Ubuntu 26.04 beta installer cannot create ESP (EFI System Partition) correctly

[lutingrong]

Ubuntu 26.04 beta installer cannot create ESP (EFI System Partition) correctly.

Boot with Ubuntu 26.04 beta live cd, invoke installer (/snap/bin/ubuntu-desktop-bootstrap), choose manual install, create ESP (EFI System Partition), there is only VFAT format to choose, set mount point to /boot/efi . the installer will create a new ESP (EFI System Partition) of type FAT32, if you delete the automatically created ESP, the install process cannot proceed, i.e. it's impossible to do a manuall install.

Hope this bug fixed when Ubuntu 26.04 release.

Thanks,
TR

 

[Trml]

How about you create it manually in the terminal and place some efi files into it? For example, simply copied from the iso. If it deletes a non-empty ESP partition, that's a bad bug that hopefully is reported already.

 

[Mauvve Knight]

Boot with Ubuntu 26.04 beta live cd, invoke installer (/snap/bin/ubuntu-desktop-bootstrap), choose manual install, create ESP (EFI System Partition), there is only VFAT format to choose, set mount point to /boot/efi . the installer will create a new ESP (EFI System Partition) of type FAT32, if you delete the automatically created ESP, the install process cannot proceed, i.e. it's impossible to do a manuall install.

As far as I understand you only can choose VFAT for ESP whilst the default format for ESP ought to be FAT32. You try to delete the newly created ESP which is the correct format, right?

The newly created ESP will get flags 'boot' and 'esp' and these are needed to boot your system. If you delete this partition the installation process isn´t able anymore to boot during installation.

I advise to keep the newly created ESP so you'll be able to install Ubuntu manually.

 

[lutingrong]

As far as I understand you only can choose VFAT for ESP whilst the default format for ESP ought to be FAT32. You try to delete the newly created ESP which is the correct format, right?

The newly created ESP will get flags 'boot' and 'esp' and these are needed to boot your system. If you delete this partition the installation process isn´t able anymore to boot during installation.

I advise to keep the newly created ESP so you'll be able to install Ubuntu manually.

Yes, if I don't delete the automatically created ESP, the install will proceed. But then it is only a half "manual" install , and the ESP can only be sda2 not sda1.

 

[lutingrong]

How about you create it manually in the terminal and place some efi files into it? For example, simply copied from the iso. If it deletes a non-empty ESP partition, that's a bad bug that hopefully is reported already.

If I don't delete the automatically created ESP, the install will proceed. The automatically created ESP will be written the efi boot staff , and the manually created ESP will leave empty and unmounted. The effective ESP can only be sda2 not sda1. So it's not a fully "manual" install.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

if you delete the automatically created ESP, the install process cannot proceed

If you delete ESP you need to create a new one, and format it with VFAT like @Mauvve Knight said.

formatting is not enough though, you need to let the installer know it is ESP partition, somewhere in the installer there should be "use partition as" option, then you specify ESP.
Otherwise the installer won't use it which is equivalent to not having one.

 

[lutingrong]

If you delete ESP you need to create a new one, and format it with VFAT like @Mauvve Knight said.

formatting is not enough though, you need to let the installer know it is ESP partition, somewhere in the installer there should be "use partition as" option, then you specify ESP.
Otherwise the installer won't use it which is equivalent to not having one.

I do manually created an ESP of VFAT type as sda1 at the first time, but the installer will not accept the manually created ESP and created a new ESP of FAT32 automatically as sda2. If I delete the automatically created ESP, i.e. sda2, the install cannot proceed, the "next" button is grey.

 

[lutingrong]

As far as I understand you only can choose VFAT for ESP whilst the default format for ESP ought to be FAT32. You try to delete the newly created ESP which is the correct format, right?

The newly created ESP will get flags 'boot' and 'esp' and these are needed to boot your system. If you delete this partition the installation process isn´t able anymore to boot during installation.

I advise to keep the newly created ESP so you'll be able to install Ubuntu manually.

The installer (/snap/bin/ubuntu-desktop-bootstrap) doesn't provide an option to set flags 'boot' and 'esp' .

 

[CaffeineAddict]

but the installer will not accept the manually created ESP and created a new ESP of FAT32 automatically as sda2.

Then the installer is trash, manual formatting shouldn't create any partitions automatically.

The installer (/snap/bin/ubuntu-desktop-bootstrap)

That sounds like some scripted installer, please use the actual installer from ISO.
Create bootable USB, plug it into computer and don't use snaps, scripts and similar

 

[Trml]

The installer (/snap/bin/ubuntu-desktop-bootstrap) doesn't provide an option to set flags 'boot' and 'esp' .

What you normally do to create an ESP manually is create a partition and set partition type as ESP (EFI system) in the partitioning tool (e.g. fdisk). Only then format it as VFAT/FAT32. I wonder if you did not set the partition type correctly, so that the installer did not recognise it as ESP.? If you did, it's a bug.

In case of a bug, you could work around be creating a first partition (sda1) with a regular Linux partition type, then let the installer run and create its partitions. You could move the ESP to your sda1 later.