New install, Home directory not populated

[kenearl]

I can successfully install Ubuntu 18.04 on a new sata hard drive, connected by a SATA-to-USB adapter. I was having issues with the SATA channels on my computer so this seemed to be a temporary work-around until I got the issues solved, or acquired another computer.

So, then I wanted to install Kubuntu on a second partition. That is really what I desire, and have been using for several years. I created the partition from a live install disk on a USB-connected SD card and installed it. Went to boot into that by removing the live disk and pressing ENTER as instructed. It went to command line emergency mode. I reboot into the install disk to look at the file system of the new install, and see that inside my home directory, there were only a few invisible files and one inv. folder. No Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc.

Next I reformatted the whole drive and tried installing just Kubuntu, on one partition. Same thing happened. I had went through this whole ordeal before, using a web-downloaded iso file but this last attempt was a torrent file. What can I do to solve this?

[kubicle]

I reboot into the install disk to look at the file system of the new install, and see that inside my home directory, there were only a few invisible files and one inv. folder. No Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc.

This is not a problem with the install (or the installer). These user data dirs are created/updated by xdg-user-dirs once the user logs in to the GUI (not by the install process), and from your description you never got that far?

There is obviously some problem with your install (but it isn't caused by the non-existence of the xdg directories, nor is it a symptom. It is quite normal they aren't there after installation...they are created once the user logs into the desktop for the first time)

[kenearl]

My bad, it wasn't command line emergency mode, but grub-rescue mode it went to on first boot attempt. So I tried fixing it there, using as guide this:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/2322...ub-rescue-mode

No joy there, it just came back to the same thing. So I tried using grub-repair from the live/install disk (the USB- connected SD card, where I'm currently booted to).
That didn't fix it either but here's the report it generated if that helps:
http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/6rr2YZg4gq/

But I think I may have found the problem, which is pretty odd. The last time I tried to boot into the new install, it was grub-rescue as before, but with an error about /boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.m?? not existing. I only have the screenshot on my smartphone, and the text goes off the end of the screen. This is a 64 bit PC.

So now, back in live mode, I see in /boot/grub/ a directory named i386-pc/ with 278 files in it. Could be I mistakenly downloaded the 32 bit ISO? I don't think so. The live/install disk is named Kubuntu 18.04.3 LTS amd64. And when I look into the root file system, there is a directory named x86_64-efi in boot/grub.

What gives?

[kubicle]

Could be I mistakenly downloaded the 32 bit ISO?

Unlikely (besides, a 32-bit iso should work fine on a 64-bit system, but isn't obviously optimal performance-wise).

/boot/grub/i386-pc/ refers to legacy bios boot grub install, while /boot/grub/x86_64-efi refers to EFI boot grub (which are you using?)

You can always google for "kubuntu install /boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod not found" or something similar to see if that comes up with any leads.

Also, did you originally install grub to /dev/sda1 instead of /dev/sda (by mistake) as the grub-repair output seems to indicate? (If yes, try to reinstall and make sure you install grub on /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1), and do you possibly have an old grub install on the MBR of /dev/sda that is now broken and fails to boot?

[kenearl]

/boot/grub/i386-pc/ refers to legacy bios boot grub install, while /boot/grub/x86_64-efi refers to EFI boot grub (which are you using?)

Oh, hmmm...this pc is not using EFI, it's an old duo-core with bios. So I guess I was barking up the wrong tree?

Also, did you originally install grub to /dev/sda1 instead of /dev/sda (by mistake) as the grub-repair output seems to indicate? (If yes, try to reinstall and make sure you install grub on /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1), and do you possibly have an old grub install on the MBR of /dev/sda that is now broken and fails to boot?

Grub was installed by the boot-repair utility. I'm reinstalling now, creating the partitions manually. Dev/sda is chosen for the bootloader, and sda1 will be /. Hope this works!