We are proud to announce version 26.04 of Subiquity, supported on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. Subiquity 26.04 is included in the Ubuntu 26.04 live-server ISO, and is now live on the 26.04/stable channel. Also, Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap on Ubuntu 26.04 includes this same version of Subiquity.

What's new in Subiquity 26.04

Earlier user creation

Previously, the user account was only created the first time the newly installed system was started. This made it harder to write automated post-installation scripts, since the user account was not available at the point when they executed (typically as part of late-commands). Now, the user account is created earlier in the installation, so it is available for automated post-installation scripts.

This also addresses some crashes when installing Ubuntu unattended (with guest additions on) on specific versions of VirtualBox. See LP: #2090834 for details. If you run into this issue, please install without the guest
additions.

In the event that you still want to defer the creation of the user account, you can use autoinstall directives to delegate the user creation to cloud-init, instead of using the builtin identity section:

autoinstall:
  # No identity section needed when using cloud-init's user-data.users.
  user-data:
    # This section will be passed to cloud-init.
    # See https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/reference/yaml_examples/user_groups.html
    users:
    - name: ubuntu
      gecos: ubuntu
      passwd: '$6$wdAcoXrU039hKYPd$508Qvbe7ObUnxoj15DRCkzC3qO7edjH0VV7BPNRDYK4QR8ofJaEEF2heacn0QgD.f8pO8SNp83XNdWG6tocBM1'
      groups: adm, cdrom, dip, lxd, plugdev, sudo
      shell: /bin/bash
      lock_passwd: False

Added groups support for automated installations

For automated installations, it is now possible to configure which groups the primary user should belong to. This makes it possible to override the default list of groups, or to specify extra groups that you want the primary user to be part of.

autoinstall:
  identity:
    username: ubuntu
    password: '$6$wdAcoXrU039hKYPd$508Qvbe7ObUnxoj15DRCkzC3qO7edjH0VV7BPNRDYK4QR8ofJaEEF2heacn0QgD.f8pO8SNp83XNdWG6tocBM1'
    hostname: ubuntu
    # Specifies the list of groups the user should belong to.
    groups: [adm, sudo, lpadmin]
    # Alternative syntax:
    # groups:
    #   override: [adm, sudo, lpadmin]

autoinstall:
  identity:
    username: ubuntu
    password: '$6$wdAcoXrU039hKYPd$508Qvbe7ObUnxoj15DRCkzC3qO7edjH0VV7BPNRDYK4QR8ofJaEEF2heacn0QgD.f8pO8SNp83XNdWG6tocBM1'
    hostname: ubuntu
    # Specifies a list of additional groups the user should belong to, in
    # addition to the default groups.
    groups:
      append: [adm, sudo, lpadmin]

Improved TPM backed FDE experience for Ubuntu Desktop

Subiquity 26.04 adds extra features in the installer to improve the TPM backed FDE experience on Ubuntu Desktop. Namely, the installer now gives users the ability to turn their system into a system compatible with TPM backed FDE, including in cases where TPM state or firmware behavior would otherwise prevent it.

Additionally, for TPM/FDE, third-party NVIDIA drivers are now delivered as kernel snap components. This is controlled by the "install third-party software for graphics and Wi-Fi hardware" option in Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap, or equivalent autoinstall directives:

autoinstall:
  storage:
    layout:
      name: hybrid
      [...]
  source:
    id: ...
    search_drivers: true
  drivers:
    install: true

Enabled installation of OEM/HWE metapackage on Ubuntu Server

Some machines require extra software (including drivers) to work correctly. This software is typically distributed automatically through a single .deb package called an OEM metapackage or HWE metapackage, which matches the hardware information. Previously, only Ubuntu Desktop installations would install such a package by default. Starting with Ubuntu 26.04, the package (if
any) will also be installed for Ubuntu Server.

The corresponding autoinstall directive to disable this behavior is:

autoinstall:
  oem:
    install: false

And the below can be used on older versions of Ubuntu Server to get the OEM metapackage installed:

autoinstall:
  oem:
    install: true

Disabled crash reporting for early-commands and late-commands

Crash reporting has been disabled for early-commands and late-commands to reduce noise. Errors occurring in early-commands or late-commands are frequently tied to user customization rather than installer failures, and are therefore not useful for automated crash reporting.

Note that if an early-command or late-command fails and you suspect an installer bug, you can still create a bug report using the following command:

ubuntu-bug subiquity

Security and privacy improvements

Subiquity 26.04 comes with updated logging behavior to reduce the inclusion of sensitive information in diagnostic outputs such as bug reports. In particular, network configuration and user creation info are no longer written to logs. These changes are intended to limit the potential exposure of data that could be considered personally identifiable and to further align logging practices with privacy and security best practices.

