Tried to upgrade to latest version and is says my flash drive is not large enough. So I want to swap it out for a new one. Is their a step by step somewhere on how to do this?

You must have a very small flash device...

The procedure is simple

1) Format your new flash device and give it the label UNRAID

2) Copy everything from your old flash device to your new flash device

3) Run "make_bootable"

4) Start your system with the new flash device

5) Go to Tools -> Registration and follow the instructions given there

Simple enough. It is only a 500MB drive. It is the original one that came from Unraid way back when, before that I booted from a Floppy!

Well it should be simple. I have tried 3 flash drive or different brands and sizes with no success. The first one gave an error while making bottable of "Writing MBR: Access denied". When I tried to start unraid it did start to but then got stuck on "kernel panic-not syncing: VFS:unable to mount root fs on unknown block"

 

The other two flash drives I tried ran the Make Bootable fine and said success. But they don't even boot, just starts up to my hardware monitor and does nothing.

 

I formatted the flash drives Fat32 and then ran the Make Bootable BAT file as Administrator.

 

I suggest you use our USB Flash Creator tool and then try to boot your server.  If that works, shutdown server, plug flash back into PC and then transfer contents of your 'config' directory from the old flash device.

If using the Unraid USB creator tool:

Option #1 offers "local zip" as an option. Does that mean it will create - on the new flash drive  - a copy of the current flash drive assuming I did a backup from the GUI?

Once done, I just need to boot my server with the new flash drive installed and then proceed with "5) Go to Tools -> Registration and follow the instructions given there" as explained in the 2nd post by Bonienl?

 

Well, anyways I tried with option #1, selected the zip from my download folder, then selected the new flash drive

When I click on Write, I have the warning message about the USB device that will be wiped. I click on "Erase and write", but then I have an error message: 

Error: couldn't open \\?\PhysicalDrive1

 

What does that mean?

Should I just try with what is explained in 2nd post without using the Unraid USB creator tool?

Thanks

Edited November 4, 20187 yr by French-Guy

Are you running the USB Creator Tool with Administrator privileges?   The error suggests that you are not.

Just did a quick test again and selected "Run as Administrator"................................Same error message !

If I remember well, i think I used that newer flash drive (Sandisk Cruzer fit 4Gb) to make a test with the trial version, somewhere last year

Could it be the reason I have issues?

I tried from another computer (still Windows 10 though) and have the same error message Error: couldn't open \\?\PhysicalDrive7

No idea if it will help or not, especially if these are brand new completely blank drives.  But I might try using diskpart to delete and then recreate the partition on the flash drive. I have had the experience before with flash drives, where the windows gui format utility will seem to work, but the drive is not actually usable until I recreated the partition.  

Edited November 10, 20187 yr by TSM

I tried Diskpart (FAT32 and also NTFS) but I still have the same error message when running USB creator even as Admin.....

 

I also tried the old method (extracted the zip and copy/paste onto the new flash drive) but when I run makebootable, i have the following error:

Make Bootable v1.5
ERROR - syslinux executable not found, expected: D:\syslinux\syslinux.exe

Edited November 10, 20187 yr by French-Guy

2 hours ago, French-Guy said:

I tried Diskpart (FAT32 and also NTFS) but I still have the same error message when running USB creator even as Admin.....

Please describe your PC - are you running windows in a VM?  what version of windows?  etc.  When you plug the flash into your PC can you access it normally?

No VM....... i tried with 2 "local" computers with Windows 10 Home 64 bits (laptop and desktop)

Yes, I can see the flash drive in File Explorer named UNRAID (D:)

Formatted under FAT32

Really don't know what I'm doing wrong .......

On 9/21/2018 at 2:24 AM, Mopar_Mudder said:

When I tried to start unraid it did start to but then got stuck on "kernel panic-not syncing: VFS:unable to mount root fs on unknown block"

If you want to try this worked for me for an identical error, on the flash drive edit syslinux/syslinux.cfg and add root=sda to the boot option you're using after initrd=/bzroot, e.g.: 

 

label Unraid OS
     menu default
     kernel /bzimage
     append initrd=/bzroot root=sda

 

Just noticed I responded to the OP, not the current issue with Frech-Guy, but going to leave it since it can help a future user.

I've tried again after formatting in FAT32 - not quick formatting - and Allocation unit size by default.........but same result: the USB Creator says "Error: couldn't open \\?\PhysicalDrive1"

 

However, I can copy/paste files just fine form Windows on the flash drive....!

8 hours ago, French-Guy said:

I've tried again after formatting in FAT32 - not quick formatting - and Allocation unit size by default.........but same result: the USB Creator says "Error: couldn't open \\?\PhysicalDrive1"

Didi you try the old way, i.e., just copying the installation and running makebootable?

Yes I did...............see few posts about

What I did is:

1) Extract the zip file (flash backup)

2) Format the USB drive in FAT32 and name it UNRAID

3) Copy/Paste the content of the extracted folder into the flash

BUT:

-) At the end of the copy/paste, I get this:

 

 

-) Then I select "Replace the files in the destination". But when I click on Makebootable, I get the following error message:

 

 

Should i try to take the current flash drive out of the server and copy it directly into my laptop and avoid doing an extraction of the zip file?

 

This issue with this new flash drive is "frustrating".............Like I said, I'm pretty sure it worked fine last year when I tested the trial version (wanted to test the latest version while I was still running 4.7 on my current server)

Edited November 11, 20187 yr by French-Guy

23 minutes ago, French-Guy said:

ses I did...............see few posts about

What I did is:

1) Extract the zip file (flash backup)

2) Format the USB drive in FAT32 and name it UNRAID

3) Copy/Paste the content of the extracted folder into the flash

BUT:

-) At the end of the copy/paste, I get this:

 

 

-) Then I select "Replace the files in the destination". But when I click on Makebootable, I get the following error message:

 

 

Should i try to take the current flash drive out of the server and copy it directly into my laptop and avoid doing an extraction of the zip file?

 

This issue with this new flash drive is "frustrating".............Like I said, I'm pretty sure it worked fine last year when I tested the trial version (wanted to test the latest version while I was still running 4.7 on my current server)

Look to see if you have a syslinux folder on the flash drive.   I have a feeling that at one point the flash backup omitted this folder.    If not extract it from the ZIP file for the releawe downloaded from the Limtech site and replace it from there.

Edited November 11, 20187 yr by itimpi

26 minutes ago, French-Guy said:

Should i try to take the current flash drive out of the server and copy it directly into my laptop and avoid doing an extraction of the zip file?

Download the latest release from the website, create the flash drive, then copy just the config folder from your backup, overwriting the existing files.

When you say "Download the latest release from the website, create the flash drive", do you mean use the USB Creator file ?

Because I will get the issue #1  (Error: couldn't open \\?\PhysicalDrive1)

Or should I download the latest release (6.6.5 zip) then extract and copy/paste?

14 minutes ago, French-Guy said:

do you mean use the USB Creator file ?

No, I mean download the ZIP.

14 minutes ago, French-Guy said:

Or should I download the latest release (6.6.5 zip) then extract and copy/paste?

This will be what you need to do (i.e. use the 'Manual' method).

OK, done.....I was able to copy/paste the newest release and launch the makebootable with no error

Now, i just need to copy my current config folder and test the new flash drive..........finally 😀

I guess I will have to do something to register the new flash drive....How long does it take usually?

 

Thanks for the help

 

Edited November 11, 20187 yr by French-Guy