[Bug 1991471] Re: grub-install fails as installer incorrectly assumes EFI

[Chris Guiver]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make
Ubuntu better. Please execute the following command only once, as it
will automatically gather debugging information, in a terminal:

apport-collect 1991471

Note:  this should be run on the system used for install during the
session where install failed, so the ubiquity logs can be appended to
the log. This report maybe unhelpful without it, unless marked duplicate
to other report(s) which contain that required detail. Whether or not
the live system has a EFI system partition is decided by the ISO writing
software.

When reporting bugs in the future please use apport by using 'ubuntu-
bug' and the name of the package affected. You can learn more about this
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1991471

Title:
  grub-install fails as installer incorrectly assumes EFI

Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I am using the installer in the released image of Xubuntu 22.04.1
  (jammy). The ubiquity version is 22.04.17.

  The system supports UEFI, but this is disabled. /sys/firmware/efivars/
  is absent, and no EFI partition is present. syslog even shows this
  line:

      Oct  2 04:20:23 xubuntu 05efi: debug: Not on UEFI platform

  I use the "Something else" option for partitioning, and set up swap,
  /, and /home partitions.

  The install then fails with

      ==== Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda ====

      Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda' failed.

      This is a fatal error.

  Here is the relevant excerpt from syslog:

      Oct  2 04:20:24 xubuntu grub-installer: info: Identified partition label for /dev/sda3: msdos
      Oct  2 04:20:24 xubuntu grub-installer: info: Installing grub on '/dev/sda'
      Oct  2 04:20:24 xubuntu grub-installer: info: grub-install does not support --no-floppy
      Oct  2 04:20:24 xubuntu grub-installer: info: Running chroot /target grub-install  --force --target x86_64-efi "/dev/sda"
      Oct  2 04:20:24 xubuntu grub-installer: Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
      Oct  2 04:20:36 xubuntu grub-installer: grub-install: error: cannot open `/boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi': No such file or directory.
      Oct  2 04:20:36 xubuntu grub-installer: error: Running 'grub-install  --force --target x86_64-efi "/dev/sda"' failed.

  The installer appears to be attempting to install grub-efi-amd64
  instead of grub-pc, despite having correctly identified the system as
  non-EFI earlier.

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