[Bug 1904263] Re: Writing GRUB to boot device failed

Mon Nov 23 19:27:51 UTC 2020

Just ran an apt update/upgrade today on my home desktop and had the same
issue.

----
The following NEW packages will be installed
  libapparmor1:i386
The following packages will be upgraded:
  alsa-ucm-conf grub-common grub-efi-amd64-bin grub-efi-amd64-signed grub-pc grub-pc-bin grub2-common libasound2 libasound2:i386 libasound2-data libasound2-dev
  libatopology2 libpulse-dev libpulse-mainloop-glib0 libpulse0 libpulse0:i386 libpulsedsp pulseaudio pulseaudio-module-bluetooth pulseaudio-utils
  yaru-theme-gnome-shell yaru-theme-gtk yaru-theme-icon yaru-theme-sound
24 to upgrade, 1 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.

...
Preparing to unpack .../15-grub-pc_2.04-1ubuntu26.7_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking grub-pc (2.04-1ubuntu26.7) over (2.04-1ubuntu26.6) ...
Preparing to unpack .../16-grub2-common_2.04-1ubuntu26.7_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking grub2-common (2.04-1ubuntu26.7) over (2.04-1ubuntu26.6) ...
Preparing to unpack .../17-grub-pc-bin_2.04-1ubuntu26.7_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking grub-pc-bin (2.04-1ubuntu26.7) over (2.04-1ubuntu26.6) ...
Preparing to unpack .../18-grub-efi-amd64-signed_1.142.9+2.04-1ubuntu26.7_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking grub-efi-amd64-signed (1.142.9+2.04-1ubuntu26.7) over (1.142.8+2.04-1ubuntu26.6) ...
Preparing to unpack .../19-grub-efi-amd64-bin_2.04-1ubuntu26.7_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking grub-efi-amd64-bin (2.04-1ubuntu26.7) over (2.04-1ubuntu26.6) ...
Preparing to unpack .../20-grub-common_2.04-1ubuntu26.7_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking grub-common (2.04-1ubuntu26.7) over (2.04-1ubuntu26.6) ...

...
grub-install: warning: Internal error.
grub-install: error: failed to register the EFI boot entry: Operation not permitted.
Processing triggers for systemd (245.4-4ubuntu3.3) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.9.1-1) ...
Processing triggers for dbus (1.12.16-2ubuntu2.1) ...
Processing triggers for install-info (6.7.0.dfsg.2-5) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.31-0ubuntu9.1) ...

EFI Partition is also pretty big, for what it is.
------
Model: ATA Samsung SSD 840 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 250GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End    Size   File system  Name                  Flags
 1      1049kB  538MB  537MB  fat32        EFI System Partition  boot, esp
 2      538MB   250GB  250GB  ext4
-----

Tried removing and reinstalling. No specific failures noted from running
grub-update outside the script. Files got updated

root at pinhead:/boot/grub/x86_64-efi# ls -l /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/
total 4088
-rwx------ 1 root root 1681280 Nov 23 18:58 BOOTX64.EFI
-rwx------ 1 root root 1222800 Nov 23 18:21 fbx64.efi
-rwx------ 1 root root 1277024 Nov 23 18:21 mmx64.efi

root at pinhead:/boot/grub/x86_64-efi# cat /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grub.cfg 
search.fs_uuid 48221d77-53ec-48c0-ab30-bffb0b0129ec root hd0,gpt2 
set prefix=($root)'/boot/grub'
configfile $prefix/grub.cfg

root at shodan-pin:/boot/grub/x86_64-efi# cat /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/BOOTX64.CSV 
shimx64.efi,ubuntu,,This is the boot entry for ubuntu

root at pinhead:/boot/grub/x86_64-efi# ls -l /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/
total 4212
-rwx------ 1 root root     108 Nov 23 18:21 BOOTX64.CSV
-rwx------ 1 root root     126 Nov 23 18:58 grub.cfg
-rwx------ 1 root root 1681280 Nov 23 18:58 grubx64.efi
-rwx------ 1 root root 1277024 Nov 23 18:21 mmx64.efi
-rwx------ 1 root root 1341560 Nov 23 18:21 shimx64.efi

root at pinhead:/boot/grub/x86_64-efi# grub-install --no-uefi-secure-boot
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
grub-install: warning: Internal error.
grub-install: error: failed to register the EFI boot entry: Operation not permitted.

Also reported here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/1901650

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1904263

Title:
  Writing GRUB to boot device failed

Status in grub2 package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  Running apt-get update; apt-get upgrade for the first time in a few
  months, I get an error

  ```
  Writing GRUB to boot device failed - continue
  GRUB failed to install to the following devices:

   [*] /dev/nvme1n1p1 (104 MB; /boot/efi) 1000204 MB WDC WDS100T2B0C-00PXH0
  ```

  Retrying fails.

  Running

  ```
  $ sudo dpkg-reconfigure --force grub-efi-amd64
  ```

  Gives the following output:

  ```
  Installing grub to /boot/efi.
  Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
  grub-install: warning: Internal error.
  grub-install: error: failed to register the EFI boot entry: Operation not permitted.
  Installing grub to /boot/efi.
  Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
  grub-install: warning: Internal error.
  grub-install: error: failed to register the EFI boot entry: Operation not permitted.
  Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
  Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/init-select.cfg'
  Generating grub configuration file ...
  Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-53-generic
  Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-53-generic
  Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-52-generic
  Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-52-generic
  Found Windows Boot Manager on /dev/nvme1n1p1@/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
  Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings
  done
  ```

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
  Package: grub-efi-amd64 2.04-1ubuntu26.6
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-52.57-generic 5.4.65
  Uname: Linux 5.4.0-52-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.12
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
  Date: Fri Nov 13 21:38:56 2020
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-05-23 (175 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Release amd64 (20191017)
  SourcePackage: grub2
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to focal on 2020-05-29 (169 days ago)

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