fail to install ubuntu server 14.04 64bit LTS from USB drive

This is how i got it to work.

When it gets the CD-ROM error, move the install USB stick from one port, to another USB port on your PC. Then retry.

This worked. I don't know why.

Not only that but I was reinstalling 14.04 later that night, and the CD-ROM error did not happen again. The 2nd install went without a hitch.

Yes it worked for me also.

Problem is that the new image isn't meant to be used with unetbootin or any of the normal USB creators.

Just use dd like:

dd if=ubuntu-14.04.2-server-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=16M

(obviously, replace /dev/sdb with the path to your USB key, but don't use any partitions (i.e. don't use /dev/sdb1, /dev/sdb2, etc -- just the whole device)

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2253860 has an answer.

Here are the steps that I took to get it to work

1. When you get the error, Alt+F2 to a second console.
2. Find out which device your USB stick is (tail -n 100 /var/log/syslog)
3. If the device is busy, umount it (umount /dev/sd[abcdef]1)
4. Then mount it to /cdrom (mount -t vfat /dev/sd[abcdef]1 /cdrom)
5. Alt+F1 to get back to the install console, and try detecting again