[Bug 1648278] Re: Make Ubuntu 32-bit ISO image directly installable on UEFI machine

[Alkis Georgopoulos]

Another workaround:
1) Boot with ubuntu-mate-amd64.iso.
2) Select "Try Ubuntu without installing" in grub. Don't press Enter.
3) Remove ubuntu-mate-amd64.iso and insert ubuntu-mate-i386.iso. Wait for a few seconds for the CD to be read; then press Enter in grub.

So we're using amd64.iso's grub to boot i386.iso.
The i386 live CD boots and /sys/firmware/efi is present, so ubiquity will know to create an efi partition etc. But there are two more bugs involved (which this report is about), which need to be worked around as well. So, from the live session and before running ubiquity:
4) sudo sed 's/-signed"/"/' -i /user/share/grub-installer/grub-installer
(so that grub-efi-amd64 is selected instead of the non-existing grub-efi-amd64-signed)
5) sudo ln -rsf /bin/true /bin/efibootvars
(so that grub-install doesn't fail when running efibootvars)

I did step (5) both in / and in /target; I'm not sure which of those two
were necessary, but the system boots fine after the aforementioned
steps. Of course since efivarfs isn't available, the boot order isn't
customizable from within the 32bit Ubuntu.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1648278

Title:
  Make Ubuntu 32-bit ISO image directly installable on UEFI machine

Status in grub2-signed package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  Only with a workaround I can install Ubuntu 32-bit on a UEFI machine:
  - First install Ubuntu 64-bit on a temporary partition.
  - Then install Ubuntu 32-bit with ubiquity -b
  - Start Ubuntu 64-bit and run update-grub.
  - Start Ubuntu 32-bit.

  To make Ubuntu 32-bit update-proof I can run:
  sudo apt install grub-efi-amd64
  sudo mount /dev/sda1 /boot/efi
  sudo grub-install --efi-directory /boot/efi --force-extra-removable
  After I can delete the temporary Ubuntu 64-bit installation

  To make Ubuntu 32-bit again bootable with UEFI secure boot I can additionally run:
  sudo dpkg --add-architecture amd64
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo dpkg --install Download/grub-efi-amd64-signed_1.66.2+2.02~beta2-36ubuntu3.2_amd64.deb
  sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub-efi-amd64-signed
  sudo grub-install
  sudo apt-get install shim
  sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub-efi-amd64-signed
  sudo dpkg-reconfigure shim
  sudo grub-install

  Please make this possible directly with the Ubuntu 32-bit ISO image !

  Rationale: The recommended 64-bit Ubuntu and 64-bit applications need
  up to 30 % more RAM so the pain of swapping occurs more likely and on
  UEFI-machines with few resources such as Netbooks. There 64-bit
  applications often perform up to 30 % slower than 32-bit applications,
  e.g.: Firefox.

  See also: bug 1650337, bug 1649167

  Another WORKAROUND only using the 32-bit Live-image via "Try Ubuntu":

  ubiquity -b

  sudo mount /dev/sdaX /mnt           # Ubuntu target partition sdaX
  sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi  # EFI-partition sda1
  for dir in /dev /dev/pts /proc /sys /run; do sudo mount --bind $dir /mnt/$dir; done
  sudo chroot /mnt /bin/bash

  dpkg --add-architecture amd64
  apt-get update
  apt-get install grub-efi-amd64-signed
  Optional: shim-signed
  grub-install [--efi-directory /boot/efi]
  update-grub
  exit

  In case of dual boot with Windows,in EFI-setup the boot order must me changed.
  Surprisingly, there was a menu entry in NVRAM, even the configuration via efibootmgr is impossible, caused by missing efivarfs driver in the 32-bit kernel.

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