20.10 wants an EFI system partition even on a BIOS system

[Bret Busby]

On 13/2/21 5:10 am, Liam Proven wrote:
> I've logged this as bug #1915152:
> 
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1915152
> 
> Installing both Ubuntu Unity and Xubuntu 20.10 on my Thinkpad W500
> complain that they cannot find the EFI system partition. This is
> because there isn't one, and that is because this is not a UEFI
> computer; it is from 2008 (!).
> 
> Anyone else seen this? If so, please add your experience to the bug,
> as well as telling me. I guess BIOS systems are going away now but
> this seems a quite serious issue.
> 

I do not know whether this is of any use to you, but I believe that, on 
two of my computers, the installations of 20.10 are in the BIOS sector(?).

This was achieved (not deliberately) by having installed an earlier 
version, and progressive upgraded the versions, starting at something 
like 18.x, then through 19.x, then 20.04, then 20.10, I think.

One of the two computers has UEFI and BIOS - it was originally (and 
still has on it) MS Windows 8, and the other is BIOS only - it 
originally had, and, still has, MS Windows 7 (I haven't upgraded the MS 
Windows's, as I do not use MS Windows, for anything, anymore, and, I 
forgot the MS Win 8 password, rendering it unusable (although, I found 
MS Win 8 to be too dificult to use, making it unusable, anyway) ). I 
believe that MS Win 7 is before UEFI.

So, I wonder whether, as a workaround, you could install an earlier 
version of Ubuntu, using the BIOS system of installation, and, perform a 
version upgrade to 20.10, and, whether that would work for you.

I am running UbuntuMATE on all of my systems, and, on the system that I 
believe is running 20.10 in the BIOS sector, at bootup, in GRUB, it 
shows the still existent 16.04 installation, which I have now 
(regrettably) ceased using, as its EOL is due in two months. My 
understanding (and, I accept that I may be wrong in this) is that, on a 
system that has both UEFI and BIOS, when booting into UEFI, only the 
operating systems bootable in UEFI, are displayed in the GRUB menu, and, 
in booting in to BIOS, only the operating systems that were installed 
using the BIOS, are displayed in the GRUB menu. As I said, I accept that 
I may be wrong, in this understanding - there are far more knowledgeable 
people than me, about this.


-- 
Bret Busby
UArmadale
West Australia
(UTC+0800)
..............