Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Installer ignores bootloader install location in dual boot scenario

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
    #1

    Installer ignores bootloader install location in dual boot scenario

    I am having an issue with the Kubuntu installer for 23.04 ignoring my choice of bootloader location. I have a dual boot scenario where i have two drives. One drive contains a windows installation, and the other is completely empty and is the place I want to put my Kubuntu Install. I go through the installer, and select manual partition. I create an EFI partition, swap partition, and a root partition for Kubuntu. I then select the correct drive that i want the bootloader to install to. The installation completes just fine, but when I reboot, the bootloader has been installed to my Windows drive rather than the one i specified for Kubuntu on its own drive. I know that the bootloader was installed to the wrong location in 2 ways. First, my motherboard list the devie name for bootable media, and both windows and Kubuntu showed up on the same device(the 2 disks i have are different models). Second, In windows I mount both EFI partitions on the two drives and look at their partitions. I see the BOOT and ubnuntu folder on my windows EFI and not in the Kubuntu EFI which is entirely empty. I have gone through process of wiping and reinstalling 3 times now taking extra care to make sure i have the correct bootloader device selected. It seems like the installer is just ignoring my choice, and putting the EFI onto my Windows partition.

    After looking around for awhile, i found a bug report going back to 2014:
    Bug #1396379 “installer uses first EFI system partition found ev...” : Bugs : ubiquity package : Ubuntu (launchpad.net)

    It has remained unfixed for years and appears to be related to the ubiquity installer.

    Is there any way to get around this issue?

    There seems to be some chatter that the flutter installer(Ubuntu's new installer) does not have this issue. Will Kubuntu be moving to this installer at a later date?​


    Tags: None
    • Top
    • Bottom
    #2
    Originally posted by aragorn238 View Post
    I create an EFI partition,
    Did you set that partition as /boot/efi (EFI System Partition)?
    When selecting the boot loader location, did you choose a partition (/dev/sda1, for example) or the device (/dev/sda -- no number at the end)?
    I know some tutorials have you select the partition, but I have always selected the drive when dual booting on multiple drives and multiple EFI partitions like you are attempting.
    But I have not done a fresh install with this sort of setup in a while (20.04), so it well could have changed.

    Originally posted by aragorn238 View Post
    Will Kubuntu be moving to this installer at a later date?​
    Who knows. I would not bank on it, at least not soon. I don't know what would be involved in getting this on Kubuntu, in terms of look and feel. There has been no discussion I can find on this.
    I have a feeling it won't, for a long while.
    (Lubuntu actually has moved to Calamares, so doesn't even use ubiquity, though it could have used the same ubiquity-kde as Kubuntu does, IIRC.)
    • Top
    • Bottom

    Comment

      #3
      Originally posted by claydoh View Post
      Did you set that partition as /boot/efi (EFI System Partition)?
      Yes, I created a 512Mb ( I know rather large) partition and set it to be an EFI system partition. The installer wont let you set mount points for these partitions so im trusting it mounted it properly to /boot/efi.

      I was able to workaround this issue by following this post. Dual Booting win 10 and Ubuntu 18.04 on two separate physical ssds - Ask Ubuntu​. Essentially, you have to remove the flag ESP and Boot flags from the Windows EFI partition. Then perform the installation as you would normally for Kubuntu. Then when its installed, reneable the ESP and BOOT flags. I had to install Gparted since the KDE partition manager wouldn't expose the ESP flag, just the Boot flag.

      While the workaround is not so bad, I think it's kind of ridiculous that the installer will just pick the first ESP partition it sees and ignore the location set by the user for the bootloader install. Especially considering how old this bug is(2014). Users shouldn't have to twiddle partition flags just to get the ubiquity installer to do what its supposed to do.
      • Top
      • Bottom

      Comment

        #4
        Same bug here - several installation processes of different distributions do this, unfortunately.

        Originally posted by claydoh View Post
        […] When selecting the boot loader location, did you choose a partition (/dev/sda1, for example) or the device (/dev/sda -- no number at the end)?
        I know some tutorials have you select the partition, but I have always selected the drive when dual booting on multiple drives and multiple EFI partitions like you are attempting. […]
        Neither one has ever made any difference for me after installation regarding the problem of the OP.
        Nor does removing the boot flags…

        The workaround for me is
        1. to get the UUID of the "right" EFI partition you want Kubuntu to use (e.g. with lsblk -f).
        2. Then in /etc/fstab change it accordingly with e.g. Kate, nano or vi (I always recommend to make a backup of important system files before modifying them: sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.orig).
        3. After this unmount the "wrong" EFI partition with sudo umount /boot/efi, mount the correct one with sudo mount -av (after you have changed /etc/fstab, of course), check that it is the "right" one now and install GRUB manually to this correct EFI partition and sudo update-grub to be sure.
        4. Check that Kubuntu boots without problems, mount the "wrong" EFI partition somewhere (e.g. sudo mkdir /mnt/wrong_efi && sudo mount /dev/path_to_wrong_EFI /mnt/wrong_efi), delete the (K)ubuntu directory(ies) from /mnt/wrong_efi/EFI and unmount it again with sudo umount /mnt/wrong_efi.
        Last edited by Schwarzer Kater; Apr 23, 2023, 02:37 AM.
        Debian KDE & LXQt • Kubuntu & Lubuntu • openSUSE KDE • Windows • macOS X
        Desktop: Lenovo ThinkCentre M75s • Laptop: Apple MacBook Pro 13" • and others

        get rid of Snap script (20.04 +) • reinstall Snap for release-upgrade script (20.04 +)
        install traditional Firefox script (22.04 +)​ • install traditional Thunderbird script (24.04)​
        • Top
        • Bottom

        Comment

          #5
          Dual-booting: How to Use Multiple ESPs

          To Do:
          Install two Linux OSs, dual or multi-booting, where each of the two OSs has its GRUB2-EFI boot files in its own, separate ESP.

