Error while installing Ubuntu Server 20.04 (Initramfs unpacking failed: no cpio magic)

I am brand new to Linux so I have no clue what any of the error message means in the slightest. The message I am getting is:

[0.424931] Initramfs unpacking failed: no cpio magic
[0.984686] Failed to execute /init (error -2)
[0.984730] Kernel panic - not syncing: No working init found. Try passing init= option to kernel. See Linux Documentation/admin-guide/init.rst for guidance.
[0.984789] CPU: 2 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 5.4.0-26-generic #30-Ubuntu
[0.984789] Hardware name: MotherBoard By ZOTAC MotherBoard Z77ITX-A-E/Z77ITX-A-E, BIOS A229P007 06/05/2012
[0.984816] Call Trace:
[0.984840]  dump_stack+0x6d/0x9a
[0.984862]  ? rest_init+0x30/0xb0
[0.984883]  panic+0x101/0x2e3
[0.984904]  ? do_execve+0x25/0x30
[0.984924]  ? rest_init+0xb0/0xb0
[0.984965]  kernel_init+0xfb/0x100
[0.984965]  ret_from_fork+0x35/0x40
[0.985039] Kernel Offset: 0x17600000 from 0xffffffff81000000 (relocation range: 0xffffffff80000000-0xffffffffbfffffff)
[0.985069] ---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing: No working init found. Try passing init= option to kernel. See Linux Documentation/admin-guide/init.rst for guidance. ]---

I looked at https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/admin-guide/init.rst and it really didn't help me at all because of how new I am to Linux. I am installing with a USB drive and I have tried every USB port on my computer (USB 3 and 2).

Solution 1:

Just in case you didn't resolve it and/or anyone else is wondering - I was having the same issue with Server 20.04 when I was running 512MB of RAM in an old Lenovo desktop (oldest AMD64 machine I've ever seen - had to disable APIC & LAPIC). Taking out the 512MB and dropping in 2GB of RAM solved the issue and doesn't crash the installer with a kernel panic.

Classic case of a not-so-helpful (although probably accurate) error message. Hope this helps!