"The GRUB bootloader was previously installed to a disk that is no longer present..."

[Eduardo Aguilar Pelaez]

I'm on the 20.04 early testing group.
I've been using 20.04 for about a month.
Today when doing a normal software update
1 - the update-manager got stuck in an error message (see attached) and then
2 - prompted me saying that "The GRUB bootloader was previously installed to a disk that is no longer present..." (see attached)
3 - and when I selected that path because it's the only EFI partition I have and press 'Next'
4 - then a new dialog appears asking if I want to proceed without installing GRUB.
5 - when I untick that box and try to proceed trying to install GRUB it then takes me back to step (2) so I'm currently stuck in a loop.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: update-manager 1:20.04.5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-23.27-generic 5.4.29
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-23-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu26
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Fri Apr 10 16:10:48 2020
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-09-04 (218 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 19.04 "Disco Dingo" - Release amd64 (20190416)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: update-manager
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Julian Andres Klode (juliank)]

It's unclear to me what is happening here. I don't see any error message except for the ones about /dev, which are harmless, so this should be working after you selected the partition.

[Eduardo Aguilar Pelaez (edu-ap)]

Hi Julian,

The software update window showed me a link terminal interface to select a
partition and this time it worked. This happened yesterday.

Do you need me to describe that in the bug or do you have enough?

Best,

Eduardo

On Tue, Apr 14, 2020, 11:05 Julian Andres Klode <email address hidden>
wrote:

> It's unclear to me what is happening here. I don't see any error message
> except for the ones about /dev, which are harmless, so this should be
> working after you selected the partition.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1872100
>
> Title:
> "The GRUB bootloader was previously installed to a disk that is no
> longer present..."
>
> Status in update-manager package in Ubuntu:
> Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> I'm on the 20.04 early testing group.
> I've been using 20.04 for about a month.
> Today when doing a normal software update
> 1 - the update-manager got stuck in an error message (see attached) and
> then
> 2 - prompted me saying that "The GRUB bootloader was previously
> installed to a disk that is no longer present..." (see attached)
> 3 - and when I selected that path because it's the only EFI partition I
> have and press 'Next'
> 4 - then a new dialog appears asking if I want to proceed without
> installing GRUB.
> 5 - when I untick that box and try to proceed trying to install GRUB it
> then takes me back to step (2) so I'm currently stuck in a loop.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
> Package: update-manager 1:20.04.5
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-23.27-generic 5.4.29
> Uname: Linux 5.4.0-23-generic x86_64
> ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu26
> Architecture: amd64
> CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
> CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
> Date: Fri Apr 10 16:10:48 2020
> InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-09-04 (218 days ago)
> InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 19.04 "Disco Dingo" - Release amd64 (20190416)
> PackageArchitecture: all
> SourcePackage: update-manager
> UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+bug/1872100/+subscriptions
>

[solsson (solsson)]

I'm running 20.04 since March 28th, with full disk encryption alongside a Windows installation on EFI, and got the same error. Devices:

udev 7927804 0 7927804 0% /dev
/dev/mapper/nvme0n1p7_crypt 501578960 48651080 427379388 11% /
/dev/nvme0n1p6 267284 108360 138428 44% /boot
/dev/nvme0n1p1 262144 55704 206440 22% /boot/efi

The device selection in the `apt upgrade` prompt didn't exacly match these, as can be seen in the attachment.