Bug fixes

• CVE-2025-14551 (PR: #2357) - Stop logging network config and identity data.
• LP: #2127072 (curtin MP: #494047) - Fix an issue where NVMe/TCP booting would be interrupted and cause the system to become unresponsive.
• LP: #2080416 (PR: #2318) - Fix a crash of the installer when the GeoIP query times out.
• LP: #2132390 (PR: #2315) - Fix an issue where the validate-autoinstall-user-data script would silently fail when validating the user-data section.
• LP: #2141845 (PR: #2327) - Fix a crash in the installer if the supplied timezone is invalid. This is specific to Ubuntu Desktop installations or automated installations.
• LP: #2142196 (probert PR: #165, curtin PR: #19) - Fix an issue where Subiquity would fail to install over a LVM volume group that has a missing physical volume.
• LP: #2142391 (PR: #2333) - Fix an issue where an invalid username could be specified in an automated installation, resulting in a failure late during the installation.
• LP: #2143142 (PR: #2336) - Fix an issue where the installer would raise an unrelated-sounding error (could not find variation for GuidedCapability.CORE_BOOT_ENCRYPTED) if an automated installation cannot work with TPM backed FDE.
• LP: #2143299 (probert PR: #166, curtin PR: #25) - Fix an issue where the installation could fail if an empty LVM volume group exists.
• LP: #2107256 (curtin PR: #28) - Fix a case of installation failure when installing over an existing LVM thin pool, which is commonly used by proxmox.
• LP: #2143908 (PR: #2148) - Fix an issue that prevented users of Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap from unsetting a mountpoint, during manual partitioning.
• LP: #2097621 (PR: #2148) - Fix an issue that prevented users of Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap from changing the format of a new partition, during manual partitioning.
• LP: #2146422 (PR: #2348) - Fix unexpected restart(s) of the installer after an update, sometimes causing client-side crashes with ServerDisconnectedError.
• LP: #2146858 (PR: #2351) - Fix an automated installation issue where the installer would fail to guess offsets of partitions.
• LP: #2147089 (PR: #2354) - Fix a race condition that caused some automated installations of Ubuntu Desktop to fail with the symptom DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process.

Misc

• Development of curtin now takes place on GitHub too: https://github.com/canonical/curtin

New Contributors

• @AndreiCherniaev made their first contribution in #2276
• @os369510 made their first contribution in #2318
• @altendky made their first contribution in #2351

Full Changelog: 25.10...26.04

We are proud to announce version 24.04.4.1 of Subiquity, supported on Ubuntu 24.04.x LTS. Subiquity 24.04.4.1 is now live on the 24.04/stable channel and will be offered as an update for people installing Ubuntu-Server using the 24.04.2, 24.04.3 or 24.04.4 ISO.

What's Changed

This release includes a single fix for CVE-2025-14551.

• CVE-2025-14551 (PR: #2358) stop logging network config and identity data

Full Changelog: 24.04.4...24.04.4.1

24.04.4

We are proud to announce version 24.04.4 of Subiquity, supported on Ubuntu 24.04.x LTS. Subiquity 24.04.4 is included in the Ubuntu 24.04.4 live-server ISO, and is now live on the 24.04/stable channel. Also, Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap on Ubuntu 24.04.4 includes this same version of Subiquity.

What's new in Subiquity 24.04.4

New implementation for probert network

To discover Wi-Fi networks and to react to network events, Subiquity leans on different Python network modules from probert. Previously, these modules were implemented as C-based Python extensions. In Subiquity 24.04.4 we are using a new implementation in pure Python, that was originally included in Subiquity 25.10. This new implementation delivers the same functionality with enhanced security.

Earlier user creation

Previously, the user account was only created the first time the newly installed system was started. This made it harder to write automated post-installation scripts, since the user account was not available at the point when they executed (typically as part of late-commands). Now, the user account is created earlier in the installation, so it is available for automated post-installation scripts.

This also addresses some crashes when installing Ubuntu unattended on specific versions of VirtualBox.

Bug fixes

Subiquity 24.04.4 extends and includes all fixes found in Subiquity 24.04.3.

