[Bug 1869538] [NEW] Focal installer uses EFI System partition on incorrect disk

[Jakob Lell]

Public bug reported:

I just wanted to try out the upcoming Ubuntu 20.04 release (for
testing/finding bugs) using the latest daily build. For the testing
system I decided to install it on an external USB thumb drive (while the
laptop also contains an internal NVMe SSD with an Ubuntu 19.10
installation). I kept the default value for all settings in the
installer (no custom partitioning) and only selected the external USB
drive as target device of the installation. The installer correctly
creates the "EFI System" partition (/dev/sdb1) and the root partition
(/dev/sdb2) on the target device. However, the "EFI System" partition
(/dev/sdb1) turns out to be a completely empty FAT32 partition after
finishing the installation, which makes the target device non-bootable.
Instead, the installer places its EFI files on the internal SSD
(/dev/nvme0n1p1). When booting from the internal SSD  (and not from the
external USB drive selected as installation target), the newly installed
system boots up and mounts /dev/nvme0n1p1 to /boot/efi/.


This behavior has two unintended consequences:
1. The target device selected in the installer does not contain a full/bootable installation. I planned to use this installation on an external USB drive for testing the new Ubuntu release on several different computers. This is not possible if the EFI files required for booting are stored on the internal SSD of one laptop.
2. The existing operation system on the internal SSD (which was not selected as target device for the installation) is rendered into a non-bootable state. There is no user interaction/confirmation about that and since I selected another device as installation target, the installer should not even touch the internal SSD.


Affected ISO image:
Download URL: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/focal-desktop-amd64.iso
Modification timestamp on server: 2020-03-24 09:40 (Still the latest version as of 2020-03-28)
SHA256: 63c716eaf768c9d0faea36550a898fb82ba52ac52cd65ca0c04682b799b239eb


I am happy to help with resolving this issue by retesting with an updated ISO image or providing additional information/debug logs if required.

** Affects: casper (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1869538

Title:
  Focal installer uses EFI System partition on incorrect disk

Status in casper package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I just wanted to try out the upcoming Ubuntu 20.04 release (for
  testing/finding bugs) using the latest daily build. For the testing
  system I decided to install it on an external USB thumb drive (while
  the laptop also contains an internal NVMe SSD with an Ubuntu 19.10
  installation). I kept the default value for all settings in the
  installer (no custom partitioning) and only selected the external USB
  drive as target device of the installation. The installer correctly
  creates the "EFI System" partition (/dev/sdb1) and the root partition
  (/dev/sdb2) on the target device. However, the "EFI System" partition
  (/dev/sdb1) turns out to be a completely empty FAT32 partition after
  finishing the installation, which makes the target device non-
  bootable. Instead, the installer places its EFI files on the internal
  SSD (/dev/nvme0n1p1). When booting from the internal SSD  (and not
  from the external USB drive selected as installation target), the
  newly installed system boots up and mounts /dev/nvme0n1p1 to
  /boot/efi/.

  
  This behavior has two unintended consequences:
  1. The target device selected in the installer does not contain a full/bootable installation. I planned to use this installation on an external USB drive for testing the new Ubuntu release on several different computers. This is not possible if the EFI files required for booting are stored on the internal SSD of one laptop.
  2. The existing operation system on the internal SSD (which was not selected as target device for the installation) is rendered into a non-bootable state. There is no user interaction/confirmation about that and since I selected another device as installation target, the installer should not even touch the internal SSD.

  
  Affected ISO image:
  Download URL: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/focal-desktop-amd64.iso
  Modification timestamp on server: 2020-03-24 09:40 (Still the latest version as of 2020-03-28)
  SHA256: 63c716eaf768c9d0faea36550a898fb82ba52ac52cd65ca0c04682b799b239eb

  
  I am happy to help with resolving this issue by retesting with an updated ISO image or providing additional information/debug logs if required.

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