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Yes I am trying to install Ubuntu to a USB external hard drive. I partition the drive and I put down install grub to the external hard drive so I did change this but for some reason it keeps installing grub to the internal drive. I'm trying to do this with 16.10 and I'm getting a little frustrated. I've tried to install it like three or four times and I keep telling it to install grub to the external drive but for whatever reason it wont do it. Can Ubuntu not be installed to a USB external drive?

This is an external hard drive not a small USB pin drive. Just to make this clear.

user618016
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It works like that in UEFI mode. It 'wants' to use the existing EFI partition in the first drive (usually the internal drive /dev/sda).

But if you unplug or disconnect the internal drive (and have no extra drive connected), the installer will be happy(?) to install grub into your target drive, the USB external hard drive. That is how I do it.

sudodus
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  • Yes that does make since it's just odd I've had no problem install Fedora 25 to an external drive. But I know each version of Linux is different so I will try and open up my laptop and disconnect the internal drive. Thank you for the advice it really helped a lot. – user618016 Dec 16 '16 at 20:08
  • You are welcome and good luck :-) – sudodus Dec 16 '16 at 20:12