Grub fails to install in a VirtualBox installation of Ubuntu MATE Groovy 20.10 Aug 01, 2020

[Jags Desai]

Grub fails to install in VirtualBox installation of Ubuntu MATE Groovy 20.10 Aug 01, 2020 64-bit.

Note: This is a duplicate bug report similar to one filed on July 06, 2020:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub-installer/+bug/1886580

Though I'm trying to install Ubuntu MATE Groovy in a VirtualBox installation, I like to make it clear that, this is a desktop PC with old-style BIOS (No UEFI at all).

Ubuntu MATE 20.10 daily live ISO I'm installing from is of Aug 01, 2020

VirtualBox version is: VirtualBox-6.1.97-139665-Linux_amd64, and it runs Ubuntu MATE 20.04 Focal with kernel version 5.7.11

Issue: When I first tried to install it with just two partitions (like I always have up until now),

(1) First EXT4 partition of 22GB, and
(2) Second SWAP partition of 3GB;

installer displayed:

Error-1:
"No EFI System Partition was found. This system will likely not be able to boot successfully, and the installation process may fail. Please go back and add an EFI System Partition, or continue at your own risk".

and upon clicking Continue, it displayed:

Error-2:
"The partition table format in use on your disks normally requires you to create a separate partition for boot loader code. This partition should be marked as a "Reserved BIOS boot area" and should be at leat 1 MB in size. Note that thi is not the same as a partition mounted on /boot.

If you do not go back to the partitioning menu and correct this error, boot loader installation may fail later, although it may still be possible to install the boot loader to a partition".

So I went back and created:
(1) EFI partition 1GB
(2) Reserved BIOS boot area partition 1GB
(3) / EXT4 partition 20GB
(4) SWAP partition 3GB

So even with "EFI" and "biosgrub" partitions, grub fails to install on either SDA/SDA1/SDA2/SDA3 with a message,

"Bootloader install failed: Sorry, an error occurred and it was not possible to install the bootloader at the specified location".

Thanks.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.10
Package: ubiquity 20.10.9
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-42.46-generic 5.4.44
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-42-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu43
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CasperVersion: 1.452
Date: Sat Aug 1 08:45:58 2020
InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu-mate.seed maybe-ubiquity quiet splash ---
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu-MATE 20.10 "Groovy Gorilla" - Alpha amd64 (20200801)
SourcePackage: grub-installer
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Jags Desai (jagsdesai)]

Imgur album with 3 screenshots:

https://imgur.com/a/sjMi756

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Sai Vinoba (saivinob)]

BIOS grub is not mandatory from my testing. However, if using, it has to be the first partition and need only be 1M. It should not be formatted. In your example you made it second partition (/dev/sda2).

So, for your test case, try the following partitioning scheme,
1) /dev/sda1, BIOS grub, 1M, no mount point
2) /dev/sda2, EFI System partition, 512M, /boot/efi
3) /dev/sda3, ext4, <root size as you wish/available>, /
4) /dev/sda4, swap, <swap size of choice> # This is not required now as Ubuntu uses swapfile.

OR, skip BIOS grub and try,
1) /dev/sda1, EFI System partition, 512M, /boot/efi
2) /dev/sda2, ext4, <root size as you wish/available>, /
3) /dev/sda3, swap, <swap size of choice> # This is not required now as Ubuntu uses swapfile.

P.S.: Instead of creating new bug report for same issue, you could use tags to include additional info like other distros/releases affected, or if that is not possible, just update comment.