Ubuntu
ubiquity package

GUI installer overwrites MBR without asking

Bug #50912 reported by John Hand
This bug report is a duplicate of:  Bug #41579: GRUB always installed to MBR. Edit Remove
4
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
ubiquity (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: grub

In the previous release, Breezy 5.10, the Ubuntu installer was text-based.

When one was at the point where Ubuntu would overwrite the MBR with the Grub bootloader, it would list what OS's it has detected, and asks whether one wishes to install the bootloader.

When I installed the Dapper Drake, I noticed that there was no asking, which rather made me feel annoyed. What if I wished to keep my Lilo bootloader, and I had already added a booting configuration for Ubuntu for that?

There wass no warning, it just removed the MBR. I found this an evil similarity to Windows XP, and I think some explanitory page should be added in the next release of the GUI installer, so people can have the choice of installing the bootloader.

Revision history for this message
Gert Kulyk (gkulyk) wrote :

I can confirm this annoying behaviour. Grub should ask even in non-expert-mode, if MBR should be overridden.

Revision history for this message
Gert Kulyk (gkulyk) wrote :

It is rather the ubiquity-package than the grub one.

Revision history for this message
John Hand (nox) wrote :

Thanks, Gert. I had to go quite suddenly, so I didn't have time to find the correct package. Nice that you could confirm and clear it up :)

John.

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Thomas Hotz (thotz-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

I can also confirm this behaviour.

BUT: You used the Desktop- CD, so you have a graphical installer with this annoying bug.

The Alternate- CD ships the text- based installer! (like in Breezy)

Changed in ubiquity:
status: Unconfirmed → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
John Hand (nox) wrote :

That is correct, and I shall from here forth use the Alternate CD, yet I have up till now simply used the ShipIt service or downloaded the regular, as I can then pass it on to friends, who like all flashy stuff.

Also, people who might have installed Breezy before would expect it to ask, so they would not know that it simply overwrites, so they might lose their MBR without knowing, as they are simply waiting for it to ask, like I did. Heck, I even told one of my mates that it'd ask, which it did not.

I still think this should be changed, so it is asked about in the installer for the upcoming release.

~John

Revision history for this message
Thomas Hotz (thotz-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

I think Bug #41579 is the same as your bug. Can you confirm that John?

Revision history for this message
John Hand (nox) wrote :

I am afraid not, Thomas.

What Gord is describing is about _where_ grub is installed, not whether it is installed at all. I will, however, say that this is another reason as to why this should be added to the GUI installer, as it seems I am not the only one to lose a Bootloader or MBR. Gord wished to install the bootloader in /boot, not the MBR, whereas I simply wished for a prompt. Some people might not want grub installed, and I might be one of them some time, as I am going to install multiple Linux's again, and if Ubuntu is one of the later ones, I shall not want grub installed.

So, it's the same subject, not same bug. They could be merged to a request of a grub-configuation utility for the installer, however.

~John

Revision history for this message
Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote :

I expect to deal with this bug together with bug 41579, even though they aren't quite the same thing as you point out, so I'll make this a duplicate. Thanks for your report.

Revision history for this message
John Hand (nox) wrote :

RIghto, thankyou for your time.

~John

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