How to get installation errors

[tinker123]

I tried upgrading from Ubutnu 10.10 -> 11.04 -> 11.10 ->12.04

12.04 had some serious error messages during the installation process. Something about a kernel not being installed properly.

I would like to try again with a clean install, no upgrades.

My question is, how do I capture the error messages during the installation process. Can I copy them? If so, where could I paste them too given that the installer is running? Is there a log somewhere such that after a botched installation I can use a livecd to retrieve the installation error messages and paste them into a web post?

Is there a better Ubuntu distro for capturing, copying and pasting installation error messages? Ubuntu vs Kubuntu vs Xubuntu?

Thanks.

[mörgæs]

Thanks for your interest in finding and reporting bugs.

First of all: What exactly is failing when you do a clean install?

[tinker123]

Thanks for your interest in finding and reporting bugs.

First of all: What exactly is failing when you do a clean install?

The "exactly" part is why I asked my question. I can't give people exact information, short of writing things down, because I don't know of a way to save, copy and paste installation error messages. If there is such a thing.

The situation happened when I was upgrading to 12.04. There is a window in the update manager that prints out console/stdout messages as it goes along.

I saw a message that said "error installing kernel module". It kept going, but I had a number of problems once the installation was done, in fact I had to abandon it.

That is why I wanted to know if there was a way to save such messages electronically, as it would make it easier for me to fix things.

[mörgæs]

What I meant was: Is the error only appearing during upgrades or also by a fresh install?

There are logs to find (though I haven't used them myself), but before examining on this level of detail I recommend that you try to isolate the problem on macro level.