Cannot install manjaro-kde-25.0.9-minimal-251003-linux612.iso in VirtualBox

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Calamares ends with error message The bootloader could not be installed. The installation command <pre>grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg</pre> returned error code 1.installing manjaro-kde-25.0.9-minimal-251003-linux612.iso to virtual disk.

calamares log

I use the default settings as suggested by Calamares: erase disk, no swap, btrfs

The virtual machine has 4GB RAM and 128GB disk.

Virtualbox machine’s vbox file 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
** DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE.
** If you make changes to this file while any VirtualBox related application
** is running, your changes will be overwritten later, without taking effect.
** Use VBoxManage or the VirtualBox Manager GUI to make changes.
**
** Written by VirtualBox 7.2.2 (r170484)
-->
<VirtualBox xmlns="http://www.virtualbox.org/" version="1.19-linux">
  <Machine uuid="{c1f918c2-e832-4e16-bc0a-1577fe75d065}" name="2509kdemin1003" OSType="ArchLinux_64" snapshotFolder="Snapshots" lastStateChange="2025-10-10T10:20:05Z">
    <MediaRegistry>
      <HardDisks>
        <HardDisk uuid="{f6575b6c-2007-4798-99eb-6b0731ff77ff}" location="2509kdemin1003.vdi" format="VDI" type="Normal"/>
      </HardDisks>
      <DVDImages>
        <Image uuid="{30303ee1-b6fc-4362-914e-8f8fd3f4bbca}" location="/home/freddy/VirtualBox_VMs/vshare/ISOboot/manjaro-kde-25.0.9-minimal-251003-linux612.iso"/>
      </DVDImages>
    </MediaRegistry>
    <ExtraData>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastCloseAction" value="PowerOff"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastGuestSizeHint" value="1440,900"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastNormalWindowPosition" value="1,30,720,453"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/ScaleFactor" value="2"/>
    </ExtraData>
    <Hardware>
      <Memory RAMSize="4096"/>
      <HID Pointing="USBTablet"/>
      <Boot>
        <Order position="1" device="DVD"/>
        <Order position="2" device="HardDisk"/>
        <Order position="3" device="None"/>
        <Order position="4" device="None"/>
      </Boot>
      <Display controller="VMSVGA" VRAMSize="16"/>
      <Firmware/>
      <BIOS>
        <IOAPIC enabled="true"/>
        <SmbiosUuidLittleEndian enabled="true"/>
        <AutoSerialNumGen enabled="true"/>
      </BIOS>
      <USB>
        <Controllers>
          <Controller name="OHCI" type="OHCI"/>
          <Controller name="EHCI" type="EHCI"/>
        </Controllers>
      </USB>
      <Network>
        <Adapter slot="0" enabled="true" MACAddress="0800277C2570" type="82540EM">
          <DisabledModes>
            <InternalNetwork name="intnet"/>
            <NATNetwork name="NatNetwork"/>
          </DisabledModes>
          <BridgedInterface name="enp3s0"/>
        </Adapter>
      </Network>
      <AudioAdapter codec="AD1980" useDefault="true" driver="ALSA" enabled="true" enabledOut="true"/>
      <SharedFolders>
        <SharedFolder name="vshare" hostPath="/home/freddy/VirtualBox_VMs/vshare" writable="true" autoMount="true" autoMountPoint="/home/vshare"/>
      </SharedFolders>
      <Clipboard mode="Bidirectional"/>
      <GuestProperties>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/HostVerLastChecked" value="7.2.2" timestamp="1760090344964817000" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Revision" value="170484" timestamp="1760090307348033000" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/Version" value="7.2.2" timestamp="1760090307347903000" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VersionExt" value="7.2.2" timestamp="1760090307347970000" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Product" value="Linux" timestamp="1760090307347648000" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Release" value="6.12.48-1-MANJARO" timestamp="1760090307347738000" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/ServicePack" value="" timestamp="1760090307347828000" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/GuestInfo/OS/Version" value="#1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri, 19 Sep 2025 16:11:04 +0000" timestamp="1760090307347785000" flags=""/>
        <GuestProperty name="/VirtualBox/HostInfo/GUI/LanguageID" value="en_US" timestamp="1760091605383269000" flags="RDONLYGUEST"/>
      </GuestProperties>
      <StorageControllers>
        <StorageController name="IDE" type="PIIX4" PortCount="2" useHostIOCache="true" Bootable="true">
          <AttachedDevice passthrough="false" type="DVD" hotpluggable="false" port="0" device="0"/>
        </StorageController>
        <StorageController name="SATA" type="AHCI" PortCount="1" useHostIOCache="false" Bootable="true" IDE0MasterEmulationPort="0" IDE0SlaveEmulationPort="1" IDE1MasterEmulationPort="2" IDE1SlaveEmulationPort="3">
          <AttachedDevice type="HardDisk" hotpluggable="false" port="0" device="0">
            <Image uuid="{f6575b6c-2007-4798-99eb-6b0731ff77ff}"/>
          </AttachedDevice>
        </StorageController>
      </StorageControllers>
      <RTC localOrUTC="UTC"/>
      <CPU count="6">
        <HardwareVirtExLargePages enabled="false"/>
        <PAE enabled="false"/>
        <LongMode enabled="true"/>
        <X2APIC enabled="true"/>
      </CPU>
    </Hardware>
  </Machine>
</VirtualBox>
2

From this log

2025-10-10 - 12:05:04 [6]: [PYTHON JOB]: "Bootloader: grub (bios)" 
2025-10-10 - 12:05:04 [2]: WARNING: [PYTHON JOB]: "Cannot install BIOS bootloader on UEFI installation when install_hybrid_grub is 'False'!"

This looks like the VM boots up in bios (legacy) mode. One can change this in the VM’s System settings by enabling EFI. You may also watch the video UEFI and BIOS in VirtualBox for more on this.

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