[Bug 1654299] [NEW] Bootloader fails to install, then installer crashes

[Gunnlaugur Thor Briem]

Public bug reported:

Tried to install (from a USB stick) to an external HD connected via
USB3, on a machine that has an internal SSD with existing installations
of Windows and Linux Mint, and an existing Grub bootloader on /dev/sda
(and, subordinate to that, a Windows bootloader on its own partition
/dev/sda2 and a Linux on /dev/sda3, not sure about these numbers).

I wanted to overwrite my existing Grub with the one generated by this
installation, hoping to have all three operating systems available
there.

The installation proceeds, writing into the external HD, but then fails
on writing the bootloader, saying "the 'grub-efi-amd64-signed' package
failed to install into /target/"

I click OK (or Continue or Close, don't recall) and after that the
installer crashes.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.10
Package: ubiquity 16.10.14 [modified: lib/partman/automatically_partition/question]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.8.0-22.24-generic 4.8.0
Uname: Linux 4.8.0-22-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.3-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
CasperVersion: 1.379
Date: Thu Jan  5 13:18:39 2017
InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz.efi file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity quiet splash ---
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 16.10 "Yakkety Yak" - Release amd64 (20161012.2)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 LC_NUMERIC=C.UTF-8
SourcePackage: grub-installer
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

** Affects: grub-installer (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug ubiquity-16.10.14 ubuntu yakkety

** Description changed:

  Tried to install (from a USB stick) to an external HD connected via
  USB3, on a machine that has an internal SSD with existing installations
  of Windows and Linux Mint, and an existing Grub bootloader on /dev/sda
  (and, subordinate to that, a Windows bootloader on its own partition
  /dev/sda2 and a Linux on /dev/sda3, not sure about these numbers).
  
  I wanted to overwrite my existing Grub with the one generated by this
  installation, hoping to have all three operating systems available
  there.
  
  The installation proceeds, writing into the external HD, but then fails
  on writing the bootloader, saying "the 'grub-efi-amd64-signed' package
  failed to install into /target/"
  
+ I click OK (or Continue or Close, don't recall) and after that the
+ installer crashes.
+ 
  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.10
  Package: ubiquity 16.10.14 [modified: lib/partman/automatically_partition/question]
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.8.0-22.24-generic 4.8.0
  Uname: Linux 4.8.0-22-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.3-0ubuntu8
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperVersion: 1.379
  Date: Thu Jan  5 13:18:39 2017
  InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz.efi file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity quiet splash ---
  LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 16.10 "Yakkety Yak" - Release amd64 (20161012.2)
  ProcEnviron:
-  PATH=(custom, no user)
-  XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
-  LANG=en_US.UTF-8
-  LC_NUMERIC=C.UTF-8
+  PATH=(custom, no user)
+  XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
+  LANG=en_US.UTF-8
+  LC_NUMERIC=C.UTF-8
  SourcePackage: grub-installer
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1654299

Title:
  Bootloader fails to install, then installer crashes

Status in grub-installer package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Tried to install (from a USB stick) to an external HD connected via
  USB3, on a machine that has an internal SSD with existing
  installations of Windows and Linux Mint, and an existing Grub
  bootloader on /dev/sda (and, subordinate to that, a Windows bootloader
  on its own partition /dev/sda2 and a Linux on /dev/sda3, not sure
  about these numbers).

  I wanted to overwrite my existing Grub with the one generated by this
  installation, hoping to have all three operating systems available
  there.

  The installation proceeds, writing into the external HD, but then
  fails on writing the bootloader, saying "the 'grub-efi-amd64-signed'
  package failed to install into /target/"

  I click OK (or Continue or Close, don't recall) and after that the
  installer crashes.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.10
  Package: ubiquity 16.10.14 [modified: lib/partman/automatically_partition/question]
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.8.0-22.24-generic 4.8.0
  Uname: Linux 4.8.0-22-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.3-0ubuntu8
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperVersion: 1.379
  Date: Thu Jan  5 13:18:39 2017
  InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz.efi file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity quiet splash ---
  LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 16.10 "Yakkety Yak" - Release amd64 (20161012.2)
  ProcEnviron:
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   LC_NUMERIC=C.UTF-8
  SourcePackage: grub-installer
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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