[Bug 1091477] Re: grub-efi cannot install on locked ESP (read-only error)

[Filian]

I solved my case today, thanks to your comments too.
On my HP Sleekbook 15, the EFI partition was read only because there were errors on it. Therefore it was impossible to make any change to it.

I found out the files under the "EFI/ubuntu" directory were totally
garbled, the names themselves were random characters.

"EFI/ubuntu" was the only directory with errors, so it looks like the
grub instance made the mess during the setup! That's why after the first
install tentative the EFI partition can only be mounted as read only. No
need to format it or make another one, just fsck!

This is how I solved the issue running Ubuntu from DVD or USB:

dosfsck -a /dev/"efipartition" #to fix the efipartition, remove ubuntu dir if necessary
sudo mkdir /boot/efi
sudo mount /dev/"efipartition" /boot/efi
cd /boot/efi/EFI/
rm -R ubuntu #if it's still there you must remove it
boot-repair #must be installed first

After that, Ubuntu started to be available as a EFI option, even though it was not the default one. But that's a different problem...
I hope this helps!

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1091477

Title:
  grub-efi cannot install on locked ESP (read-only error)

Status in “grub2” package in Ubuntu:
  Expired

Bug description:
  Some Windows8 computers come with a locked ESP that prevents writing
  outside the /EFI/Boot and /EFI/Microsoft folders, thus preventing the
  creation of a /EFI/ubuntu folder.

  This leads to a "Read-only" error when trying to install grub-efi.

  Example:
  http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=12409846#post12409846

  Remark: this is similar but not duplicate of Bug #1090829

  **************** WORKAROUND:
  1) via Gparted create another EFI partition (FAT32, 200MB, located in the first 100GB of the disk)
  2) move the 'boot' flag on it
  3) make Ubuntu use this new ESP (eg via Boot-Repair --> Recommended Repair).

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