If you have copied extracted files onto a partition on the SD card you have installed it the wrong way - this is why you are having problems. Nowhere on our website does it recommend that you install using this method. This is something you can do for Noobs, not OSMC.
As I said earlier, if you are not using the OSMC installer then you must use a tool that writes a disk image directly to the drive. Such as win32diskimager on windows, disk utility or dd on a Mac, or dd on linux. Writing a disk image and copying files to an existing partition are not the same thing at all.
Simply copying extracted files onto an existing partition will not work properly because the installer is unable to repartition the drive as it is expecting to find a 240MB fat32 partition at the start of the drive followed by un-partitioned space for the remainder of the drive. This 240MB partition is already present inside the disk image.
There’s no bug here, you’re just not following the recommended install methods.
I have to agree with cretti. I had the same problem with my micro sd card. Definitely a genuine new card from amazon. I followed the advice to repartition ( I used gparted to partition my card) and then used image writer to transfer the extracted downloaded image to the sd card. Then booted/turned on the RPI2 and OSMC installed perfectly.
OP here. I guess I’m a bit late to the party, but thought I’d make clear that I did follow the installation procedures as outlined both times. So the reason for the first usb stick not working was not due to this error, as cretti suggested. I’m pretty sure there was something wrong with the first usb stick that I used.
I did it correctly both times, using “install to USB”. I actually tried several times. So I’m quite certain there was something wrong with the first USB stick I used, as I had no such problem with the other one I used. I was quite puzzled to read all the hypothesises people came up with as to what I “could” have done. It’s pretty straight forward. Following the instructions on the site for how to install is what I did from the beginning, and it’s not rocket science. I’ve been using this software since it was called raspbmc from when the first raspberry pi came out. I know how to install the software.
I’d like to share my experience. Not sure if it’s related to your issue, but going through the tread didn’t see a root cause…
In my case I had same issue: prepared more than once the micro SD card using OSMCInstaller - same SD card stopped working - used a different card with same result.
I’m using a USB adapter to mount the micro SD on my Ubuntu 10.04 desktop.
What happened in my case is that I recently installed Ubuntu using the same USB adapter. In that case the system recognized the SD card as a USB memory (because of the adapter).
That option reset my mind and when preparing OSMC using OSMC Installer I selected “on a USB stick” instead of “on an SD card”.
The result was exactly the same described here: get the countdown for installing - then “Install failed: can’t mount root”
I’ve then prepared the same micro SD using the “on an SD card” option, and now everything works well.
Additional note: in one case I did a terrible error. An external disk was connected via USB to my Raspberry Pi2, and was not paying much attention to the process. The system asked “are you sure to xxsomethingxxx” and I replied yes. As a result my external disk was partitioned and formatted! Lost all data (I have backup…).
Don’t want to try again as I’m now busy with my disk restore, but it surprises me that I’m sure this option was not presented the first time I prepared the new non working SD…
This worked for me. I was installing to an SD card using a USB adapter on my PC; so I selected “Install to USB” in the OSMC installer… I forgive myself.
I was originally thrown by the Rpi3 printing something about overwriting files on the USB; there were no USB devices connected to the Pi.
So, if you’re putting OSMC onto an SD card, select “Install to SD”.
Well, since I found it a year later, I’m sure others will end up here too. They’ll see the solution seconded by another user and may not need to look any further.