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Normally when installing Ubuntu server after selecting the language you can press F4 to access alternative installation modes, and from there you can choose to install a minimal system as per the following example screenshot:

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I have recently upgraded my host from 16.04 (with Virtual Machine Manager 1.3.2 and VirtualBox 6.1.2) to 20.04 (with Virtual Machine Manager 2.2.1 and VirtualBox 6.1.6). Now when I try to install Ubuntu Server as a KVM or VirtualBox guest, the option for a minimal install is missing:

enter image description here

I have tried with both 18.04 and 20.04 as the guest OS, using the exact same ISO images that I was previously using in the 16.04 host. The only conclusion I can reach therefore is that the installer is detecting something in the host and removing the minimal install option.

What can I do to bring back the option? Solution preferred with Virtual Machine Manager/KVM as I only used VirtualBox to see if the problem was replicated there.

Jon Bentley
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  • FYI: Brand new Ubuntu Server installer in 20.04. "Minimal" images have fragmented: [Ubuntu-Base](http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-base/releases/focal/release/) (RPis and tiny machines), [Cloud-Images](https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/minimal/releases/focal/) (containers, VMs). Classic "Ubuntu Server" returns to its roots in Big Metal. – user535733 Apr 28 '20 at 19:43
  • @user535733 I'm aware of the cloud-images, but those are pre-installed images, not installers. Also, note (as per my post) that the exact same ISOs give me the minimal install option in a 16.04 host, but not in a 20.04 host, so I don't think this is due to any change in the installer. – Jon Bentley Apr 28 '20 at 19:52
  • That's why it's FYI: It's not a response (that would be an answer), but letting you and other future readers know that changes to your workflow are coming. – user535733 Apr 28 '20 at 20:02
  • Guests being 18.04.4 for me only had "Normal" "Use driver update disc" and "OEM install" in both 16.04 and 20.04 hosts (new systems are just generally more minimal unless you select certain tasks later)vi. I tried then older 16.04 guests which on both hosts had the "Install a minimal system" as well as "Install a minimal virtual machine" option. Can you open a bug report, but in there link to the images used for the guest please? You are saying you even get this with 20.04 guest ISOs? – Christian Ehrhardt Apr 29 '20 at 14:40
  • @ChristianEhrhardt "new systems are just generally more minimal unless you select certain tasks later" - definitely not the case; in fact this is the reason why I know I had it working on my 16.04 host, because 6 days ago I did a comparison between the minimal install and a "normal" install (without selection of additional packages during installation). The difference is that a normal install comes with the `ubuntu-server` metapackage whilst the minimal install does not, making a difference of 196 packages and ~350MB (quite substantial!) – Jon Bentley Apr 29 '20 at 17:36
  • @ChristianEhrhardt I believe (but there are doubts in my mind now) that I had it working with a 20.04 guest ISO, however it's important to note that this was a RC ISO from 1 day before release date, and I've noticed that between those two days Ubuntu has changed its ethos with regards to minimal builds generally (e.g. dropping support for mini.iso). I will see if I can reproduce it. – Jon Bentley Apr 29 '20 at 17:38
  • @JonBentley yeah I meant that we tried to reduce (or at lest keep small) minimal, I agree that the default with `ubuntu-server` meta on top will be bigger for sure. Sorry if I was misleading. – Christian Ehrhardt Apr 30 '20 at 05:53
  • Since I was also not seeing it anymore with the 18.04.4 I'd wonder if any 20.04 had this behavior, but if you find an image that does drop a link to it here please. Chances are that it really had some detection "if it is a guest" and something might have changed there. Waiting for your updated results on trying these ... – Christian Ehrhardt Apr 30 '20 at 05:55
  • And if you find an image that really behaves differently based on the host version could you run the following in it "$ systemd-detect-virt" just to see if for any reason one of your guests isn't detected as such (I haven't checked yet which code exactly runs in d-i for this, but systemd-detect-virt is a good approximation) – Christian Ehrhardt Apr 30 '20 at 13:16

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