package grub-common 2.02~beta2-36ubuntu3.12 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 1

[Abram Daniel]

Occurs at the start-up.

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: grub-common 2.02~beta2-36ubuntu3.12
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-87.110-generic 4.4.73
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-87-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.10
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Jul 23 00:42:12 2017
Df:

ErrorMessage: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-10-23 (1004 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
InvalidGrubScript: /etc/default/grub
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-87-generic root=UUID=b95555a1-181a-4876-a092-57a58ea3c0e1 rw splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.18.4ubuntu1.2
 apt 1.2.20
SourcePackage: grub2
Title: package grub-common 2.02~beta2-36ubuntu3.12 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2017-07-21 (2 days ago)

[Abram Daniel (adani802)]

This is a dist-upgrade from 14.04 LTS.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

Indeed it is. Looks like you hit one bug I was under the impression should already have been fixed some time ago in the migration process from some specific setup of grub on 12.04 we'd normally see migrating to 14.04, not 16.04. Was this system previously upgraded from 12.04 too?

The issue is definitely specific to your setup, in any case. Even seeing the grub install twice looks odd:

Installing for i386-pc platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: warning: File system `ext2' doesn't support embedding.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
Installation finished. No error reported.

Could you please run 'debconf-show grub-pc' and add the output to this bug report, after making sure it doesn't contain sensitive information?

I'm adding the 'bot-stop-nagging' tag here since this appears to be a failure with a package from proposed, but is not at all related to the stable updates being staged there since this is not an UEFI system.

If you're getting this kind of issue but didn't mean to test pre-release stable updates; please follow the steps (well, unchecking rather than checking checkboxes...) here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed

Thanks!

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for grub2 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]