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I get this error when trying to install Ubuntu to ANY drive using a 2019 Macbook Pro 16-inch, whether it's on an external USB thumb drive, and external SSD, or the internal SSD. I tried installing to an external USB with 18.04, since that version doesn't recognize the the Apple NVME drive.

Sometimes the error is:

Skipping unreadable variable "Boot0000": Interrupted system call
Could not prepare Boot variable: Invalid argument
grub-install: error: efibootmgr failed to register the boot entry: Input/output error.

The USB stick is formatted as GPT with an EFI partition everything.

I'm trying install Ubuntu to this MacBook Pro with a more recent kernel, because the RE nvme driver was mailined in during kernel v5.4. However this error prevents installing and upgrading certain packages and they all spit out this error, no matter what I'm installing. Is this because Apple is doing something funky yet again?

I also tried focal fossa (20.04) which CAN recognize the Apple NVME drive and still get errors related to the *-signed packages (ie, shim-signed).

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Not exactly a fix, but more of a workaround. I deleted the ubuntu entry in the EFI partition and reinstalled focal (20.04) by booting into the "try ubuntu without installing" option and starting ubiquity in the terminal command line with sudo ubiquity -b to NOT install grub. Refind is able to boot Ubuntu without grub.

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  • Thanks! This helped! But I was wondering if you could get the MacBook keyboard and touchpad working with Ubuntu as well. Currently, I am using an external keyboard and a mouse. Oct 24, 2020 at 17:04
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    I made a guide that’s somewhat outdated now, but still should work, or at the very least get you most of the way there. gist.github.com/gbrow004/096f845c8fe8d03ef9009fbb87b781a4
    – SciGuy
    Oct 24, 2020 at 21:10
  • Oh @SciGuy, so you're gbrow004, it's an honor. :D I did actually find your article later, and it turned out to be very helpful. The only reason I had to move away was that wifi wasn't working. And I guess it's still a WIP? Not sure if it has already been solved. If it is, I will be the happiest person on the planet :D So please let me know. Oct 25, 2020 at 11:29

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