• LP: #2119293 (curtin MP: #497825) - Fix an issue where a ZFS encrypted installation on a tiny disk would result in an unbootable system.
• LP: #2095211 (curtin MP: #499081) - Fix an issue where the presence of some NVMe controllers would crash the installation with the following symptom: "KeyError: 'DEVNAME'"
• LP: #2121857 (PR: #2298) - Fix an issue where warnings would sometimes obstruct the display when running mainline console-conf.
• LP: #2122027 (PR: #2298) - Fix an issue where mainline console-conf would crash on startup with the symptom "AttributeError: 'Namespace' object has no attribute 'with_wlan_listener'"
• LP: #2121854 (PR: #2298) - Fix an issue where the network would go down if Wi-Fi IP settings are configured before the AP (i.e., SSID and passphrase) settings.

Full Changelog: 24.04.3...24.04.4

25.10

We are proud to announce version 25.10 of Subiquity, supported on Ubuntu 25.10. Subiquity 25.10 is included in the Ubuntu 25.10 live-server ISO, and is now live on the 25.10/stable channel. Also, Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap on Ubuntu 25.10 includes this same version of Subiquity.

What's new in Subiquity 25.10

New implementation for probert network

To discover Wi-Fi networks and to react to network events, Subiquity leans on different Python network modules from probert. Previously, these modules were implemented as C-based Python extensions. In Subiquity 25.10 they have been reimplemented in pure Python, delivering the same functionality with enhanced security.

Support for recovery key and passphrase for TPM/FDE

Subiquity 25.10 adds the necessary support in the installer to enable new TPM/FDE features for Ubuntu Desktop. This includes support for recovery key (which was only partially supported in 24.10) and passphrase authentication.

For more information, see https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/tpm-fde-progress-for-ubuntu-25-10/65146.

Basic support for dracut-based installations

Subiquity 25.10 introduces basic support for installations using dracut as the initramfs generator, aligning with Ubuntu's ongoing transition. Ubuntu Desktop already uses dracut, and Ubuntu Server will follow suit in the near future. This change ensures Subiquity remains compatible with the latest Ubuntu infrastructure, providing a seamless installation experience across both desktop and server environments. Users can expect continued improvements and broader dracut integration in upcoming releases.

Bug fixes

• LP: #2106499 (PR: #2194) - Fix an issue where the installation media gets offered as a target for guided partitioning in the TUI.
• LP: #2067253 (PR: #2212) - Fix an issue where installing a snap using autoinstall directives would fail with "AttributeError: 'SnapListModel' object has no attribute update_snap".
• LP: #2117025 (PR: #2238) - Fix an issue where editing a partition fails on the desktop installer if the partition has a GPT label.
• LP: #2114780 (PR: #2230) - Fix an issue where an offline installation fails on some certified devices.
• LP: #2119293 (curtin MP: #490155) - Fix an issue where a ZFS encrypted installation on a tiny disk would result in an unbootable system.
• LP: #2095211 (curtin MP: #490400) - Fix an issue where the presence of some NVMe controllers would crash the installation with the following symptom: "KeyError: 'DEVNAME'"
• LP: #2121857 (PR: #2253) - Fix an issue where warnings would sometimes obstruct the display when running mainline console-conf.
• LP: #2122027 (PR: #2252) - Fix an issue where mainline console-conf would crash on startup with the symptom "AttributeError: 'Namespace' object has no attribute 'with_wlan_listener'"
• LP: #2121854 (PR: #2255) - Fix an issue where the network would go down if Wi-Fi IP settings are configured before the AP (i.e., SSID and passphrase) settings.

Known issues

• Installing to a remote NVMe drive using NVMe over TCP firmware support can result in an unbootable system. A workaround exists using an autoinstall directive. Alternatively, the configuration on the target system can be manually fixed post installation before rebooting to the target system. More information at LP: #2127072.

New Contributors

• @fendent made their first contribution in #2207
• @finnbear made their first contribution in #2212
• @lorenzo-medici made their first contribution in #2222

Full Changelog: 25.04...25.10

24.04.3

We are proud to announce version 24.04.3 of Subiquity, supported on Ubuntu 24.04.x LTS. Subiquity 24.04.3 is included in the Ubuntu 24.04.3 live-server ISO, and is now live on the 24.04/stable channel. Also, Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap on Ubuntu 24.04.3 includes this same version of Subiquity.

What's new in Subiquity 24.04.3

Storage now offers to reformat disks with unsupported partition tables

In previous versions, a disk with an unsupported partition table could not be used at all to install Ubuntu. Subiquity has now grown the ability to manipulate such a disk, provided that the user agrees to reformat it first.

Built-in Wi-Fi support in Subiquity can now be disabled

When used as the back-end for Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap, Subiquity's built-in support for scanning and connecting to Wi-Fi networks is redundant. Indeed, the desktop installer uses standard Linux tools to manage Wi-Fi. We now made it possible for the desktop installer to disable Subiquity's built-in support for Wi-Fi. Disabling it helps reduce unnecessary resource usage.

