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Gonzalo Velasco avatar Ubuntu

Reinstalling Ubuntu the installer doesn't recognize the EFI partition

ng flag
Gonzalo Velasco

I'm quite new to Linux and when I have done an update on the Ubuntu 21.04 Hirsute Hippo, on restarting the system hasn't worked anymore. As I am not an expert I've thought that the most straightforward way to solve this would be reinstalling Ubuntu keeping all my data. These are the partitions in my Hard Drive, using sudo parted -l (right now I'm using Ubuntu from a live USB):

Model: SAMSUNG MZVLQ1T0HALB-000H1 (nvme)
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 1024GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  23.0GB  23.0GB  fat32              boot, esp
 2      23.0GB  1024GB  1001GB  ext4

As you can see, the first partition is a Boot, ESP (EFI System Partition), but when it comes to reinstalling Ubuntu, the installer tells me it doesn't recognize any EFI. It says: "No EFI system partition was found. This system will not be able to boot successfully, and the installation process may fail. Please go back and add an EFI system partition or continue at your own risk".

Although on the menu that appears when I "go back" from this alert, an interface of all the partitions, their type and the space they occupy, I can see a clearly defined partition as EFI. Even in the "Device for boot loader installation" toggle menu at the bottom I can select the EFI partition. Should I do that? Create a new EFI (is that even possible)? I'm not a software engineer so I would really appreciate not excessively abstract answers, although I will do my best to understand you :)

PS: if there's any tip on how I could avoid these problems when updating Ubuntu it will be well received too.

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oldfred avatar
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oldfred
First make sure you have good backups. You may need to run dosfsck: Details: https://askubuntu.com/questions/862724/grub2-failed-to-install/86587z682#865872 A few have had corruption and had to remove & recreate the ESP. With Ubuntu's Ubiquity in UEFI mode, none of the options on where to install grub work. They only work if installing in BIOS mode, which you do not want. You can check if mounted during install. It only shows mount after partitioning screen & about by screen where you enter password. Open terminal during install and see what this shows: `mount`
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HuHa avatar
es flag
HuHa
Another side note: Your ESP is much larger than it needs to be. You don't need 24 GB (!) for that; around 500 MB is plenty. A little above 512 MB (i.e. about 520 MB) is generally recommended to enforce FAT32, otherwise you might get FAT16.
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