There's an easier WORKAROUND in case you have no space for an extra EFI partition.
First of all a resume of the issues related to 'EFI on BIOS'. The system itself get installed. Problem is that Ubiquity thinks that an ESR (EFI) partition is needed even on computers with BIOS. And it does installs grub, but on the USB install device. This because it finds an EFI partition in the USB device and automatically selects it bug #1924823 It's still possible to boot the installed system just keeping the USB device connected to computer. The WORKAROUND works like this: boot the system, modified /etc/fstab, remove grub-efi* package and re-installed grub-pc. HERE ALL THE STEPS: 1. Make sure 'first boot from hard disk' is set in the BIOS settings. 2. Connect the USB installer device and start the computer. 3. Open /etc/fstab and comment the line related to /boot/efi: sudo -H gedit /etc/fstab 4. find a line like this: UUID=BF7E1-08E7 /boot/efi vfat umask=0077 0 1 5. put the character # at the beginning of the line: #UUID=BF7E1-08E7 /boot/efi vfat umask=0077 0 1 6. Save the file and exit from gedit. 7. Un-mount e mount the partitions: sudo umount -a && sudo mount -a 8. Uninstall all grub-efi related packages: sudo apt purge grub-efi* 9. Reinstall grub-pc: sudo apt install --reinstall grub-pc -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1893964 Title: Installation of Ubuntu Groovy with manual partitioning without an EFI System Partition fails on 'grub-install /dev/sda' even on non-UEFI systems To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1893964/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