Bug fixes

Subiquity 24.04.3 extends and includes all fixes found in Subiquity 24.04.2.

• LP: #2107381 (curtin MP: #489836) - Fix an issue where the installation would fail with the symptom "Requested offset is beyond real size of device /dev/zvol/rpool/keystore" when installing using ZFS + encryption.
• LP: #2114780 (PR: #2232) - Fix an issue where an offline installation fails on some certified devices.
• LP: #2081778 (curtin MP: #485463) - Fix a crash when storage probing discovered a Windows dynamic disk.
• LP: #2097091 (PR: #2199) - Fix an issue where reformatting a disk would not always result in the expected partition table.
• LP: #2045688 (PR: #2192) - Fix an issue where disks with long labels would make it impossible to create a software RAID or LVM VG in the TUI.
• LP: #2060894 (probert PR: #153) - Fix a potential crash (or busy loop) when scanning Wi-Fi networks.
• LP: #2104087 (probert PR: #152) - Fix another potential crash when scanning Wi-Fi networks.
• LP: #2100961 (PR: #2175) - Fix an issue where an automated installation could fail on certified devices with the error "A specific kernel flavor was requested but it cannot be satisfied when installing on certified hardware."
• LP: #2094979 (curtin MP: #481603) - Fix an issue where a IMSM RAID device would be misinterpreted as a multipath device.
• LP: #2095141 (curtin MP: #481603) - Fix an issue where the reset GRUB option would not be generated during a factory reset involved a RAID disk.
• LP: #2098075 (curtin MP: #481603) - Fix an issue where a second ESP would be created instead of reusing the existing one - when installing in a gap of an IMSM RAID.

Full Changelog: 24.04.2...24.04.3

25.04

We are proud to announce version 25.04 of Subiquity, supported on Ubuntu 25.04. Subiquity 25.04 is included in the Ubuntu 25.04 live-server ISO, and is now live on the 25.04/stable channel. Also, Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap on Ubuntu 25.04 includes this same version of Subiquity.

What's new in Subiquity 25.04

Guided storage offers to erase an existing OS and install Ubuntu over it

New in this release is the support for erasing an existing Ubuntu installation and installing Ubuntu 25.04 over it. Currently, this feature is only offered for Ubuntu Desktop installations.

Native autoinstall way to enable/disable IBM Z devices

For automated installations on IBM Z (i.e., s390x), it is now possible to specify a list of devices to enable (or to disable if relevant).

zdevs:
  - id: 0.0.1507
    enabled: true
  - id: 0.0.1508
    enabled: true
  - id: 0.0.1509
    enabled: false

The subiquity snap is now based on core24

Previous versions of the subiquity snap were based on core22. Starting with version 25.04, it is now based on core24. This means Subiquity now runs on Python 3.12 with updated libraries. This includes migrating from crypt to passlib.

To keep both installers in sync, the Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap snap has also been updated to core24.

Storage now offers to reformat disks with unsupported partition tables

In previous versions, a disk with an unsupported partition table could not be used at all to install Ubuntu. Subiquity has now grown the ability to manipulate such a disk, provided that the user agrees to reformat it first.

Enhanced display of LVM and ZFS installs for Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap

Subiquity now provides additional storage information, enabling Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap to display an improved summary screen with details about LVM and ZFS setups, including encrypted partitions or swap where relevant.

Bridge kernel support

As shown in Kernel Version Selection for Ubuntu Releases, there may be the situation where, late in the Ubuntu release cycle, we support different kernel versions for different feature sets like use of ZFS, or the state of installed drivers. The infrastructure for this is in place now in Subiquity. This feature is not used yet, but may be enabled in a later release depending on kernel requirements at the time.

