[Bug 1991471] Re: grub-install fails as installer incorrectly assumes EFI

[Daniel Richard G.]

I ran apport-collect at the time when the grub-install error appeared.

Also, I spoke too soon on the installation completing successfully if
/boot/efi is removed: The newly-installed system's /etc/fstab still
refers to the EFI partition on the original USB boot media, so the new
system fails to boot.

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Title:
  grub-install fails as installer incorrectly assumes EFI

Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I am using the installer in the released image of Xubuntu 22.04.1
  (jammy). The ubiquity version is 22.04.17.

  The system supports UEFI, but this is disabled. /sys/firmware/efivars/
  is absent, and no EFI partition is present. syslog even shows this
  line:

      Oct  2 04:20:23 xubuntu 05efi: debug: Not on UEFI platform

  I use the "Something else" option for partitioning, and set up swap,
  /, and /home partitions.

  The install then fails with

      ==== Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda ====

      Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda' failed.

      This is a fatal error.

  Here is the relevant excerpt from syslog:

      Oct  2 04:20:24 xubuntu grub-installer: info: Identified partition label for /dev/sda3: msdos
      Oct  2 04:20:24 xubuntu grub-installer: info: Installing grub on '/dev/sda'
      Oct  2 04:20:24 xubuntu grub-installer: info: grub-install does not support --no-floppy
      Oct  2 04:20:24 xubuntu grub-installer: info: Running chroot /target grub-install  --force --target x86_64-efi "/dev/sda"
      Oct  2 04:20:24 xubuntu grub-installer: Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
      Oct  2 04:20:36 xubuntu grub-installer: grub-install: error: cannot open `/boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi': No such file or directory.
      Oct  2 04:20:36 xubuntu grub-installer: error: Running 'grub-install  --force --target x86_64-efi "/dev/sda"' failed.

  The installer appears to be attempting to install grub-efi-amd64 instead of grub-pc, despite having correctly identified the system as non-EFI earlier.
  --- 
  ProblemType: Bug
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu82.1
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
  CasperVersion: 1.470
  CurrentDesktop: XFCE
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 22.04
  InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=(loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/linux/xubuntu-22.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso toram
  LiveMediaBuild: Xubuntu 22.04.1 LTS "Jammy Jellyfish" - Release amd64 (20220809.1)
  NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
  Package: ubiquity 22.04.17
  PackageArchitecture: amd64
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=xterm-256color
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
   LANG=C.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.15.0-43.46-generic 5.15.39
  RebootRequiredPkgs: Error: path contained symlinks.
  Tags:  jammy ubiquity-22.04.17
  Uname: Linux 5.15.0-43-generic x86_64
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
  UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin lxd plugdev sambashare sudo
  _MarkForUpload: True

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