[Bug 1302418] Re: grub-installer should fall back to grub-pc instead of grub-efi when there is no EFI system partition

[Phillip Susi]

If there is an existing bios booting OS installed ( MBR partitioned disk
), and you choose to install along side to dual boot, you don't see the
warning about not having an esp, and obviously one is not created.

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to grub-installer in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1302418

Title:
  grub-installer should fall back to grub-pc instead of grub-efi when
  there is no EFI system partition

Status in “grub-installer” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in “grub-installer” source package in Trusty:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  During a side-by-side installation, the EFI partition is not created..
  If it doesn't already exist (which given recent bug reports seems to
  be the case on systems with MS Windows installed), installation fails
  at grub stage.

  TEST CASE:
  Note: This test case simulates in qemu the behavior found on real HW eg. bug 1299134

  1. Install trusty in BIOS mode

  $ qemu-img create -f qcow2 /tmp/disk.img 16G
  $ qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm \
      -drive file=/tmp/disk.img,if=ide,media=disk \
      -pflash /tmp/bios.bin \
      -cdrom $ISO

  2. Reboot
  3. Reuse the same disk and Install trusty in UEFI mode for example start qemu with the option -pflash=/tmp/ovmf.bin and the binary file attached to this bug report.

  $ qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm \
      -drive file=/tmp/disk.img,if=ide,media=disk \
      -pflash /tmp/bios.bin \
      -cdrom $ISO

  4. Proceed to the partitioner and select a side-by-side installation
  5. Proceed with the rest of the installation

  ACTUAL RESULT:
  This crash

  EXPECTED RESULT:
  There are several ways to address this issue, I see 2 options there are probably more:
  1.  Warn the user and refuse to proceed past the partitioner
  2. Create an EFI partition like the entire disk installation does.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
  Package: ubiquity 2.17.10
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-22.44-generic 3.13.8
  Uname: Linux 3.13.0-22-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.14-0ubuntu1
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperVersion: 1.339
  Date: Fri Apr  4 10:36:19 2014
  InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz.efi file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash --
  LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Daily amd64 (20140403)
  ProcEnviron:
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: grub-installer
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub-installer/+bug/1302418/+subscriptions