wubi installs successfully but ends in 'permission denied' error due to the presence of a virtual or readonly drive; this only happens running wubi.exe standalone i.e. when installing using the tar.xz preinstalled image

As I suspected, the Wubi install had actually completed fine. I booted it without issue. I also noticed that I had Microsoft Word running at the time of the install, so perhaps that makes a difference with this mysterious virtual drive. I'll test it again in the future to see if it happens only when office is running.

I still think it maybe doesn't need to look like a fatal error - especially if a successful bcdedit has already been received on a different drive.

I've reproduced problem without having any office product running. When I
have time I'll try an older release to confirm if it's new in 11.10.

Just installed release 10.10 (rev 197) and there was no permission denied.
Repeating rev 236 test to confirm that this is a regression (rule out any
variation due to 'rebooting windows'.)

Confirmed regression: I only get this permission denied with 11.10.

10.10's log looks like this (so it is also trying to hit the Q: drive):
09-29 15:11 DEBUG TaskList: ## Running create_preseed...
09-29 15:11 DEBUG TaskList: ## Finished create_preseed
09-29 15:11 DEBUG TaskList: ## Running modify_bootloader...
09-29 15:11 DEBUG TaskList: New task modify_bcd
09-29 15:11 DEBUG TaskList: ### Running modify_bcd...
09-29 15:11 DEBUG WindowsBackend: modify_bcd Drive(C: hd 234451.042969 mb
free ntfs)
09-29 15:11 DEBUG registry: Setting registry key -2147483646
Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Wubi VistaBootDrive
{06eb1e43-eae8-11e0-b3af-543211c77614}
09-29 15:11 DEBUG TaskList: ### Finished modify_bcd
09-29 15:11 DEBUG TaskList: New task modify_bcd
09-29 15:11 DEBUG TaskList: ### Running modify_bcd...
09-29 15:11 DEBUG WindowsBackend: modify_bcd Drive(F: hd 12320.453125 mb
free ntfs)
09-29 15:11 DEBUG WindowsBackend: BCD has already been modified
09-29 15:11 DEBUG TaskList: ### Finished modify_bcd
09-29 15:11 DEBUG TaskList: New task modify_bcd
09-29 15:11 DEBUG TaskList: ### Running modify_bcd...
09-29 15:11 DEBUG WindowsBackend: modify_bcd Drive(Q: hd 0.0 mb free )
09-29 15:11 DEBUG WindowsBackend: BCD has already been modified
09-29 15:11 DEBUG TaskList: ### Finished modify_bcd
09-29 15:11 DEBUG TaskList: ## Finished modify_bootloader

And 11.10 like this:
09-29 15:38 DEBUG TaskList: ## Finished create_swap_diskimage
09-29 15:38 DEBUG TaskList: ## Running modify_bootloader...
09-29 15:38 DEBUG TaskList: New task modify_bcd
09-29 15:38 DEBUG TaskList: ### Running modify_bcd...
09-29 15:38 DEBUG WindowsBackend: modify_bcd Drive(C: hd 234444.207031 mb
free ntfs)
09-29 15:38 DEBUG registry: Setting registry key -2147483646
Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Wubi VistaBootDrive
{06eb1e44-eae8-11e0-b3af-543211c77614}
09-29 15:38 DEBUG TaskList: ### Finished modify_bcd
09-29 15:38 DEBUG TaskList: New task modify_bcd
09-29 15:38 DEBUG TaskList: ### Running modify_bcd...
09-29 15:38 DEBUG WindowsBackend: modify_bcd Drive(F: hd 12320.453125 mb
free ntfs)
09-29 15:38 DEBUG WindowsBackend: BCD has already been modified
09-29 15:38 DEBUG TaskList: ### Finished modify_bcd
09-29 15:38 DEBUG TaskList: New task modify_bcd
09-29 15:38 DEBUG TaskList: ### Running modify_bcd...
09-29 15:38 DEBUG WindowsBackend: modify_bcd Drive(Q: hd 0.0 mb free )
09-29 15:38 DEBUG WindowsBackend: BCD has already been modified
09-29 15:38 DEBUG TaskList: ### Finished modify_bcd
09-29 15:38 DEBUG TaskList: ## Finished modify_bootloader
09-29 15:38 DEBUG TaskList: ## Running diskimage_bootloader...
09-29 15:38 DEBUG WindowsBackend: Copying
C:\Users\bcbc\AppData\Local\Temp\pylCF8F.tmp\winboot -> C:\ubuntu\winboot
09-29 15:38 ERROR TaskList: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'Q:\\wubildr'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "\lib\wubi\backends\common\tasklist.py", line 197, in __call__
  File "\lib\wubi\backends\win32\back...

