This page documents common bugs in Fedora 18 and, if available, fixes or workarounds for these problems. If you find your problem in this page, do not file a bug for it, unless otherwise instructed. Where appropriate, a reference to the current bug(s) in Bugzilla is included.
Release Notes
Read the F18_release_announcement and the Fedora 18 release notes for specific information about changes in Fedora 18 and other general information.
My bug is not listed
Not every bug is listed in this page, but Bugzilla should be a comprehensive database of known bugs. This page is a sampling of the bugs most commonly discussed on our mailing lists and forums.
To see if your bug has already been reported, you can search Bugzilla. If it has not yet been reported, we encourage you to do so to help improve Fedora for yourself and others. A guide to Bugs and feature requests has been prepared to assist you.
If you believe an already-reported bug report should be added to this page because it is commonly encountered, you can:
- Add it yourself, if you have wiki access. Please follow the style and guidelines explained in the comments in the page source.
- Or, add the CommonBugs keyword to the bug report. Someone from the QA team will then inspect the issue to determine whether the bug should be listed as a common bug. To expedite your request, please add a comment to the bug that includes
- a summary of the problem
- any known workarounds
- an assessment on the impact to Fedora users
For reference, you can query Bugzilla for bugs tagged CommonBugs:
- CommonBugs? (bugs with CommonBugs keyword, but do not yet have a link to this page)
- CommonBugs+(bugs with CommonBugs keyword and contain a link to this page)
Installation issues
Installer boot options documentation is outdated
link to this item - Bugzilla: #864468
There are currently two pages documenting the boot options of the installer of Fedora 18 Beta: Anaconda Boot Options and http://wwoods.fedorapeople.org/doc/boot-options.html. Both of them are at least partly outdated. We are hoping to update these pages soon, but in the mean time you can try to look at both and take a guess which of the boot options are current and which are obsolete, if you need to use them. Of course, if you are able to follow the source code, you can check out the anaconda source and derive the currently-valid options from that.
Some old anaconda options - notably, several of the network configuration options - have been replaced by Dracut options, which are documented at Dracut/Options.
Keyboard layout testing and selection during installation does not work as expected
link to this item - Bugzilla: #854557
On the Keyboard screen during Fedora 18 installation there is a text entry box labelled 'Test the selected layout below:'. This label is confusing. The box does not let you test the layout currently highlighted in the list on the left hand side of the screen, but the layout that is active. There is no indicator for the active layout, so it is not easy to know which layout is active. The layout that was in the list when you first entered the screen will stay active until you do one of two things: remove it, or configure a layout switch key combination and use it. So if the English (U.S.) layout was in the list when you first entered the screen, if you add the French (French) layout, it will not be active. If you highlight it in the list, it will not be active. If you move it to the top of the list, it will still not be active. But if you remove the English (U.S.) layout, French (French) will become the active layout. Alternatively, if you add French (French), then click the 'Options' button, pick one or more keyboard layout switch combination(s), click 'OK', and then press a layout switch combination you just configured, French (French) will become active: press it again, and English (U.S.) will be active again. This should be reflected in the test box.
As there is no indication of the current active layout throughout installation, if you are configuring multiple layouts, we recommend you ensure the layout you wish to use for the rest of the install process is active using the test box before leaving the Keyboard screen, and then do not switch layouts until installation is complete.
Invalid installation source breaks many configuration screens
link to this item - Bugzilla: #875003
If you happen to provide an invalid installation source (in the Installation Source screen) in the Fedora 18 installer, some installer screens might become corrupted even when you provide a correct installation repository (like Closest mirror) afterwards. Most often the package selection screen gets corrupted, but other screens like partitioning or keyboard selection screen might be affected too. The only safe workaround is to reboot and start the installer again.
UEFI boot doesn't work with liveusb-creator
link to this item - Bugzilla: #810112
liveusb-creator is one of the recommended tools for converting optical media ISO images into a bootable USB images. However, this tool still hasn't implemented support for UEFI boot. If you want to install Fedora in native UEFI mode from a USB media, use either dd or livecd-iso-to-disk to create it. The full instructions are at How to create and use Live USB.
Hardware issues
Software issues
Automatic login does not work on Desktop Live image
link to this item - Bugzilla: #854722
When you boot the Fedora 18 Desktop Live image, you will not be automatically logged in to the desktop, as was the case in previous releases and as is intended. The login screen will appear with 'Live System User' as the only available user account: clicking this user will log you into the live system, which will then work as usual. There are no further consequences of this bug beyond the minor inconvenience.
System will drop to rescue mode if encryption password not entered after some time
link to this item - Bugzilla: #868421
If you install Fedora 18 with all or some system partitions encrypted, then if you do not enter the encryption password for an encryption partition when prompted at boot, after several minutes the system will drop to rescue mode. It ought to wait indefinitely for password entry. If you encounter this problem, you can simply reboot from the rescue mode and enter the password in time on the next boot attempt. Your data will not be endangered.