Gparted doesn't open and installation trouble

[daviede]

I was trying to install ubuntu 12.04 from a bootable USB, but the installation hanged at "Preparing to Install." I searched the forum for this problem and came across a thread that suggested it could be due to a problem with the partitions.
However, when I try to open gparted, it hangs, with the bar by "scanning for devices" endlessly going back and forth. I couldn't understand what my problem might be for this or the "preparing to install" freezing. Here is what I get when I try to open gparted from terminal:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo /usr/sbin/gparted
======================
libparted : 2.3
======================

** (gpartedbin:21600): WARNING **: Could not connect: Connection refused

Thanks for any help.

[jerrrys]

try

gksudo gparted

[daviede]

try

gksudo gparted

It doesn't say anything about connection being refused this time but I still get the same response from gparted: "scanning all devices" and no progress beyond that.

[Starcruiser322]

Can you mount the drive at least?
sudo fdisk -l (that's an "L" by the way)
(mentally select the right partition, example sda1)
sudo mkdir /media/host
sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /media/host
(replace sda1 with your drive, also assuming windows ntfs partition, else use vfat or ext2/4)

when done, to unmount:
sudo umount /dev/sda1