[Bug 1396379] Re: installer uses first EFI system partition found even when directed otherwise

[Christian Nassau]

I think I have just been hit by that bug too: fresh install of (X)Ubuntu
20.04 on a new computer with a new SSD, which also happened to have an
old HDD with an existing EFI boot paritition. I chose the "expert"
option for the partitioning dialog in install and explicitly specified
the new SSD as the intended boot device. The install used the existing
EFI on the old HDD instead.

Recovering was not easy (with hindsight there might have been better
options): I physically removed (!) the HDD, installed a 2nd copy of
Ubuntu 20.04 on a new separate partition on the SSD, again in "expert
mode". During installation I was warned that there was no EFI partition
and the system would be unusable, so I manually created an EFI partition
for /boot/efi on the SSD. I then replaced the relevant lines in
/etc/fstab of the first attempt with the correct ones from the 2nd.
After a succesful reboot into the fixed system I added the old HDD again
and manually ran "apt-get --reinstall install grub-common os-prober
grub-efi-amd64" to rescan the HDD for extra grub entries.

To prevent others from running into this problem it would make sense to
add another warning to the "expert" install process: there already is a
check for the existence of at least one EFI partition in the system -
this check should also warn if the EFI partition is not on the device
that the user has explicitly selected for the boot loader.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1396379

Title:
  installer uses first EFI system partition found even when directed
  otherwise

Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  (k)ubuntu 14.04.1
  package version: 2.02~beta2-9ubuntu1

  i installed ubuntu on my external hard disk, where i also have a previously installed fedora system. i also have a windows
  (efi-booted) system in the internal hard disk.

  at install time via ubiquity i get all grub configuration files in the first EFI-labelled partition (i.e. /dev/sda2 in my case) instead of the one i selected (/dev/sdb1).
  later i changed my fstab mounting /boot/efi on /dev/sdb1 and tried to reinstall grub package (apt-get install --reinstall grub-efi-amd64); now all grub configuration files are in the rigt place, but booting from the external hard disk still shows the fedora grub installation, while selectin the internal hard disk from the bios menu shows a submenu listing ubuntu and windows.
  explicitly installing grub in the correct disk (grub-install /dev/sdb; grub-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grub.cfg) has no effect, nor it has running efibootmgr (efibootmgr -c --disk /dev/sdb --part 1).

  expected results: grub shoud have been installed in the disk/partition i chose;
  actual results: ubuntu always chooses the first disk to install grub on.

  Note that this is not just about the dummy grub install location
  selector that is not used in EFI mode, but configuring one partition
  as do not use, and the other as ESP in the manual partitioning screen.

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