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

[Tim Richardson]

I hope this bug gets fixed, but my experience of it in your scenario is
merely that the host system has a grub entry which doesn't boot if the the
USB stick is not present but which doesn't affect existing entries, and
meanwhile the USB stick has no functional EFI partitions so it can't be
used as a boot device.


On Mon, 7 Nov 2022, 03:55 Ubfan, <1396379 at bugs.launchpad.net> wrote:

> Grub gets rewritten, with a dependency upon the target's root, so if the
> target is a removable USB, and you remove it, (think a 32GB USB stick
> you want to give to a friend), grub files get removed too, and your host
> system no longer boots. (and of course your target USB does not boot
> either) That's a critical bug according to
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Importance:
>
> Critical: A bug that has a severe impact on a large portion of Ubuntu
> users
>
>     Causes data corruption
>     Crashes the entire operating system
>         For example, if the system fails to boot, or X fails to start, on
> various makes and models of computer
>     Renders the system temporarily or permanently unusable
>
> It's a quibble to say the bug didn't clobbered the system when the user
> removes the removable target, after the installer ignores the explicit
> grub target location.
>
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> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1396379
>
> Title:
>   installer uses first EFI system partition found even when directed
>   otherwise
>
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1396379

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

Status in grub-efi-amd64-signed package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
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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