Instruction for custom partitioning during Ubuntu install anywhare?

[Liam Proven]

On Sat, 22 Jan 2022 at 12:09, Bo Berglund <bo.berglund at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> That is because I didn't know...
> How can I find out?

One of the many things I dislike about UEFI is that almost every UEFI
version I have seen is totally different and unlike all the others.
:-(

Without seeing an HP UEFI, I have no idea what it looks like. I only
own 1 working HP machine (a Proliant Microserver G7 NL54), plus
another suspected-dead one), and it's old enough that it has a BIOS.

> And when I check with GParted I see this (note that I have shrunk the system
> partition and created a new home partition to which I copied the original data.
> Then I created a mountpoint for it in /home):

I think you have an option to start with the proposed partitioning and
modify it, don't you?

> So it looks like an UEFI system, lots of such info also in the "BIOS"

I suspect so, or at least one set to boot UEFI type disks first and
only then BIOS.

Whatever mode you boot the USB or DVD in, that's the mode it will
install in. You can't change it after the OS has booted.

> But it would be good to add to my notes *how* to do it correctly, though. What I
> find via Google does not mention this situation at all...

I think it's just too hard.

I will see if I can put together something on this for the Register,
or failing that my tech blog...

> As part of the first test I blew away Windows10, and now I have no way of
> re-installing it neither on this nor any future system. I do not have install
> media available and if I try to get it via my Windows PC it always gets to a
> page where I am steered towards upgrading my existing system to Windows11...

You can download an ISO for free from the MS page, and it is _easier_
with Linux. The licence key is embedded in the firmware so it will
auto-activate.

This is another reason Ventoy is useful. I urge you to try it.

> Right now there is only Ubuntu. But *if* I insert a bootable USB then it will
> boot that so it looks like USB then SSD.

This is a totally separate and unconnected question.

Yes, it is complicated. :-(

There are 2 separate sequences:

• What _type_ of boot method to try
• What order to look for and try bootable media

So the type of boot can be:
• UEFI only
• BIOS only
• UEFI boot then BIOS boot
• BIOS boot then UEFI boot

And the boot device sequence can be:

• internal fixed disks (if >1, with their own sequence)
• removable media drives  (e.g. optical drives, floppy drives; if >1,
with their own sequence)
• pluggable boot media (e.g. USB keys, external hard disks; if >1,
with their own sequence)

3+ types of media, 1-4 types of boot.

*Many* combinations.

> I think I saw during installation that it talked about installing grub on that
> partition..

I now suspect your machine has UEFI (from its newness and that NVMe is
a manufacturer option) and that it is set to boot UEFI type media
first or only (from the evidence that an install with no ESP would not
boot).
> >If the SSD is NVMe, you _must_ use GPT, but we covered that in our
>
> When I check via GParted/DeviceInformation it says:
> ...
> Size: 465.76 GiB
> Path: /dev/nvme0n1
> Partition table: msdos

Huh. Well, looks like the info I found from random people on the WWW is wrong!

Figures.

Then I don't know.

> Only way to find out, I guess, is to reboot and force it into BIOS using F10. I
> will do that a bit later and take pictures of each page as backup of the
> settings like they are now.

On my 2 UEFI machine, Mint and Ubuntu add an option to the GRUB menu
to enter UEFI options instead of booting an OS.

Other distros may or may not do this.


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