[Bug 1396379] Re: installer uses first EFI system partition found even when directed otherwise

[John S. Gruber]

@ket I agree that this is frustrating.

You shouldn't have to reformat your disk to fix it, however. You should
be able to plug in the device with your newly installed Ubuntu, boot up
until you see the grub prompt asking you what system you want to boot,
and then choose the old Ubuntu version on your hard disk.

The other alternative to reformatting is to boot from the install CD to
make repairs.

Getting back to not having to plug in the old device involves changing a
file on your hard disks efi partition, ubuntu/grub.cfg in order to point
it back to the original disk partition you want to boot from.

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to ubiquity in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1396379

Title:
  installer uses first EFI system partition found even when directed
  otherwise

Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  (k)ubuntu 14.04.1
  package version: 2.02~beta2-9ubuntu1

  i installed ubuntu on my external hard disk, where i also have a previously installed fedora system. i also have a windows
  (efi-booted) system in the internal hard disk.

  at install time via ubiquity i get all grub configuration files in the first EFI-labelled partition (i.e. /dev/sda2 in my case) instead of the one i selected (/dev/sdb1).
  later i changed my fstab mounting /boot/efi on /dev/sdb1 and tried to reinstall grub package (apt-get install --reinstall grub-efi-amd64); now all grub configuration files are in the rigt place, but booting from the external hard disk still shows the fedora grub installation, while selectin the internal hard disk from the bios menu shows a submenu listing ubuntu and windows.
  explicitly installing grub in the correct disk (grub-install /dev/sdb; grub-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grub.cfg) has no effect, nor it has running efibootmgr (efibootmgr -c --disk /dev/sdb --part 1).

  expected results: grub shoud have been installed in the disk/partition i chose;
  actual results: ubuntu always chooses the first disk to install grub on.

  Note that this is not just about the dummy grub install location
  selector that is not used in EFI mode, but configuring one partition
  as do not use, and the other as ESP in the manual partitioning screen.

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1396379/+subscriptions