Bootable device not found Ubuntu 16.04 - no option in BIOS to select an UEFI file

After several hours I finally found a solution, and I cant believe how mind boggling this was. This is what you should do for your Acer Aspire ES series if you want to install Ubuntu.

The main problem is that the BIOS is preventing you from booting anything up but UEFI compatible systems, such as Ubuntu.

  1. Start BIOS by pressing F2.

  2. Disable Secure Boot and change the order of the boot sequence to boot on USB. (My particular Laptop does not have a CD-ROM drive and requires USB as the only option.)

  3. Boot on USB and select to run Ubuntu in live test mode that allows you to get access to terminal commands.

  4. Open terminal and run sudo ubiquity -b to run the installation process for Ubuntu.

  5. Select "Something else" to customize your own partitions.

  6. Create the following partitions as a minimum:

    • The / to store the file system
    • The swap space
    • The UEFI space
  7. Install Ubuntu and press Continue Testing after installation is over.

  8. Mount newly installed file system into:

    sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
    sudo mkdir /mnt/boot/efi
    sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi
    for i in /dev /dev/pts /proc /sys; do sudo mount -B $i /mnt$i; done
    

    (where sda2 is the root partition and sda1 is the efi partition)

  9. Load efivars: sudo modprobe efivars.

  10. Reinstall GRUB:

    sudo apt-get install --reinstall grub-efi-amd64
    sudo grub-install --no-nvram --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda
    
  11. Update the installed GRUB:

    sudo chroot /mnt
    sudo update-grub
    
  12. Move and rename the installed bootloader:

    cd /boot/efi/EFI
    cp -R ubuntu BOOT
    cd BOOT
    cp grubx64.efi bootx64.efi
    

Thanks to Sladek90 for the grub tutorial here: Unable to install Ubuntu on Acer Aspire ES1-533


After above steps, I was stuck in 'Secure Boot Failed'.
Figured out below solution.

Step 1: Go to BIOS (by pressing F2 at startup)

Step 2: Turn ON Secure Boot (You might need to set BIOS password before doing this)

Step 3: Select an UEFI file as trusted for executing: HDD0 > EFI > ubuntu > shimx64.efi

Step 4: Add a description and confirm. Save BIOS settings and reboot.

If it doesn't work reset secure boot setting in BIOS

  1. Do Erase all secure boot settings, save settings by pressing F10.
  2. Restart.