SOLVED: Dell XPS 13 9360 -- fatal error when trying to install grub on /dev/nvme0n1

[ytxmobile]

So I have got a brand new Dell XPS 13 9360 (pre-installed OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit).

I chose to install Ubuntu 16.04.2 in UEFI mode and create dual-boot with Windows 10.

I have changed RAID to AHCI, disabled secure boot, and disabled both fast boot in Windows 10 and in BIOS.

When I installed Ubuntu I encountered this error:

Unable to install GRUB in /dev/nvme0n1.
Executing 'grub-install /dev/nvme0n1' failed.
This is a fatal error.

I have tried even to create a separate ESP partition at the beginning of the free-space after the Windows partitions.

Any help appreciated.

[oldfred]

If you have Windows in UEFI mode, grub should be installing to the same ESP - efi system partition as Windows has used, if installing in UEFI boot mode.
You should not be installing in BIOS boot mode.

Grub does want to only install to drive seen as sda, but others have installed to NVMe drives, so it must somehow work.

You cannot have two ESP and use both, only one at a time is usable.

May be best to see details, you can run from Ubuntu live installer or any working install:
Post the link to the Create BootInfo summary report. Is part of Boot-Repair:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Info and:
https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/

(https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/)
Dell XPS 13 9360 Dualboot Windows 10 and Ubuntu 16.04 AHCI NVMe
http://askubuntu.com/questions/867488/dell-xps-13-9360-dualboot-windows-10-and-ubuntu-16-04?noredirect=1#comment1344306_867488
Ubuntu 16 on the DELL XPS15 9550 Tutorial
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2345444
Ubuntu 16.04 on Dell Xps 15 9550 (i7-6700HQ - 1TB SSD - UHD 4k touch)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2317843

XPS 13 9350 Windows reinstall & discussion of RAID vs. AHCI
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/3sr1jh/windows_10_clean_install_guide/
Install Ubuntu 15.10 on Dell XPS 15 2015 9550 with Nvidia 960
http://askubuntu.com/questions/736613/install-ubuntu-15-10-on-dell-xps-15-2015-9550-with-nvidia-960
https://samnicholls.net/2016/01/14/how-to-switch-sata-raid-to-ahci-windows-10-xps-13/
Dell support - Update on XPS 13/15 2016 Developer Edition availability
http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19670562?pi22229=9
http://www.dell.com/support/article/ca/en/cabsdt1/SLN301754/en
Kernel 4.6 has Dell & Alienware improvements including 9350
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-4.6-Laptop-Drivers
Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition New Kaby Lake 16.04 Sputnik
http://news.softpedia.com/news/dell-launches-its-new-ubuntu-powered-xps-13-developer-edition-laptop-in-us-eu-509039.shtml

(https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/)

[ytxmobile]

If you have Windows in UEFI mode, grub should be installing to the same ESP - efi system partition as Windows has used, if installing in UEFI boot mode.
You should not be installing in BIOS boot mode.

Grub does want to only install to drive seen as sda, but others have installed to NVMe drives, so it must somehow work.

You cannot have two ESP and use both, only one at a time is usable.

May be best to see details, you can run from Ubuntu live installer or any working install:
Post the link to the Create BootInfo summary report. Is part of Boot-Repair:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Info and:
https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/

(https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/)
Dell XPS 13 9360 Dualboot Windows 10 and Ubuntu 16.04 AHCI NVMe
http://askubuntu.com/questions/867488/dell-xps-13-9360-dualboot-windows-10-and-ubuntu-16-04?noredirect=1#comment1344306_867488
Ubuntu 16 on the DELL XPS15 9550 Tutorial
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2345444
Ubuntu 16.04 on Dell Xps 15 9550 (i7-6700HQ - 1TB SSD - UHD 4k touch)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2317843

XPS 13 9350 Windows reinstall & discussion of RAID vs. AHCI
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/3sr1jh/windows_10_clean_install_guide/
Install Ubuntu 15.10 on Dell XPS 15 2015 9550 with Nvidia 960
http://askubuntu.com/questions/736613/install-ubuntu-15-10-on-dell-xps-15-2015-9550-with-nvidia-960
https://samnicholls.net/2016/01/14/how-to-switch-sata-raid-to-ahci-windows-10-xps-13/
Dell support - Update on XPS 13/15 2016 Developer Edition availability
http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19670562?pi22229=9
http://www.dell.com/support/article/ca/en/cabsdt1/SLN301754/en
Kernel 4.6 has Dell & Alienware improvements including 9350
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-4.6-Laptop-Drivers
Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition New Kaby Lake 16.04 Sputnik
http://news.softpedia.com/news/dell-launches-its-new-ubuntu-powered-xps-13-developer-edition-laptop-in-us-eu-509039.shtml

(https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/)

I tried with setting the boot loader to be installed in the partition where Windows Boot Manager is located.
But I have got the same error as well:

Unable to install GRUB in /dev/nvme0n1p1.
Executing 'grub-install /dev/nvme0n1p1' failed.
This is a fatal error.

And I have tried https://samnicholls.net/2016/01/14/how-to-switch-sata-raid-to-ahci-windows-10-xps-13/, and found that this tutorial does not work for me -- I ended up with being unable to enter Windows 10 and had to perform a system reset (keeping my personal files).

