an issue that does
  not actually need any input to resolve. Any user in this situation
  will have an essentially dead system that will not boot - they they do
  not know that a simple key-press can save their system.

  At the very least the prompt should have a 60 second time-out so that
  if there is no user input (for example if the user cant see the text
  and therefore does not know that input is being expected) then the
  default choice should be made. This will allow the PC to boot to a
  usable state, which the user may be able to find out the problem from.

  In the event of a hibernated system on a peripheral NTFS partition,
  then the default action should be simply to not bother mounting the
  partition. The user will discover soon enough that the partition is
  missing and that something it up with it (it has a hibernated system
  on it) - there is no need to halt the boot for an issue like this.

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