Bug fixes

• LP: #2107381 (curtin MP: #484500) - Fix an issue where the installation would fail with the symptom Requested offset is beyond real size of device /dev/zvol/rpool/keystore when installing using ZFS + encryption.
• LP: #2045688 (PR: #2191) - Fix an issue where disks with long labels would make it impossible to create a software RAID or LVM VG in the TUI.
• LP: #2104310 (PR: #2188) - Fix an issue affecting arm64, where the boot console would show only on the serial port.
• LP: #2060894 (probert PR: #153) - Fix a potential crash (or busy loop) when scanning Wi-Fi networks.
• LP: #2104087 (probert PR: #152) - Fix another potential crash when scanning Wi-Fi networks.
• LP: #2084012 (curtin MP: #475635) - Fix inability to boot the target system after installing Ubuntu on an NVMe/TCP disk.
• LP: #2094979 (curtin MP: #481411) - Fix an issue where a IMSM RAID device would be misinterpreted as a multipath device.
• LP: #2095141 (curtin MP: #481164) - Fix an issue where the reset GRUB option would not be generated during a factory reset involved a RAID disk.
• LP: #2098075 (curtin MP: #481078) - Fix an issue where a second ESP would be created instead of reusing the existing one - when installing in a gap of an IMSM RAID.
• LP: #2081778 (curtin MP: #480694) - Fix a crash when storage probing discovered a Windows dynamic disk.
• LP: #2091689 (curtin MP: #480201) - Improve kernel purges if they were obtained from a PPA (thanks LP user icecream95)
• LP: #2097091 (PR: #2155) - Fix an issue where reformatting a disk would not always result in the expected partition table.
• LP: #2096799 (PR: #2149) - Fix an issue where a new partition could not be resized.
• LP: #2084032 (PR: #2144) - Fix an issue where the install would fail when attempting to umount pc-kernel.snap.
• LP: #2095295 (PR: #2143) - Fix an issue with the symptom TypeError: '<' not supported between instances of 'str' and 'NoneType' involving disks missing a serial or WWN value.
• LP: #2094966 (PR: #2142) - Fix an issue preventing RAID devices from being detected with "install-media: true".
• LP: #2095159 (PR: #2138) - Fix some scenarios with symptom "Exceeded number of available partitions".
• LP: #2091172 (PR: #2135) - Fix an issue where existing operating systems detected by os-prober would be associated with the wrong partition.
• (PR: #2174) - Fix an issue where core boot unencrypted would be used when TPMFDE was intended.
• (PR: #2123) - Fix an issue where performing a factory reset prevents booting from the factory reset partition again.
• (PR: #2118) - Fix an issue where logical partitions were not assigned the correct partition numbers after removing a primary partition.
• (curtin MP: #481464) - Fix an issue where logs would be filled with unncessary information if ntfsresize fails.

New Contributors

• @rmalz-c made their first contribution in #2143
• @d-loose made their first contribution in #2158

Full Changelog: 24.10.1...25.04

We are proud to announce version 24.04.2 of Subiquity, supported on Ubuntu 24.04.x LTS. Subiquity 24.04.2 is included in the Ubuntu 24.04.2 live-server ISO, and is now live on the 24.04/stable channel. Also, Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap on Ubuntu 24.04.2 includes this same version of Subiquity.

What's new in Subiquity 24.04.2

Ubuntu 24.04.2+ LTS snap stable channel is 24.04/stable

Please see the 24.10.1 release notes commentary about changes to snap channels, as it also applies here (and all future versions). The summary is, broadly speaking, only select items are being backported to the 24.04.x series, and those backports are almost entirely bug fixes.

The version number of snaps for the 24.04.x LTS series now matches those of the ISO versions - as we are releasing Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS, the Subiquity matching version is 24.04.2. While this version number appears to be older than the previous one offered with Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS, it starts with the same Ubuntu 24.04.1 Subiquity codebase and adds additional bug fixes.

Unlike previous releases, this version is not being made available on the latest/stable snap channel. Instead this is on the 24.04/stable snap channel, and this ISO and future Ubuntu 24.04.x LTS ISOs will offer by default new snaps from 24.04/stable. Refresh behavior may be customized by autoinstall and by the kernel command line option subiquity-channel=channel. The latest/stable snap channel will be updated with future builds from interim releases like Ubuntu 25.04, and future .0 versions of LTS releases like Ubuntu 26.04 LTS.

Bug fixes

Subiquity 24.04.2 extends and includes all fixes found in Subiquity 24.08.1.

• LP: #2084032 (PR: #2151) - Fix an issue where the install would fail when attempting to umount pc-kernel.snap.
• LP: #2096799 (PR: #2149) - Fix an issue where a new partition could not be resized.
• LP: #2095295 (PR: #2146) - Fix an issue with the symptom TypeError: '<' not supported between instances of 'str' and 'NoneType' involving disks missing a serial or WWN value.
• LP: #2094966 (PR: #2142) - Fix an issue where factory reset could not begin if the reset partition was on a raid device.
• LP: #2095159 (PR: #2138) - Fix some scenarios with symptom "Exceeded number of available partitions".
• LP: #2091172 (PR: #2135) - Fix an issue where existing operating systems detected by os-prober would be associated with the wrong partition.
• (PR: #2123) - Fix an issue where, after creating a USB reset media from the system and reinstalling, the system cannot boot into factory reset partition again.
• (PR: #2118) - Fix an issue where logical partitions were not assigned the correct partition numbers after removing a primary partition.
• LP: #2083322 (PR: #2094) - Fix an issue where, when preserving some partitions on a disk, partitions that were intended to be deleted would be accidentally preserved.
• LP: #2081724 (PR: #2090) - Fix some scenarios where resize installs were offered on disks with a MSDOS partition table when there was not enough primary partitions remaining.
• LP: #2080608 (PR: #2083) - Support match directives with use_gap.
• LP: #2073772 (PR: #2077) - Fix some scenarios where zpools were not exported at the end of the install.
• (PR: #2050) - Fix an issue where, during autoinstall, arbitrary disk selection would be inconsistent across different installs to the same hardware.
• LP: #2081738 (PR: #2092) - Fix an issue with the symptom "Partition ... is not in list" where available free space was not able to be used.

