Installing Ubuntu in VM - stuck on 'Who are you?'

Question

I am installing Ubuntu on my virtual drive and when I get to the 'Who Are you?' section of the process I am unable to type any text into the boxes.The cursor clicks into each box such as username and password but won't let me type anything therefor I can't proceed and click continue.

I came across similar questions about the who are you? but not about being unable to even type the text in.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

As you say, this differs from previous questions as you can't type anything, which is odd. Have you checked if the image you're booting from is corrupted? Does it boot in the VM and give you a usable live desktop if you select Try Ubuntu (instead of Install Ubuntu)? Does keyboard input work there? For example you could open the text editor, or press Alt+F2 and start typing a command. If you run the installer from that desktop, is the problem the same? What Ubuntu version is it? Please [edit] with this info. — Eliah Kagan, Oct 01 '17 at 22:56
I was able to get past this problem and freezing at other points in the installation process by restarting my (real) computer and attempting the install again. Rebooting the VM and all the fixes here didn't work — Andrew Puglionesi, Jun 10 '21 at 21:12

score 21 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 25 '20 at 20:29

21

I just had this issue as well. I'm upgrading from Ubuntu 15.10 to 19.10. I couldn't type anything, but the mouse worked. I couldn't click in the text box, but I could click "Log in automatically" and "Require my password to log in".

I was able to fix this by right clicking on a text box, then click "Insert Emoji", then click a random emoji. Now all the text boxes work and I have no issues.

I hope this helps someone.

answered Apr 25 '20 at 20:29

the.steve.o

211

Indeed it helped very much - installing 20.04 on a blank VM – Greg Jun 19 '20 at 06:21
1

Also worked for me, fresh install of 20.04 – yannick1976 Jul 23 '20 at 14:58
Worked this perfectly for me as well. Awesome solution mate! :D – C-- Mar 04 '22 at 10:03
I had the same problem when installing 22.04. This solution also worked for me. – Blue7 Mar 08 '24 at 13:57

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered May 29 '19 at 08:21

I experienced the same problem. I was trying to install ubuntu using Virtual Box and created the empty vm and started it. I was prompted for the startup disk and browsed to the iso. When I got to the "who am I" screen I was unable to enter anything - the controls were disabled.

I did the exact same thing, just instead of supplying the iso when prompted, I inserted the iso into the CD rom before launching the VM. This fixed the problem for me.

Thanks Aidan, I'll give that a shot this evening. – xil3 May 29 '19 at 13:27 — xil3, May 29 '19 at 13:27

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 18 '20 at 03:52

2

I realize this is an older thread, but thought I'd comment as I just had this exact same issue. I deleted the vm and started over, this time allocating more RAM. I doubled the recommended amount and it worked like a charm.

answered Feb 18 '20 at 03:52

Melissa

21

score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Feb 24 '20 at 11:14

2

If you are using Virtualbox, power off the VM and change the "Video Memory" under the Display module to 128 MB.

edited Feb 24 '20 at 11:14

Anonymous Platypus

3,810

answered Feb 23 '20 at 10:52

Peter

21

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 12 '20 at 06:10

I had a problem like this. What happened was my window was small, and it was not showing the buttons to go forward. So I TABbed myself out of it. I clicked one field and tabbed myself till I went to the last field. Then I pressed TAB two more times and pressed ENTER and it worked.

I hope this solution helps.

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered May 02 '20 at 05:11

0

I just randomly copy & paste, then will come out a VirtualBox random text, then I just copy and paste for my password and username.

answered May 02 '20 at 05:11

Ming Zhong Tan

1

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 13 '20 at 00:25

I had this problem, except that the text areas wouldn't even take focus. The 'insert emoji' trick didn't work -- the emoji were inserted but I still couldn't type anything. Rebooting the VM fixed the problem. This, and the fact that the solutions offered above are all different, would suggest that this is a randomly occurring bug, and that rebooting the VM should be all that you need to do.

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 13 '20 at 22:04

0

I just resolved the issue on my laptop my disabling Hyper-V in Turn Windows features on or off.

answered Aug 13 '20 at 22:04

Shiva K

1

Installing Ubuntu in VM - stuck on 'Who are you?'

8 Answers8