I wonder if NVME really matters.


If you have Windows in UEFI mode, grub should be installing to the same ESP - efi system partition as Windows has used, if installing in UEFI boot mode.
You should not be installing in BIOS boot mode.

Grub does want to only install to drive seen as sda, but others have installed to NVMe drives, so it must somehow work.

You cannot have two ESP and use both, only one at a time is usable.

May be best to see details, you can run from Ubuntu live installer or any working install:
Post the link to the Create BootInfo summary report. Is part of Boot-Repair:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Info and:
https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/

(https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/)
Dell XPS 13 9360 Dualboot Windows 10 and Ubuntu 16.04 AHCI NVMe
http://askubuntu.com/questions/867488/dell-xps-13-9360-dualboot-windows-10-and-ubuntu-16-04?noredirect=1#comment1344306_867488
Ubuntu 16 on the DELL XPS15 9550 Tutorial
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2345444
Ubuntu 16.04 on Dell Xps 15 9550 (i7-6700HQ - 1TB SSD - UHD 4k touch)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2317843

XPS 13 9350 Windows reinstall & discussion of RAID vs. AHCI
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/3sr1jh/windows_10_clean_install_guide/
Install Ubuntu 15.10 on Dell XPS 15 2015 9550 with Nvidia 960
http://askubuntu.com/questions/736613/install-ubuntu-15-10-on-dell-xps-15-2015-9550-with-nvidia-960
https://samnicholls.net/2016/01/14/how-to-switch-sata-raid-to-ahci-windows-10-xps-13/
Dell support - Update on XPS 13/15 2016 Developer Edition availability
http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19670562?pi22229=9
http://www.dell.com/support/article/ca/en/cabsdt1/SLN301754/en
Kernel 4.6 has Dell & Alienware improvements including 9350
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-4.6-Laptop-Drivers
Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition New Kaby Lake 16.04 Sputnik
http://news.softpedia.com/news/dell-launches-its-new-ubuntu-powered-xps-13-developer-edition-laptop-in-us-eu-509039.shtml

(https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/)

And does that boot-repair work for nvme as well?

My partitioning and error message again:
273811
273812


If you have Windows in UEFI mode, grub should be installing to the same ESP - efi system partition as Windows has used, if installing in UEFI boot mode.
You should not be installing in BIOS boot mode.

Grub does want to only install to drive seen as sda, but others have installed to NVMe drives, so it must somehow work.

You cannot have two ESP and use both, only one at a time is usable.

May be best to see details, you can run from Ubuntu live installer or any working install:
Post the link to the Create BootInfo summary report. Is part of Boot-Repair:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Info and:
https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/

(https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/)
Dell XPS 13 9360 Dualboot Windows 10 and Ubuntu 16.04 AHCI NVMe
http://askubuntu.com/questions/867488/dell-xps-13-9360-dualboot-windows-10-and-ubuntu-16-04?noredirect=1#comment1344306_867488
Ubuntu 16 on the DELL XPS15 9550 Tutorial
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2345444
Ubuntu 16.04 on Dell Xps 15 9550 (i7-6700HQ - 1TB SSD - UHD 4k touch)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2317843

XPS 13 9350 Windows reinstall & discussion of RAID vs. AHCI
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/3sr1jh/windows_10_clean_install_guide/
Install Ubuntu 15.10 on Dell XPS 15 2015 9550 with Nvidia 960
http://askubuntu.com/questions/736613/install-ubuntu-15-10-on-dell-xps-15-2015-9550-with-nvidia-960
https://samnicholls.net/2016/01/14/how-to-switch-sata-raid-to-ahci-windows-10-xps-13/
Dell support - Update on XPS 13/15 2016 Developer Edition availability
http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19670562?pi22229=9
http://www.dell.com/support/article/ca/en/cabsdt1/SLN301754/en
Kernel 4.6 has Dell & Alienware improvements including 9350
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-4.6-Laptop-Drivers
Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition New Kaby Lake 16.04 Sputnik
http://news.softpedia.com/news/dell-launches-its-new-ubuntu-powered-xps-13-developer-edition-laptop-in-us-eu-509039.shtml

(https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/)

[SOLVED]
I deleted the partitions that I created manually. Then I used sudo dosfsck -t -a -w /dev/nvme0n1p1 (as of http://askubuntu.com/questions/862724/grub2-failed-to-install)
After running this command, I opened the Ubuntu Installer, and this time the option to "Install alongside Windows Boot Manager" shows up.
I chose that and the installation was successful.
But what should I do if I want to manually create the partitions?

[oldfred]

You should be able to create partitions.
Gparted after v24 supports NVMe partitions. And then use Something Else to install.
And you normally specify drive on where to install grub, and it finds ESP - efi system partition.

gparted should be at least version 0.24.0-1 to recognize NVMe devices
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/index.php
Filesystem support
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2318570

[ytxmobile]

I have GParted v25 in the Ubuntu Live image.

[oldfred]

I often also download the gparted ISO and use that for partitioning.
If you have a working install, then you can adjust partitions, from live installer or gparted ISO.

Gparted is at 0.28.1
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/index.php