[Bug 1614112] Re: Grub failed to install during xubuntu installation

[Jim Read]

Yeah, looks right on second look.
Here's why:

...
Partition table: yes
Type: msdos
...
/lib/partman/init.d/50efi: User chose to continue in UEFI mode
...

Your live install CD recognized that your system boots UEFI and went
ahead and booted in that mode. When you got to install, however, it was
presented with a system configured for classic BIOS booting- an old-
style MSDOS partition table, and no EFI partition to be found. UEFI
requires that instead of an MSDOS partition table, there be a GPT
partition table which works in a really different way.

First of all, there's no MBR, or master boot record. This is something
that the old BIOS system needed to figure out where the bootloader is.
UEFI systems, and even newer bios systems look for something different.
BIOS systems look for a special BIOSBOOT partition, which has a similar
function to the MBR, but is a partition in its own right instead of just
an amount of bytes at the beginning of the disk. UEFI works similarly,
but it supports having more than one bootloader installed at once in
some cases, so this partition needs to be bigger. GPT facilitates this,
but because the old MBR-style boot information is limited to a much
smaller size, UEFI bootloaders can't install there.

If I'm reading your logs correctly, it looks like it asked you if you
wanted to continue the install. It's been a while, but I've seen the
same dialog. It says something about this might not work, do you want to
continue with a UEFI install anyhow? Clicking Yes *may* result in
something like what you have here.


The TL;DR version:
It looks like your computer thinks its installing to a UEFI-ready disk, and it's not set up right.

To fix this:
    Option 1: disable UEFI in your bios so that the disk won't think your computer looks for that first.
    Option 2: Reformat your entire hard disk with a GPT partition table instead of an MSDOS one. This will erase everything on the disk, so be careful!
    Option 3: Manually install GRUB. I don't know how to do this in Ubuntu, so make sure you check with someone else (Ask Ubuntu, Ubuntuforums, etc.) in the community before attempting this. Usually Option 1 or 2 is much easier and more straightforward.

** Changed in: grub-installer (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Invalid

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1614112

Title:
  Grub failed to install during xubuntu installation

Status in grub-installer package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid

Bug description:
  I tried the install directly from the USB and then by doing a Try-xubuntu with the live disk.
  From the live disk, I did a boot-repair and boot-info 2 times. Here are the values given:

  http://paste2.org/VJjkBvX
  http://paste2.org/Xc5a24GK

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
  Package: ubiquity 2.21.63
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-21.37-generic 4.4.6
  Uname: Linux 4.4.0-21-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperVersion: 1.376
  Date: Wed Aug 17 15:59:01 2016
  InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz.efi file=/cdrom/preseed/xubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash ---
  LiveMediaBuild: Xubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160420.1)
  ProcEnviron:
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: grub-installer
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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