          Solution:
          Set up the ESPs and the OS partitions you need, using your partition editor.
          Install each of the two new OSs, in sequence, with this procedure:
          Turn off all ESPs except for the ESP you wish to make a dedicated ESP for the OS you are about to install now.
          Then do the installation using the Manual installation method. Turn on all ESPs and re-boot to test everything.

          ​Comment: Should work with Windows, too.

          My how-to, here:
          https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum/...l=1#post539379
          An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
          • Top
          • Bottom

          Comment

            #6
            In theory: yes. And sometimes: yes.
            But at least for me with many installers that has not worked, too…

            And I would not ever dare trying this with the new buggy Ubuntu (not Kubuntu) installer! *lol*
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAZPMbMjWBM
            Last edited by Schwarzer Kater; Apr 23, 2023, 02:01 PM. Reason: clarified the last sentence
            Debian KDE & LXQt • Kubuntu & Lubuntu • openSUSE KDE • Windows • macOS X
            Desktop: Lenovo ThinkCentre M75s • Laptop: Apple MacBook Pro 13" • and others

            get rid of Snap script (20.04 +) • reinstall Snap for release-upgrade script (20.04 +)
            install traditional Firefox script (22.04 +)​ • install traditional Thunderbird script (24.04)​
            • Top
            • Bottom

            Comment

              #7
              In theory: yes. And sometimes: yes.
              But at least for me with many installers that has not worked, too…

              And I would not ever dare trying this with the new Ubuntu installer! *lol*​
              If that's true, then that is a real problem. The idea of an ESP started out simple enough: Fat32, mark it as boot in a UEFI system. (Even then, users have their 'issues' with the ESP and UEFI). But now to screw around with what makes an ESP an ESP, (or how an ESP is recognized), that should be a felony! The game becomes ... find a workaround ... more unnecessary complexities.
              An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
              • Top
              • Bottom

              Comment

                #8
                Well, the last time that happened was last Thursday when Kubuntu 23.04 was released:
                There are three different drives in my desktop computer and one single EFI partition on each drive.
                I did a clean install of Kubuntu 23.04 on a partition of drive no. 2 (manual installation, of course), the EFI partition of drive no. 2 was marked to be /boot/efi, the EFI partitions of drive no. 1 and drive no. 3 were disabled.

                After the installation process the installer had set /boot/efi to the EFI partition of drive no. 1 - the marked EFI partition of drive no. 2 was ignored…
                I had to use the workaround mentioned in post #4 above again - I am used to it…

                The only installers that have always worked reliably for me in this regard are the ones of SUSE Enterprise Linux/openSUSE and RHEL/Fedora Workstation (and "the Arch way" ).
                I "think" I can remember that in some occasions Ubiquity and Calamares worked with multiple drives/EFI partitions, too - but I cannot recall the circumstances or with which distributions that was the case…
                Last edited by Schwarzer Kater; Apr 23, 2023, 02:07 PM.
                Debian KDE & LXQt • Kubuntu & Lubuntu • openSUSE KDE • Windows • macOS X
                Desktop: Lenovo ThinkCentre M75s • Laptop: Apple MacBook Pro 13" • and others

                get rid of Snap script (20.04 +) • reinstall Snap for release-upgrade script (20.04 +)
                install traditional Firefox script (22.04 +)​ • install traditional Thunderbird script (24.04)​
                • Top
                • Bottom

                Comment

                  #9
                  Thanks for your feedback SK. I studied post 4: kind of difficult for many people; but I can see how eventually one would begin to memorize it (unfortunately)!
                  But, what a hassle. Shame on the 'gods that be' for taking such a simple thing and mangling it.
                  When I wrote that how-to, I got advice from Rod Smith; and then I tested it extensively with Kubuntu and a few distros -- no problems.
                  I wonder what Rod Smith is saying about this issue these days? If I can find time, I'll check his website or write to him and ask.
                  Thanks SK.
                  An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
                  • Top
                  • Bottom

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Qqmike View Post
                    Dual-booting: How to Use Multiple ESPs

                    To Do:
                    Install two Linux OSs, dual or multi-booting, where each of the two OSs has its GRUB2-EFI boot files in its own, separate ESP.

                    Solution:
                    Set up the ESPs and the OS partitions you need, using your partition editor.
                    Install each of the two new OSs, in sequence, with this procedure:
                    Turn off all ESPs except for the ESP you wish to make a dedicated ESP for the OS you are about to install now.
                    Then do the installation using the Manual installation method. Turn on all ESPs and re-boot to test everything.

                    ​Comment: Should work with Windows, too.

                    My how-to, here:
                    https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum/...l=1#post539379
                    Those are the steps I followed to get my dual boot system with 2 disks working.

                    Thanks for posting that in a nice format!
                    • Top
                    • Bottom

                    Comment

                      #11
                      aragorn238 👍👍
                      An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
                      • Top
                      • Bottom

                      Comment

                      Previous template Next
                      Working...
                      X