16.04 new installation gives grub-efi-amd64-signed failed installation /target/ ubuntu 16.04 at the end

Question

I am installing Ubuntu 16.04 in an Intel NUC computer with UEFI enabled. I am using an SSD from another computer. During the installation I chose Erase the disk and make a new full install

At the end of the process I see:

grub-efi-amd64-signed failed installation /target/ Ubuntu 16.04 

And the system does not boot.

I tried to use boot-repair but apparently it does not solve the problem.

Answer 1

I had exactly the same issue installing 16.04 64 desktop on a new SSD with UEFI enabled using USB install media. Unlike in the question I chose to create my own partitions as I had other disks to mount. I hit this error near the beginning of the package installation.

After a bit of googling I found this page:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI#General_principles

which states in the General principles section:

if there was not any UEFI partition on your HDD, you first will have to create it

and points to:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI#Creating_an_EFI_System_Partition

Which states:

1. Mount point: /boot/efi (remark: no need to set this mount point when using the manual partitioning, the Ubuntu installer will detect it automatically)
2. Size: minimum 100Mib. 200MiB recommended.
3. Type: FAT32
4. Other: needs a "boot" flag.

So I reinstalled and when I came to partition my drive, I chose the EFI option from the list that includes filesystems and swap etc and made it 200MB at the start of the disk. I did not get to select the filesystem or set the bootable flag.

After this the rest of the install went fine.

Answer 2

By luck I solved my problem.

I booted with the live usb and called Disks, and manually deleted all partions of the SSD.

Then I rebooted with uefi enabled in the computer firmware. I entered the live usb Ubuntu desktop and from there I installed Ubuntu.

I checked the two boxes saying install updates and software from others. This time the installation went fine.

Answer 3

I had the same problem installing Ubuntu MATE 17.04. I was trying to make a dual boot alongside Windows 10. My Windows is on Legacy mode and the UEFI support was enabled in the BIOS settings. I went and disabled UEFI support and the installation completed flawlessly.Hope someone finds this useful.

Answer 4

You can also create a boot uefi partition, if the system allows it. I have the same problem, and unable the uefi is one option, and is more permanent, but I was in a run so I create the uefi boot partition: the option appears in the same option than /boot, in below

Answer 5

I faced the same problem when I tried to install mint 18 kde on a gigabyte motherboard. My problem was i was trying to boot from usb in Uefi mode.

You have too boot in compatibility mode. You most likely need to change some BIOS settings to do that. In my case I had to select "legacy only" in boot mode selection.

If you boot in compatibility mode you will get a screen that says automatic boot in 10 seconds then you will get a menu But if you boot in Uefi mode you will get the menu directly.

Answer 6

I faced the same issue. What worked for me, was during installation, when the installer asks you if you want to install in UEFI mode, tell it no. It should warn you of the repercussions of this, but having done it this route, I've faced no issues.

The other solutions I came across while researching this issue involved

• Rebooting the computer with the same (or another) live disc and running boot repair on the problem computer.
• Watching the install logs and turning off the computer when you see if installing GRUB just before the crash (I suppose this takes timing, though I highly recommend against this. You should always try to refrain from turning off a device while installing anything).

Answer 7

Had the same error message, turns out I had a corrupted directory in the EFI partition that was causing grub to give up at every install attempt.

fsck took way too long, so chkdsk from Windows quickly cleaned up the corruption and the second install went fine.

Answer 8

Got the exact same message and resolved it by simply connecting my computer to the internet (I was using a USB installer to install to a completely new machine with brand new SSD with nothing on it).

When connected, the installer can download any dependencies missing in the installer, as was required for my setup.

The giveaway it was a dependency issue and not a partitioning/disk issue was in the /var/log/syslog file. The message about Grub failing to install can mean a lot of things and generally you should check out /var/log/syslog to find out what the true problem is.

Answer 9

I found the above did not really work for me trying to install Ubuntu 16.04 onto a USB stick from another USB stick. After 2 days of heartache, this is what I did to get it going. This gave me a dual boot Windows 10 and Ubuntu installation on the same hard disk and in the process, solved this problem:

• Use a target hard disk and a source cdrom hardware to install from
• Download /burn to DVD windows 10 (generic for all versions) and ubuntu 16.04.3 versions. Ie 2 installation dvds are created.
• Boot into the live version of ubuntu without installing.
• Delete all partitions on the hard disk using ubuntu’s built in partition manager gparted.
• Boot into systems bios and ensure only EUFI is selected and legacy boot is turned off. Also change boot order to ensure system will first boot from the cdrom if available and disk as 2nd option.
• Insert windows disk and go ahead and install windows (I used windows 10 pro 64 bit) onto the hard drive. You do not need a license to do this – just say you do not have a license when prompted.
• Boot windows and make sure it works. I found it would not shutdown properly but this did not seem to matter. I also allowed windows 10 to go through it full update cycles though this likely did not matter. It just takes ages.
• Now boot again into the live ubuntu. This time use it to reduce the last data partition so as to create room for a ubuntu install. Just leave the free space unallocated. I needed windows anyway so left half the disk size for windows.
• Select the install app built into the ubuntu dvd. Choose option to install alongside existing windows os. I left the default options so as to have it create 2 partitions root and swap in the free space.

That was it. When I now boot I get a prompt to ask whether I want wnidows or ubuntu or ubuntu advanced with more options. I had spent ages playing around with booting from USB sticks but that cost me a whole 2 days. Using the cdrom and hard disk, old style, seems to have helped.

Answer 10

just for the record I faced the same issue by installing 16.04 on an Acer tmb117 I erased totally the internal disk using the live usb then rebooted and simply launched installation (standalone, no other system alongside Ubuntu) connection was turned off.