Full Changelog: 24.08.1...24.04.2

We are proud to announce version 24.10.1 of Subiquity, supported on Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS, and Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS. Subiquity 24.10.1 is included in the Ubuntu 24.10 live-server ISO, and is now live on the stable channel as a snap refresh for the other supported ISOs. Also, Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap on Ubuntu 24.10 includes this same version of Subiquity.

What's new in Subiquity 24.10.1

Snap channels now used, and changes to how feature releases work

Since Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, the release model for Subiquity was to release new features in the devel release, and merge those new feature updates along with bug fixes in the chronologically following LTS point release. This model was used up to, and including, Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS.

Starting in 24.10, Snap tracks are now implemented, and a longer-lived maintenance branch will exist per Snap track. For example, Subiquity on 24.10 tracks the 24.10/stable channel, which means that the Subiquity refresh functionality to look for installer updates now looks at 24.10/stable instead of latest/stable. This model will also be applied to Ubuntu 24.04.2 and later releases.

Further, updates to these stable releases will follow the process documented in the Policy on 3rd-party software sources included by Ubuntu . This means that updates for existing Ubuntu releases will be more focused on bug fixes, and only selected feature updates will be backported, in line with Ubuntu Stable Relase Updates.

When installing from a track managed release, users interested in testing new features or have other reason to use a different version can control the installer version with the channel config in autoinstall, along with the kernel command line option subiquity-channel, or the snap refresh command line.

New releases will continue to be issued to latest/stable, which pre-24.10 install ISOs will continue to look at by default. latest/edge remains the location in which the latest development builds are published.

Reduction in ISO size and install speed improvement

Install ISOs with Subiquity installers are now smaller than previous releases due to improvements in how the Linux kernel, and associated firmware packages, are included in the ISO.

This also makes the install faster - in previous ISOs, the kernel is installed with apt after the install image is rsynced to the target system, and now the kernel is included in the install image, skipping that apt step.

Installing an OEM kernel, or specifying a custom kernel to install by way of autoinstall remains supported in Ubuntu 24.10 and later ISOs. This works by removing the preinstalled kernel in favor of the configured one.

Example ISO sizes, reflecting both kernel location and other release changes:

Prototype NVMe-over-TCP support

Ubuntu 24.10 has prototype support for NVMe-over-TCP. Please see the Introducing the NVMe/TCP PoC with Ubuntu Server 24.10 discourse post about it for details.

Kernel crash dumps by default

Starting with Ubuntu 24.10, kernel crash dumps will be enabled by default on supported machines. Please see the section on kernel crash dumps in the Ubuntu Server documentation for details on minimum system requirements.

The behavior for pre-24.10 ISOs will remain disabled by default, even with a refresh to the latest Subiquity version. The enablement behavior can be manually configured via the new kernel-crash-dumps autoinstall section.

Improved autoinstall validation tooling

We have introduced a new autoinstall validator that can be used to pre-validate autoinstall data. The new autoinstall validator performs similar validation compared to what is done in the installer environment, with the goal of improving the overall experience when iterating on or debugging different autoinstall configurations. Please see the new Autoinstall Validation how-to guide for usage details and current limitations.

Bugfixes

Subiquity extends and includes all fixes found in Subiquity 24.08.1 and earlier releases.

• LP: #2083322 (PR: #2094) - Fix an issue where, when preserving some partitions on a disk, partitions that were intended to be deleted would be accidentally preserved.
• LP: #2081738 (PR: #2092) - Fix an issue with the symptom "Partition ... is not in list" where available free space was not able to be used.
• LP: #2073378 (PR: #2031) - Fix more cases of an issue where guided partitioning scenarios would be offered when using a MSDOS partition table and we don't have enough additional primary partitions remaining for that install to be successful.
• LP: #2080608 (PR: #2083) - Support match directives with use_gap.
• LP: #2080918 (PR: #2085) - Fix a UI crash that could occur when cloud-config was supplied with invalid top-level keys
• (PR: #2050) - Fix an issue where, when doing autoinstall, arbitrary disk selection would be inconsistent across different installs to the same hardware.
• (PR: #2048) - Fix and issue where the back button wasn't available when reaching the storage screen and no disks were visible. If a disk can be added dynamically, this back button allows rescanning for the disks and continuing the install.

