Bug#1002670: grub2-common: Unable to force MBR/embedding installation

[Steve McIntyre]

Hi Elliott,

On Sun, Dec 26, 2021 at 05:12:38PM -0800, Elliott Mitchell wrote:
>Package: grub2-common
>Version: 2.04-20
>Severity: important
>
>Hopefully the subject tells the tale.  Due to some odd hardware, I need
>to force `grub-install` to install the EFI version of GRUB into the
>MBR/boot area gap.  Unfortunately the documentation suggest none of
>`grub-install`'s options can get this result.  As a result I've got a
>problem.
>
>The background:  I'm trying to get GRUB installed on a very popular ARM64
>device which has a full Tianocore/UEFI image available.  Unfortunately
>while it is full Tianocore, the device lacks any private NVRAM and thus
>is unable to store EFI variables.
>
>`grub-install` tries to do a "normal" UEFI installation, which fails due
>to lack of EFI variables.  As a result I need GRUB to install in the
>MBR/GPT gap, but none of `grub-install`'s options appear to cause this.

What you're asking for here won't work; arm64 devices don't/can't use
the embedding MBR/gap style of GRUB installation - that's x86 only. Instead,
what you need is to do an EFI installation but with a couple of extra
options chosen. Run "dpkg-reconfigure -plow grub-efi-arm64" and say:

 * "yes" to "Force extra installation to the EFI removable media path?"
 * "no" to "Update NVRAM variables to automatically boot into Debian?"

and and you should be fine from now on.

-- 
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.                                steve at einval.com
There's no sensation to compare with this
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