Overly broad error: Target media is not an entire storage device

[kevinoid]

Good Habit Checklist for Issue Reporting

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• I've searched the issue tracker and is pretty sure that there's no duplicate issue already filed
• I've built the latest development snapshot using the instructions in README and verified that the issue can still be reproduced (for bug reports)

Issue Reproduce Instructions

1. Launch WoeUSB by running woeusb --device Win10.iso /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Kanguru_FlashBlu_0702353730542E72-0:0

Expected Behavior

No error

Current Behavior

WoeUSB produces the following error message whenever the device path ends with a digit:

ERROR: Target media "/dev/disk/by-id/usb-Kanguru_FlashBlu_0702353730542E72-0:0" is not an entire storage device!

Info of My Environment

WoeUSB Version

v0.2.5-64-gbcb7583

WoeUSB Source

Built from source code, commit bcb7583

Information about the Operating System

Debian GNU/Linux bookworm/sid

Information about the Source Media

"Windows 10 2022 Update | Version 22H2" downloaded from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO

Information about the Target Device

8GB Kanguru FlashBlu USB2.0 flash drive

[JonnyTech]

AFAIK, /dev/disk/by-id/ is not supported, use /dev/sdX where X is the appropriate identifier.

[WaxyMocha]

https://github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB-ng/blob/master/WoeUSB/list_devices.py#L23
Yea, as @JonnyTech mentioned. Use /dev/sdX path.

[kevinoid]

AFAIK, /dev/disk/by-id/ is not supported, use /dev/sdX where X is the appropriate identifier.

In that case, perhaps it would make sense to print an error message to that effect?

[JonnyTech]

The error you posted clearly states that the path you entered was not a storage device.

[kevinoid]

The error you posted clearly states that the path you entered was not a storage device.

Indeed. Which seems misleading to me, since it is (a link to) a storage device.

[kevinoid]

To clarify, since I didn't mention it in the issue, /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Kanguru_FlashBlu_0702353730542E72-0:0 is a symlink to /dev/sdb.

[JonnyTech]

IMHO, this tool should be used by power users who understand that one must write to a device identifier rather than a symbolic link.

[kevinoid]

Why would power users assume that this tool, unlike other tools for disk management, would be unable to support symlinks /dev/disk/by-id?

[JonnyTech]

The author of the code already pointed you to the location in the source where it is stated.

What is the output of ls -la /dev/disk/by-id/? Does it have the -0:0 suffix at the end? I have not seen that format before. Can you try:

woeusb --device Win10.iso /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Kanguru_FlashBlu_0702353730542E72

To resolve the link, we can use readlink -f /dev/disk/by-id/foobar - @WaxyMocha dou you want to include that step?

[kevinoid]

What is the output of ls -la /dev/disk/by-id/? Does it have the -0:0 suffix at the end?

$ ls -la /dev/disk/by-id/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 600 Nov 28 06:45 .
drwxr-xr-x 9 root root 180 Nov 27 23:44 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 Nov 28 06:44 ata-HL-DT-ST_DVDRAM_GT50N_M1IC2365850 -> ../../sr0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 Nov 28 06:44 ata-Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_1TB_S3Z8NB0K625586H -> ../../sda
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 ata-Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_1TB_S3Z8NB0K625586H-part1 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 ata-Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_1TB_S3Z8NB0K625586H-part2 -> ../../sda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 ata-Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_1TB_S3Z8NB0K625586H-part3 -> ../../sda3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 ata-Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_1TB_S3Z8NB0K625586H-part4 -> ../../sda4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 ata-Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_1TB_S3Z8NB0K625586H-part5 -> ../../sda5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 ata-Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_1TB_S3Z8NB0K625586H-part6 -> ../../sda6
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 ata-Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_1TB_S3Z8NB0K625586H-part7 -> ../../sda7
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 dm-name-sda3_crypt -> ../../dm-2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 dm-name-sda6_crypt -> ../../dm-0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 dm-name-sda7_crypt -> ../../dm-1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 dm-uuid-CRYPT-LUKS1-10b111960b89486486eec48851da0c13-sda6_crypt -> ../../dm-0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 dm-uuid-CRYPT-PLAIN-sda7_crypt -> ../../dm-1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 dm-uuid-CRYPT-TCRYPT-sda3_crypt -> ../../dm-2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 Nov 28 06:45 usb-Kanguru_FlashBlu_0702353730542E72-0:0 -> ../../sdb
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:45 usb-Kanguru_FlashBlu_0702353730542E72-0:0-part1 -> ../../sdb1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 Nov 28 06:45 usb-SanDisk_Cruzer_2203621B8441B9D3-0:0 -> ../../sdc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:45 usb-SanDisk_Cruzer_2203621B8441B9D3-0:0-part1 -> ../../sdc1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 Nov 28 06:44 wwn-0x5001480000000000 -> ../../sr0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 Nov 28 06:44 wwn-0x5002538e40524812 -> ../../sda
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 wwn-0x5002538e40524812-part1 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 wwn-0x5002538e40524812-part2 -> ../../sda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 wwn-0x5002538e40524812-part3 -> ../../sda3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 wwn-0x5002538e40524812-part4 -> ../../sda4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 wwn-0x5002538e40524812-part5 -> ../../sda5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 wwn-0x5002538e40524812-part6 -> ../../sda6
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Nov 28 06:44 wwn-0x5002538e40524812-part7 -> ../../sda7

I have not seen that format before. Can you try:

woeusb --device Win10.iso /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Kanguru_FlashBlu_0702353730542E72

ERROR: Target media "/dev/disk/by-id/usb-Kanguru_FlashBlu_0702353730542E72" is not a block device file!

[WaxyMocha]

This tool is behaving this way because the check for the device have so shaky assumptions about how the path to block device should look like.
https://github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB-ng/blob/master/WoeUSB/utils.py#L95

Yes, your way should work, but it is not supported.
@kevinoid do you have need for specifying device like this, or are you just reporting to us that software is just not behaving as expected? Either way, I'm sorry, but I currently lack time to do any changes to the codebase.

[JonnyTech]

@kevinoid can you try:

woeusb --device Win10.iso /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Kanguru_FlashBlu_0702353730542E72-0\:0

and

woeusb --device Win10.iso `readlink -f /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Kanguru_FlashBlu_0702353730542E72-0\:0`

(the first escapes the colon -0\:0 and the other resolves the symlink too)

[kevinoid]

Thanks @WaxyMocha!

@kevinoid do you have need for specifying device like this, or are you just reporting to us that software is just not behaving as expected?

I did try to use the device in the example. I find that using /dev/disk/by-id/ reduces the chance of operating on the wrong device (since sdb, sdc, etc. change while by-id is stable). However, I'm capable of working around it, so there's no hurry to fix it for my benefit. I reported the issue because I thought it might be something this project would be interested in supporting. Feel free to prioritize, or close, as appropriate.

[WaxyMocha]

Sure, thank you for reporting it, I'll mark it for future.