[Bug 1893964] Re: Installation of Ubuntu Groovy with manual partitioning without an EFI System Partition fails on 'grub-install /dev/sda' even on non-UEFI systems

[Jeremie Tamburini]

There's an easier WORKAROUND in case you have no space for an extra EFI
partition.

First of all a resume of the issues related to 'EFI on BIOS'.
The system itself get installed. Problem is that Ubiquity thinks that an ESR (EFI) partition is needed even on computers with BIOS. And it does installs grub, but on the USB install device. This because it finds an EFI partition in the USB device and automatically selects it bug #1924823

It's still possible to boot the installed system just keeping the USB device connected to computer.
The WORKAROUND works like this: boot the system, modified /etc/fstab, remove grub-efi* package and re-installed grub-pc.

HERE ALL THE STEPS:

1. Make sure 'first boot from hard disk' is set in the BIOS settings.
2. Connect the USB installer device and start the computer.

3. Open /etc/fstab and comment the line related to /boot/efi:
sudo -H gedit /etc/fstab

4. find a line like this:
UUID=BF7E1-08E7  /boot/efi  vfat  umask=0077  0  1

5. put the character # at the beginning of the line:
#UUID=BF7E1-08E7  /boot/efi  vfat  umask=0077  0  1

6. Save the file and exit from gedit.

7. Un-mount e mount the partitions:
sudo umount -a && sudo mount -a

8. Uninstall all grub-efi related packages:
sudo apt purge grub-efi*

9. Reinstall grub-pc:
sudo apt install --reinstall grub-pc

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1893964

Title:
  Installation of Ubuntu Groovy with manual partitioning without an EFI
  System Partition fails on 'grub-install /dev/sda' even on non-UEFI
  systems

Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in ubiquity source package in Hirsute:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  Hello,

  trying to install current daily-live images of Groovy in VirtualBox
  fails for me when I'm using manual partitioning without an EFI System
  Partition (ESP).

  Steps to reproduce:

  1. Partition layout I have used in VirtualBox:
   * Partition table: MBR
   * A single primary ext4 partition (/dev/sda1) using up the entire virtual harddisk with 1 MB free space before start of the partition
  2. Boot current Groovy daily-live image, click on "Install Ubuntu"
  3. Choose "Something else" (manual partitioning)
  4. Select /dev/sda1 as target for '/', check "format partition".
  5. Ignore warning about missing EFI system partition.

  Result:

  The installation proceeds until GRUB is about to be installed.
  Then an error dialog appears: "Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda' failed. This is a fatal error." (screenshot attached).
  If I click 'Ok', after a moment Ubiquity nevertheless shows the usual dialog saying "Installation is complete. Please restart." The only option the dialog offered was to click on "Restart now".
  After that, booting the failed installation succeeds, but it is obvious that Ubiquity couldn't complete its job: Packages like ubiquity itself, which usually get purged from the fresh system at the end of a successful installation, are still installed. There is also a pop-up in gnome-shell showing an error regarding package management (screenshot attached, not sure if this is related to the failed install).

  Modifying the setup by creating an ESP manually like described in #7
  makes the installation complete successfully without error.

  The setups I have tested (my machine and VirtualBox) don't support
  UEFI or don't have UEFI support enabled respectively (and thus don't
  actually require an ESP to boot).

  To send this report, I was running 'sudo ubuntu-bug ubiquity' on the
  "failed", but nevertheless booting fresh installation.

  Kind regards, Jan

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.10
  Package: ubiquity 20.10.9
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-42.46-generic 5.4.44
  Uname: Linux 5.4.0-42-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu45
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
  Date: Wed Sep  2 16:55:14 2020
  InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-42-generic root=UUID=6ba06971-16c7-4df6-afcc-3bc101cba9a5 ro quiet splash
  SourcePackage: ubiquity
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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