I have this issue on my new Gateway Netbook. I was told it still installed correctly, but thought I would mention it here. I have a similar log file, but it basically says the same thing.

This happens on MMC card readers as well. Is it trying to write to any non-CD/DVD drive? This seems excessive assuming someone just happens to have a USB plugged in and Wubi decides to write the wubildr to it?!

In my case it's trying to write to a multi-card reader. My system is a bit unusual, in that the memory card reader has drive letters assigned to each slot, and those letters come before a pair of 2Tb drives. Drive letters in my system are as follows:

C: - 120Gb WD drive
D: - 400Gb partition on one of the 2Tb drives
E: - 400Gb partition on the second 2Tb drive
F: - DVD burner
G: - Partition on first 2Tb drive (used as a backup for my laptop)
H: - Blu-Ray player
I-M: - Slots on the memory card reader
N: - First 2Tb drive
O: - Second 2Tb drive
P: - 160Gb Maxtor drive (used as a backup for a second laptop)
X: - Memory card slot on one of my two network printers
Y: - Memory card slot on a second networked printer

The pair of 2Tb drives are Samsung SATA-II drives connected to a SATA card
The WD and Maxtor drives are EIDE connected to the MB EIDE headers
The DVD burner and Blu-Ray player are also connected to the SATA-II card.

The system is running on a Biostar MB with an AMD 64 Athelon X2 and 4Gb of RAM. The Windows version is XP Pro (32 bit) SP3

Same situation as bwbehling, except no more drives after the memory card adapters.
Attempting to wubi install 11.10

HP desktop, 8 GB RAM, AMD64, Win7 Ultimate
C: 1TB drive
D: recovery drive
E: BD RW
F: G: H: I: memory card readers, all empty

It tries to write to drive F:

Has same problem, it tries write to memory card reader.

11-14 22:11 ERROR TaskList: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'E:\\wubildr'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "\lib\wubi\backends\common\tasklist.py", line 197, in __call__
  File "\lib\wubi\backends\win32\backend.py", line 483, in diskimage_bootloader
  File "\lib\shutil.py", line 39, in copyfile
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'E:\\wubildr'
11-14 22:11 DEBUG TaskList: # Cancelling tasklist
11-14 22:11 DEBUG TaskList: # Finished tasklist
11-14 22:11 ERROR root: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'E:\\wubildr'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "\lib\wubi\application.py", line 58, in run
  File "\lib\wubi\application.py", line 132, in select_task
  File "\lib\wubi\application.py", line 158, in run_installer
  File "\lib\wubi\backends\common\tasklist.py", line 197, in __call__
  File "\lib\wubi\backends\win32\backend.py", line 483, in diskimage_bootloader
  File "\lib\shutil.py", line 39, in copyfile
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'E:\\wubildr'

Same here -- machine with memory card reader, tries to write to D:\\wubildr.

Following on from comment above: after rebooting, the installation proceeded perfectly, so the Permission denied error obviously isn't fatal to the install.

I get the same problem on a HP Envy with Microsoft Click-to_run Virtual Q: drive
I uninstalled MS Office and tried again, however the install seems to have failed to complete fully.

Even though the download and wubi,exe completes ok. it can't locate the disk device when it reboots and on reboot the system sits at an {initfs} prompt and doesn't boot completely.

Erasmus Steele, it's not necessary to uninstall Microsoft click-once. The error message Wubi provides is inaccurate in that the install completed successfully. Removing the clickonce might remove that error, but it doesn't change the way the wubi install completed.

The other problems you are getting are most likely hardware compatibility issues with the HP Envy and it's best to create a question at e.g. askubuntu.com and provide as much info as you can (hardware specs, symptoms, specific message).

so... bottom line, how can we fix it without removing office?
thanks,

So I am having the same sort of issue. I have an SD card reader. Webui posts failure message. To test I have removed the drive letter mapping to my H:/ Drive. I am testing now to see if this fixes the failure error.
Joe

I was able to get Wubi to complete without the error after removing the drive letter designation within computer management to my SD card reader. I would assume that even with the Office virtual drive you should be able to remove the drive letter designation (and essentially make it invisible to the OS and Wbui) which will allow it to complete without the error being thrown. Hope this helps.

Joe