Useless fat32 partitions

[mr_raider]

HAs anyone here done a recent install of 20.04 in legacy mode where you let the installer auto config everything to an empty drive?

I tried it with a couple of Ubuntu derivatives and for some reason it creates a fat32 partition and mounts it at /boot/efi (Ubuntu MAte and Linux Mint).

Pop OS does not do this. KDE Neon is still 18.04.

Anyone try Kubuntu? Default install in legacy mode.

[mr_raider]

Yup. Samething in Kubuntu. Seems to be a ubiquity bug. Will have to try a distro that uses Calamares:

[claydoh]

I am gonna guess that Ubuntu uses the /efi partition as the /boot partition for legacy installs, to stash grub's files perhaps? Note that there is no content in /boot/efi as there would be on a uefi install. I imagine it would simplify things, especially with install options that might require this, like ubuntu's optional zfs, or btrfs, or encryption (maybe?).

I don't see any docs on the topic but my google-foo is poor today.


Then again, why would it be mounted at /boot/efi and not just /boot?
Could this be unique to virtualbox or virtual machines in general? prob not likely

[mr_raider]

Happens on bare metal too. I came across the issue in a Mint forum where some poor guy had 3 512 "efi" partitions. He tried to wipe and reinstall his os a few times

I don't think grub is in there. It needs to reside in the MBR of a legacy install. I made legacy boot with a GPT Drive to test, and creates an efi partition and a grubbios partition where it stashes the bootloader.

I think the ubiquity devs said just screw it and make a 512mb fat32 partition no matter what. What purpose it serves on a msdos table disk is beyond me.

I know you can theoretically convert a MBR disk to GPT. But if you are smart enough to do that your probably using the manual partition option.

[claydoh]

I still can't find any bug reports or even mentions of this anywhere, so it well could be a new bug, and with so few legacy installs these days, no one has reported it.
This happens on Ubuntu as well so it is sort of universal to official 20.04 it seems.


And I am giving up, my research skills are awful today. I do find it odd no one has noticed this before, so I assume I am not looking in the right places.

[jglen490]

HAs anyone here done a recent install of 20.04 in legacy mode where you let the installer auto config everything to an empty drive?

I tried it with a couple of Ubuntu derivatives and for some reason it creates a fat32 partition and mounts it at /boot/efi (Ubuntu MAte and Linux Mint).

Pop OS does not do this. KDE Neon is still 18.04.

Anyone try Kubuntu? Default install in legacy mode.

I've never let the installer do anything that wasn't initially directed, and since gaining an understanding about UEFI never used Legacy install, either.

IMO the installer exists for the user's expression, and not the other way around, so letting it do its own thing never crossed my mind

[oshunluvr]

Sounds like the developers got sloppy and just decided to make the EFI partition regardless of boot mode.

Is 20.04 still using Ubiquity? I think so. KDEneon has switched to Calamares for the upcoming 20.04 release so maybe this won;t be a problem there. Not that it really is much a problem. The only time I let the installer make "decisions" is when making a VM.

[mr_raider]

Ok so I took my VM with installed kubuntu 20.04 and forcibly destroyed the fat32 partition and removed the entry from fstab.

Successfully rebooted the machine with no issues. So clearly grub does not reside in that little partition.

The only reason I can think of for teh existence of that partition in a legacy install, is to have a primary partition of some sort on the disk. This would allow the creation of an extended partion behind it which can contain the entire Linux installation. For some reason ubiquity now places the whole install inside an extended partion within a logical partition.

[oshunluvr]

I agree with your assumptions. GRUB would not use the EFI partition unless it was installed in EFI mode. I can only assume it was sloppiness on the part of the developer or configurator (is that even a word?) and that EFI partition is created by default rather than only when required.

As an aside - I have written extensively on this forum about the need to have a special partition for GRUB in the event one uses GPT partitioning rather than the older MBR partitioning. I can see from your first post that it has also defaulted to MBR. I'm sure that's to retain compatibility with older computers that may not support GPT. Too bad whomever is responsible for Ubiquity or the default install configuration has not bothered to just update the installer to offer the needed modern install options.

[mr_raider]

I agree with your assumptions. GRUB would not use the EFI partition unless it was installed in EFI mode. I can only assume it was sloppiness on the part of the developer or configurator (is that even a word?) and that EFI partition is created by default rather than only when required.

As an aside - I have written extensively on this forum about the need to have a special partition for GRUB in the event one uses GPT partitioning rather than the older MBR partitioning. I can see from your first post that it has also defaulted to MBR. I'm sure that's to retain compatibility with older computers that may not support GPT. Too bad whomever is responsible for Ubiquity or the default install configuration has not bothered to just update the installer to offer the needed modern install options.

You want to see more wonkiness?

In the event that you install in legacy mode on a GPT disk, you need to create biosgrub partition which containes the core image.

So I took gpt disk that had an efi install already. Switched the boot mode back to legacy. Asked the installer to do a full erase install. Here is ther result:



It left the old EFI partition from the UEFI install. It created a new fat32 partition which it decided to mount at /boot/efi. And then it shoved in grub in between the two.

[mr_raider]

So good news is Lubuntu 20.04, which uses QT and the Calamares installer has retained some sanity. It also explicitly shows you the boot mode (legacy/uefi) and partition table (msdos/gpt) in install screen.

Looks Neon is safe from this. ANyone want to try Pop OS? It uses it's own installer and the systemd bootloader, not grub.

[oshunluvr]

I experienced that same thing when I bought a new laptop with Windows 10 on it. I needed to keep the Windows install for warranty reasons so I installed Linux along side. What a mess! I assumed it was my fault because I'd never tried to use EFI before that. Took some time to unscrew that mess.