Live DVD 20.04.1 - only goes to wallpaper ??

[oygle]

This is on a HP Probook 4330s. I have previously had Kubuntu 19.10 on it, although it was a PITA to use, as the monitor was damaged. That is, trying to drive it with an external monitor and the plasma desktop would constantly give problems. Booting was always a challenge to catch it just in time. Anyway, decided to burn the Kubuntu 20.04.1 ISO onto a DVD as booting from USB on this laptop simply doesn't work.

After many tries at changing the BIOS to boot from the CD, it appears to be loading okay, for the live process. However, I only see the wallpaper, the mouse can be moved, but clicking left or right buttons, nothing, There is no shortcut to 'Install ...". There is no menu, no task bar, only the wallpaper ??

What is it waiting for ?

[CelticWarrior]

It is waiting for nothing.
The problem is that you're seeing the extended desktop in the external monitor and not the main part which is in the internal faulty one.

You can right-click anywhere > Settings. Then go the screens setting and disable the internal one.

Even better, repair it or buy a new one. Problem solved.

[oygle]

It is waiting for nothing.
The problem is that you're seeing the extended desktop in the external monitor and not the main part which is in the internal faulty one.

Yes, and that has been the problem when using an installed version.

You can right-click anywhere > Settings. Then go the screens setting and disable the internal one.

There is no Kubuntu installed on that hard drive, so right-click won't work. It's in an (almost) live scenario.

Even better, repair it or buy a new one. Problem solved.

That would be the best solution; I only have so much hair to pull out ..lol

Thanks for your help.

[CelticWarrior]

There is no Kubuntu installed on that hard drive, so right-click won't work. It's in an (almost) live scenario.

Installed or "live" doesn't matter. It works in standard Ubuntu (Gnome).

[oygle]

As per my first post -

the mouse can be moved, but clicking left or right buttons, nothing

[oygle]

So, this live 20.04.1 Kubuntu was waiting on something. Found out how to drop to shell, pressed Ctrl, Alt F2, it wanted a username and login. More searching, and I gave it "kubuntu" as username and just pressed ENTER on password. Now at least I can see some files. Usually there is an "install" on the desktop. This screenshot displays the contents of a file which I assume is the one. How do I execute that file ?

[oygle]

More searching and then ran

startx

from the terminal. Now I can see the 'Install ..." on the desktop. Have tried several times to execute it from the desktop, or browse with Dolphin and then 'execute'. It does start to access the USB (ISO is on there) for a few seconds, but then nothing ? I have checked in system settings and the external monitor is the primary monitor. Any ideas where to look for errors, or how to execute the desktop file from the terminal please ?

[oygle]

I was hoping to simply execute that desktop file, and therefore sought help in another forum at https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2452754 , but alas, no go.

[sudodus]

The exec line contains the command

ubiquity kde_ui

This is the installer. If you run that command from a terminal window in graphics mode, it should work 'as intended'.

In text mode it might be difficult or impossible to run ubiquity. You can try without a parameter

ubiquity

but I don't think it will work without a graphical user interface.

---

An alternative is to boot in recovery mode (selected at the grub menu). That way you might get a primitive but working graphic desktop environment, so that you can run the installer.

[oygle]

The exec line contains the command

ubiquity kde_ui

This is the installer. If you run that command from a terminal window in graphics mode, it should work 'as intended'.

In text mode it might be difficult or impossible to run ubiquity. You can try without a parameter

ubiquity

but I don't think it will work without a graphical user interface.

I did try that. Here is what I had to do to get there...

* On boot from usb, only see the wallpaper, there is a mouse pointer, no task bar, no menus, the mouse moves, but left/right click do nothing. Then ...
* Ctrl, Alt F2, a login screen, enter 'kubuntu' as username and enter on password. So now I'm at terminal. Then "startx", same as before only wallpaper, but mouse has left/right options. Screen flickers and jumps for a while ....
* Now a taskbar and a KDE icon for the menus, plus the icon to "Install Kubuntu ..". Select that, nothing happens other than the usb light flickers for a few seconds.

Drop down to Terminal ..

ubiquity kde_ui

a msg that "Ubiquity is already running"..

An alternative is to boot in recovery mode (selected at the grub menu). That way you might get a primitive but working graphic desktop environment, so that you can run the installer.

The grub menu doesn't appear though, there is no OS on the HDD either. I never see the usual options like "Try" or "install". Would I be better to try the "live/persistant" option in

mkusb

Assuming the USB has the correct 20.04.1 on it (the latest), then is there a simple method to copy the ISO contents onto the HDD ?

...Later on .. pressed Shift just after BIOS display, no "recovery mode" option, but there was an option to run from terminal. Now it has come up with the "Try" or "Install", so installing now ... hopefully