Known issues

• ZFS with Encryption on Ubuntu 24.10 will fail to activate the cryptoswap partition. This affects both new installs and upgrades. We expect to address this post-release with an archive update.

New Contributors

• @aim-nara made their first contribution in #2012
• @upils made their first contribution in #1990
• @GlitchWitch made their first contribution in #2059
• @binli made their first contribution in #2081

Full Changelog: 24.08.1...24.10.1

• LP: #2063331 (PR: #2015) - Fix an issue where network controllers that were present at install time but unconfigured would be factored in to the "online" status of the device in subsequent boots, resulting in boot time delays to the systemd-networkd-wait-online.service. Such network devices are now considered to be optional for the purpose of being "online".
• LP: #2062988 (PR: #2006) - Fix an issue where schema validation errors, particularly when using the 24.04 Ubuntu Desktop ISO, break netboot installs.
• LP: #2061073 (PR: #2027, curtin MP: #469319) - Fix an issue where the install would fail while attempting to wipe existing partitions from a disk.
• LP: #2063162 (PR: #1978) - Fix an issue where NVME controllers would not be probed if the initial, fully-featured, block probe times out.
• LP: #2065958 (PR: #2013) - Fix an issue where, when using autoinstall and late-commands, a reboot could occur before late-commands finished.
• LP: #2068603 (PR: #2008) - Fix an issue where autoinstall schema validation would incorrectly warn when key alias names were used.
• LP: #2060547 (PR: #1965) - Fix an issue where problems with autoinstall and the identity section, or similar, would happen before disk partitioning but not fail the install until after partitioning.
• LP: #2073378 (PR: #2031) - Fix some cases of an issue where guided partitioning scenarios would be offered when using a MSDOS partition table and we don't have enough additional primary partitions remaining for that install to be successful.
• LP: #2061042 (PR: #1972) - Fix an issue where the reset partition would be created with an unusably small size.
• (PR: #2004) - A disk match specification may now be represented as a list of specs, to provide a fallback mechanism if the first matcher produces an empty result. See Disk selection extensions for details.
• (PR #2056) - Fix an issue where an install crash could occur while attempting to acquire ssh information too early.

24.04.1

We are proud to announce version 24.04.1 of Subiquity, supported on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 23.10, Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS, and Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS. Subiquity 24.04.1 is included in the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS live-server ISO, and is now live on the stable channel as a snap refresh for the other supported ISOs. Also, Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS includes this same version of Subiquity.

What's new in Subiquity 24.04.1

Autoinstall support for Desktop and Seven Ubuntu Flavors

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS marks the first LTS release of the Subiquity-based installer Ubuntu Desktop Bootstrap, for not just Ubuntu Desktop, but also many Ubuntu flavors - Edubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Cinnamon, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu Mate, Ubuntu Studio, and Xubuntu. This also means that autoinstall is now available for all these environments with Long-Term Support.

ZFS With Encryption support

ZFS Guided storage has been extended to support full-disk encryption. This uses the same method of handling the encryption employed by Ubiquity, where a combination of a LUKS keystore + ZFS Native encryption is employed.

While ZFS with or without encryption is not yet offered in the server installer UI, it is available via autoinstall for all Subiquity-based install ISOs including Ubuntu Server:

autoinstall:
    storage:
        layout:
            name: zfs
            password: passw0rd

To change the passphrase, consider using gnome-disks or cryptsetup luksChangeKey.

Additionally for ZFS support, a dataset for /home is now created.

Improved Presentation of Autoinstall Errors

Subiquity's error reporting and Autoinstall validation mechanisms have been significantly reworked to provide clearer and more actionable feedback when encountering errors. Automatic crash report generation has been disabled for cases of preventable errors which are caused by user-provided data (e.g., failure to validate the Autoinstall configuration) and instead helpful error messaging is shown to facilitate resolving the situation.

