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I was trying to install Ubuntu 16.04 on my laptop(Asus) but NOT with windows as I erased the full drive to be just for linux. I had the problem of GRUB which is: Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda Executing grub-install /dev/sda failed. This is a fatal error.

I tried to use boot-repair but it didn't work. so next I tried to remove all the partitions and create new ones and in the boot loader installation I added the exact location where the Ubuntu should be installed eg:/sdb1

problem now is that it finish the installation, tells me to restart the device but when I do, it boots from the USB and its like no operating system is there from the first place to boot from.

I checked my BIOS and if I remove the bootable USB it says NO BOOTABLE DEVICES and when I do put it back it can only see the USB.

If anyone knows please try to elaborate your solution in the best way as I am a bit new to these fixes

Thank you

Amr Mahmoud
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2 Answers2

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You probably installed with legacy mode and your computer doesn't know about legacy, it tries to boot in UEFI mode and searches for a UEFI/EFI partition. If it doesn't find a UEFI partition then it wouldn't boot like in your case. When partitioning a disk for Ubuntu , if you want it to be UEFI then you should create a partition for UEFI. For example i have a 300mb fat32 UEFI partition and i flagged it when partitioning.

An example UEFI partitioning:

  • 200-500MB FAT32 UEFI (This must be flagged)

  • --As much as you like--GB Ubuntu OS

  • --Usually twice as RAM--GB swap

In your case, you should boot from live cd/usb and partition your disk with GParted. In GParted, partition your disk with the example provided above and make sure you flagged your UEFI partition to boot and you are good to go. After partitioning turn off the live session and start the installation , if you did everything correct, you should not be selecting a mount point for bootloader. You can get more information from here. UEFI-Community

Ugur Akgul
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In my case - my problem was WHICH USB Flash drive boot entry I would choose. My ASRock UEFI boot selection had 2 entries:

USB - Flash drive

UEFI - USB Flash drive partition 1

Whenever I chose the first one (I guess this is what everyone is calling "LEGACY"), it would install, but then on boot, I was presented with a grub PROMPT, not even a menu of choices. So there really wasn't anything that I could do. However, if I choose the UEFI - USB Flash drive and then install, then everything works as expected.

Rand
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