Bug 1462564 - boot loader install failed
Summary: boot loader install failed
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED EOL
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: anaconda
Version: 27
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Linux
unspecified
unspecified
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Anaconda Maintenance Team
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2017-06-18 23:18 UTC by John Reiser
Modified: 2018-11-30 23:04 UTC (History)
8 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2018-11-30 23:04:48 UTC
Type: Bug
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)
/var/log/anaconda/anaconda.log from installed system (106.76 KB, text/plain)
2017-06-18 23:25 UTC, John Reiser
no flags Details
/var/log/anaconda/journal.log from installed system (1.60 MB, text/plain)
2017-06-18 23:26 UTC, John Reiser
no flags Details
/var/log/anaconda/program.log from installed system (87.80 KB, text/plain)
2017-06-18 23:27 UTC, John Reiser
no flags Details
/var/log/anaconda/storage.log from installed system (365.18 KB, text/plain)
2017-06-18 23:28 UTC, John Reiser
no flags Details

Description John Reiser 2017-06-18 23:18:48 UTC
Description of problem: Custom partitioning using standard partitions for install of Fedora 26 Beta on a bare-metal BIOS system (no UEFI), including a request to install a new boot loader, forgets to require a BIOS Boot partition.  Eventually the install fails with the message "boot loader install failed".


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
anaconda-26.21.9-1.fc26.x86_64


How reproducible: every time; 2 actual failures, with success on third attempt after creating a BIOS Boot partition


Steps to Reproduce:
1. Boot Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-26_Beta-1.4.iso to desktop on a BIOS-only (no UEFI) bare metal machine with gpt drives.
2. Click on Install fedora icon
3. Custom (manual) partition using standard partitions: reformat an existing ext4 partition as / (root); reformat an existing FAT partition (on the same drive) as /boot/grub2; request that a boot loader be installed to that drive. Exit Custom partitioning with no BIOS Boot partition present.

Actual results: Install gets nearly to the end ("Installing: 100%" and even farther) but fails with "boot loader install failed".  That's the only message that is displayed.  In fact the boot loader was never written to the MBR.


Expected results: successful install, including boot loader


Additional info: Succeeded on 3rd attempt after creating a 1MiB BIOS Boot partition.  Will attach /var/log/anaconda/*.log soon.

Comment 1 John Reiser 2017-06-18 23:25:15 UTC
Created attachment 1288937 [details]
/var/log/anaconda/anaconda.log from installed system

Comment 2 John Reiser 2017-06-18 23:26:49 UTC
Created attachment 1288938 [details]
/var/log/anaconda/journal.log from installed system

$ grep -n 'boot loader' journal.log
11302:Jun 18 03:04:57 f26p64b.local anaconda[3201]: Installing boot loader
11305:Jun 18 03:04:57 f26p64b.local anaconda[3201]: boot loader stage1 target device is sda
11306:Jun 18 03:04:57 f26p64b.local anaconda[3201]: boot loader stage2 target device is sda2
11623:Jun 18 03:05:25 f26p64b.local anaconda[3201]: bootloader.write failed: boot loader install failed
11634:Jun 18 03:05:32 f26p64b.local anaconda[3201]: Installing boot loader -- DONE

Comment 3 John Reiser 2017-06-18 23:27:40 UTC
Created attachment 1288939 [details]
/var/log/anaconda/program.log from installed system

Comment 4 John Reiser 2017-06-18 23:28:11 UTC
Created attachment 1288940 [details]
/var/log/anaconda/storage.log from installed system

Comment 5 Tadej Janež 2018-01-27 22:40:27 UTC
I've just hit this problem with a custom-formatted drive and a Fedora 27 install.

Anaconda should detect this, similarly as it detects when e.g. the root (/) partition is missing.

Comment 6 Nirmal Pathak 2018-10-03 14:23:31 UTC
I am facing same issue with installation of Fedora 29 Beta on external 1 TB HDD connected through USB port on Lenovo T400 laptop.

After creating BIOS boot partition the fresh installation worked.

Comment 7 Ben Cotton 2018-11-27 14:10:21 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 27 is nearing its end of life.
On 2018-Nov-30  Fedora will stop maintaining and issuing updates for
Fedora 27. It is Fedora's policy to close all bug reports from releases
that are no longer maintained. At that time this bug will be closed as
EOL if it remains open with a Fedora  'version' of '27'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version' 
to a later Fedora version.

Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we were not 
able to fix it before Fedora 27 is end of life. If you would still like 
to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it against a later version 
of Fedora, you are encouraged  change the 'version' to a later Fedora 
version prior this bug is closed as described in the policy above.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's 
lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events. Often a 
more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes 
bugs or makes them obsolete.

Comment 8 Ben Cotton 2018-11-30 23:04:48 UTC
Fedora 27 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2018-11-30. Fedora 27 is
no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further
security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of
Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version. If you
are unable to reopen this bug, please file a new report against the
current release. If you experience problems, please add a comment to this
bug.

Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.


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