New Error Overlay

During interactive server installs, a new error overlay has been introduced to provide details on these preventable errors which inhibit the install from proceeding as expected. Some examples below:

• When the provided Autoinstall config fails to validate, the installer halts and informs the user of the offending section:
  

• When the installer is unable to find a disk matching the provided match directive
  from the Autoinstall config, the installation is halted:
  

Improved Event Reporting

Similar to the new error overlay, the event reporter provides details on the error which caused the install to halt. This provides a similar experience for non-interactive installs:

• The provided Autoinstall config fails to validate:

  ...
  start: subiquity/Keyboard/load_autoinstall_data:
  finish: subiquity/Keyboard/load_autoinstall_config: Malformed autoinstall in 'keyboard' section
  finish: subiquity/load_autoinstall_config: Malformed autoinstall in 'keyboard' section
  An error occurred. Press enter to start a shell

Additionally, the event reporter now includes log-like event types to provide improved visibility on progress of the installation. One such event - the warning event - may be used to report errors which are not critical, but may cause the installation to proceed differently than desired or expected.

For example: misspelling interactive-sections may cause the install to proceed in a fully automated fashion, where a partially interactive install was likely desired:

warning: subiquity/core_validation/top_level_keys: Unrecognized top-level key 'interactive-section'

Smarter Delivery Methods

Subiquity has improved the way it consumes Autoinstall. Now when Autoinstall is delivered via cloud-config, Subiquity will halt the install with an error if it detects autoinstall keywords outside of a top-level autoinstall keyword, instead of silently ignoring them. Subiquity will also halt with an error if the Autoinstall config on the installation media is attempted to be used as a cloud-init datasource.

Consistent Autoinstall Formatting

The Autoinstall configuration file format has been expanded to now support the top-level autoinstall keyword in all delivery methods. Previously, this keyword was only used when providing Autoinstall via cloud-config. It is now advised Autoinstall configurations follow the following format:

autoinstall:
    version: 1
    identity:
        ...

The existing format for autoinstall on the install media (version and other keywords at the top level) remains supported and there are no plans for deprecation. See the new Autoinstall delivery tutorial to read more.

Experimental support for NVMe over TCP installations

Subiquity grew partial, experimental, support for installations targeting remote storage devices using NVMe over TCP. Remote storage devices can be used to store filesystems that are not essential for booting (e.g., /home, /srv). They can be used to store the root filesystem with the following limitations:

• only basic network configurations are supported (ethernet with static addressing or DHCP)
• the /boot filesystem and the ESP must be stored on local storage

There is no screen or specific autoinstall support for discovering NVMe/TCP storage. One can install the nvme-cli package in the live environment and then run nvme connect (or nvme connect-all) commands to perform the discovery. NOTE that it is possible to run these commands as part of early-commands to automate the process.

Reworked SSH screen

The SSH screen was reworked so that multiple SSH identities can be imported (from Launchpad and/or from Github). The keys are displayed in a list and can be selectively previewed or removed. This also prevents keys imported using autoinstall directives to be discarded when ssh is marked as an interactive section.

Changed behavior after failed mirror connectivity check

After a failed mirror connectivity check, automated installations will now revert to semi-offline by default. In a semi-offline installation, packages are only fetched from the installation media and never from the archive. The behavior from previous versions can be obtained using the apt: fallback: abort directive.

For interactive installations, the option to continue despite the connectivity failure is now gone. Instead, the user must decide between doing a semi-offline installation (see above) or going back and adjust network and/or mirror settings.

Status of migration of documentation to Read the Docs

Read the docs is now the preferred location of Subiquity install documentation, and the existing Server install guide copy is being deprecated. The source for this documentation, in reStructuredText format, can be found in the doc directory of Subiquity on Github.

Bugfixes

• LP: #2039966 (PR: 1846) - Update instructions on how to test local Subiquity or related changes in kvm
• (PR: 1857) - Fix dependency list for python3-debian in apt-deps.txt
• (PR: 1880) - Accept a fixed partition size for reset partition in autoinstall
• (PR: 1882) - The sample autoinstall-user-data found at /var/log/installer/autoinstall-user-data now includes a link to the documentation
• (PR: 1885) - Apt: Only backup/restore sources.list if it exists
• (PR: 1888) - Improve text of reported bugs during a failure in curtin by showing which stage failed
• (PR: 1894) - Factory-reset: remove EFI boot entry, fix GRUB entry
• LP: #2051586 (PR: 1914) - Fix crash when attempting to edit a bond with a valid transmit hash policy.
• (PR: 1915) - Fix detection of Netplan on recent Ubuntu releases.
• LP: #2055077 (PR: 1923) - Fix an issue where a call by subiquity to cloud-init could cause reprobing of datasources
• LP: #2037038 (PR: 1931) - Ensure the Distribution Channel Descriptor is copied to target.
• LP: #2051338 (PR: 1934) - Fix issues with match directives and install to RAIDs. Note that t...