Comment 2 for bug 389194

Thanks for your feedback.

I don't recall the Ubuntu CD telling me where it was going to install GRUB.
So I must have missed it. I think the installation should ask instead of just
"guessing" or defaulting. That shouldn't be particularly hard to implement.

And I had no idea that there was a special tool for installing to a
USB device. Maybe when you click on the Install
icon it should alert you. And btw, "USB startup
disk creator" really shouldn't say "disk", as it
could be a flash drive, for example.

At 07:51 PM 7/8/2009, you wrote:
>For this particular case, (1) the Ubuntu LiveCD install does say GRUB
>will be installed on hd(0) - but you should be forgiven for not knowing
>that means your Windows hard drive. (2) there is a special tool for
>installing to a flash drive under "system->administration->usb startup
>disk creator" and when using that tool, grub should definitely _not_ be
>installed on your hard drive.
>
>The whole process of installing GRUB is seriously broken when there is
>_any_ choice of device or partition. The root partition/device is
>identified with this cryptic hd([0-9]) or hd([0-9],[0-9]) notation that
>has zero correlation with the /dev/[hs]d[a-i] notation or the Windows
>[A-Z]: notation - and changes from boot to boot and depends on how the
>disks are labeled or relabeled by the installation process. On top of
>that, the root is really identified by UUID, which yet a third notation.
>The most frustrating part is that when it fails it does it right near
>the end of the installation and it's a fatal error, so it doesn't do the
>final cleanup that follows the grub installation - so you can't just run
>grub-install until you get it right. For the most recent installation I
>did, grub wasn't able to find the boot disk until I physically unplugged
>all the RAID disks from the system - it loses it's way trying to parse
>raid5 partitions. It's really icky and not a good initial impression for
>Ubuntu (Why does Firefox suggest Unburnt, Subunit, Bunting, Bunt and
>Urbanite as proper spelling? that's another paper-cut) at all, but I
>fear it's way too hard to fix all this as a little paper-cut.
>
>For Ubuntu, why does Firefox suggest Unburnt, Subunit, Bunting, Bunt and
>Urbanite as proper spelling? That's another paper-cut!
>
>--
>Poor choice of device for installing GRUB
>https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/389194
>You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
>of the bug.
>
>Status in One Hundred Paper Cuts: New
>Status in “ubiquity” package in Ubuntu: New
>
>Bug description:
>My laptop runs Windows. But I booted up a Ubuntu
>LiveCD and installed to a Flash Drive.
>Surprisingly, GRUB got put onto my Windows hard
>drive instead of my Flash Drive. This was
>absolutely not what I'd expect, because one
>reason for installing to a USB device is to be
>able to have a portable Ubuntu installation.
>After Googling for a while I found out that I
>had to use the "Advanced" button to select a
>different location for installing GRUB.
>
>It would be much more new-user-friendly if the
>step where you choose the device on which to install Ubuntu would
>(1) automatically select the device you're
>installing to as the place to put GRUB
>AND
>(2) Output a message something like "GRUB will
>be installed on <your device>. Use the "Advanced" button to specify
>a different location."
>
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>Version: 8.5.375 / Virus Database: 270.13.8/2224
>- Release Date: 07/08/09 05:53:00