Xubuntu 14.04 with RAID

Summary

Xubuntu 14.04 doesn't support RAID out of the box. There is a complex workaround starting with Ubuntu Server. These instructions assume you have 3 identical drives, with 2 planned as active drives and one spare.

Installing Ubuntu Server 14.04

Download the Ubuntu Server image and write it to a USB drive. Reboot from the USB drive and start the installer.

NOTE: If you have a fast computer or a USB 3.0 drive, you'll have to do this workaround to avoid a problem with initramfs later after partitioning. Go to the second console (Ctrl-Alt-F2), and run this command (originally suggested here):

while true; do rm /var/run/chroot-setup.lock; sleep 1; done

Then use Alt-F1 to get back to the installer console.

Answer the installation questions until you get to partitioning. Then follow these steps:

At the partitioning phase, pick "Manual".
Setup your 3 drives with identical partitions:
1. 500 MB EFI Boot Partition
2. RAID partition with all remaining space
Then pick "Setup Software RAID"
1. Pick 2 active and 1 spare partitions
2. Specify the RAID partition as Ext4, root mount point ("/")

Upgrading Ubuntu Server to Xubuntu

Log in on the console (Hit Ctrl-Alt-F2 if it isn't visible after reboot).
sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop
This will not complete. There are several things you have to fix:
1. sudo /usr/share/debconf/fix_db.pl
2. sudo sudo dpkg-reconfigure dictionaries-common
3. sudo mv /usr/share/dict/words /usr/share/dict/words-orig
4. sudo mv /usr/sbin/update-icon-caches /usr/sbin/update-icon-caches.old
5. sudo rm /usr/share/man/man8/update-icon-caches.2.8.gtk
Re-run sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop and it should run to completion.

Last modified on 30 Aug 2014 by AO