Ubuntu 20.10 on BIOS hardware - Installation with manual partitioning fails while executing "grub-install /dev/sda"
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ubiquity (Ubuntu) |
Confirmed
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned |
Bug Description
(I'm duplicating this bug https:/
Installation with manual partitioning of Ubuntu 20.10 on BIOS hardware fails while executing "grub-install /dev/sda".
We already know as reported in bug #1893964 that this happens because for some reasons the installation system expect an existing EFI boot partition.
On the same machine I have also tried to install Ubuntu 20.10 using the automatic option "Erase the disk and install Ubuntu..". In that case the installation succeeds, with the automatic creation of the EFI partition.
Of course being an old computer with old BIOS, there should not be any need of an EFI partition on a msdos(mbr) partition table.
Here what I've done:
::: BEFORE INSTALLATION
With Gparted I have:
1- erased the hard disk
2- created an msdos partion table
3- created a 50GiB Ext4 partition
::: INSTALLATION
I've run a standard installation:
- enabled 3rd party software
- chosen the manual partitioning
- selected the only partition available, formatted as Ext4 and set "/" as mount point
::: CRASH
At one point installation stops with popup window showing: "Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda' failed. This is a fatal error."
::: WORKAROUND
Just create an EFI partition before installing the system.
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.10
Package: ubiquity 20.10.13
ProcVersionSign
Uname: Linux 5.8.0-25-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelMo
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu50
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckR
CasperVersion: 1.455
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Fri Oct 30 16:33:29 2020
InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 20.10 "Groovy Gorilla" - Release amd64 (20201022)
ProcEnviron:
TERM=xterm-
PATH=(custom, no user)
XDG_RUNTIME_
LANG=C.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
RebootRequiredPkgs:
linux-
linux-base
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
description: | updated |
Exception during installation: ubiquity/ plugininstall. py", line 1792, in <module> ubiquity/ plugininstall. py", line 62, in wrapper ubiquity/ plugininstall. py", line 237, in run bootloader( ) ubiquity/ plugininstall. py", line 936, in configure_ bootloader misc.InstallSte pError( install_ misc.InstallSte pError: GrubInstaller failed with code 1
Oct 30 15:18:15 ubuntu /plugininstall.py: Traceback (most recent call last):
Oct 30 15:18:15 ubuntu /plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/
Oct 30 15:18:15 ubuntu /plugininstall.py: install.run()
Oct 30 15:18:15 ubuntu /plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/
Oct 30 15:18:15 ubuntu /plugininstall.py: func(self)
Oct 30 15:18:15 ubuntu /plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/
Oct 30 15:18:15 ubuntu /plugininstall.py: self.configure_
Oct 30 15:18:15 ubuntu /plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/
Oct 30 15:18:15 ubuntu /plugininstall.py: raise install_
Oct 30 15:18:15 ubuntu /plugininstall.py: ubiquity.
Oct 30 15:18:15 ubuntu /plugininstall.py: