Zorin OS 9 RC UEFI Install not Working

Hi,

I installed Zorin OS 9 RC in EFI mode. However it looks like something is missing. It boots in EFI mode from /EFI/zorin/grubx64.efi. However all I get is a grub> prompt. No boot menu. What can I do to make this function correctly?

Hi, and welcome to Zorin!

Can we start from here please?:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5449

and also whether you are intending to have this as the only operating system or dual-booting with Windows.

Many thanks.

1. I built it myself so it's not a name brand.
2. 16G of RAM
3. Installed on its own dedicated SSD as the only drive in the system
4. I let the install partition the drive
5. AMD R9 280x
6. Onboard Gigabit NIC
7. I used unetbootin to create a Live USB drive, and it booted and ran fine.
8. Zorin OS 9 RC

Once it is up and running I would like to dual boot from UEFI.

Hi, Please take a look at this guide:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

I tried the sixty four bit zorin today and it does not work with UEFI support, i tried 5 different tools to create a UEFI boot disk of it and none of them worked, I read the ubuntu forum post and it offers no solution except to remind
me that if I have a UEFI windows install, than Linux needs to be installed UEFI as well in order to work with it in dual boot mode.
Can a resolution be created soon ? Please ?

Hi, I 'think' this should help you out - if not then I am stumped!

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6075

In particular go to the YouTube vid at the top!

Joncolby wrote:I tried the sixty four bit zorin today and it does not work with UEFI support, i tried 5 different tools to create a UEFI boot disk of it and none of them worked, I read the ubuntu forum post and it offers no solution except to remind
me that if I have a UEFI windows install, than Linux needs to be installed UEFI as well in order to work with it in dual boot mode.
Can a resolution be created soon ? Please ?

I tried the same as well. Was not able to get it to boot into Zorin. I tried creating the repair disk and it just boots to a blank screen after the boot menu. I know it's booting using EFI because I can manually drop to the EFI shell and then browse to the EFI/zorin folder. However when you execute the grubx64.efi file it just drops you to a grub> prompt. Like I mentioned earlier in the post, it's as if something is missing to point it to where it needs to boot from. There has to be some major Linux gurus out there that know a simple fix for this.

On another note, I've installed other Linux distros using EFI and have not had any issues. It just works out of the box after install. Zorin, no so much. It's a shame too, I really, really like this distro.

trongod05 wrote:

Joncolby wrote:I tried the sixty four bit zorin today and it does not work with UEFI support, i tried 5 different tools to create a UEFI boot disk of it and none of them worked, I read the ubuntu forum post and it offers no solution except to remind
me that if I have a UEFI windows install, than Linux needs to be installed UEFI as well in order to work with it in dual boot mode.
Can a resolution be created soon ? Please ?

I tried the same as well. Was not able to get it to boot into Zorin. I tried creating the repair disk and it just boots to a blank screen after the boot menu. I know it's booting using EFI because I can manually drop to the EFI shell and then browse to the EFI/zorin folder. However when you execute the grubx64.efi file it just drops you to a grub> prompt. Like I mentioned earlier in the post, it's as if something is missing to point it to where it needs to boot from. There has to be some major Linux gurus out there that know a simple fix for this.

On another note, I've installed other Linux distros using EFI and have not had any issues. It just works out of the box after install. Zorin, no so much. It's a shame too, I really, really like this distro.

Hi, It has been shown lately that EFI is not what it is all cracked up to be:

http://beta.slashdot.org/story/189779

You should try the method I pointed to in my previous post on this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7777#p37745

Swarfendor437 wrote:

trongod05 wrote:

Joncolby wrote:I tried the sixty four bit zorin today and it does not work with UEFI support, i tried 5 different tools to create a UEFI boot disk of it and none of them worked, I read the ubuntu forum post and it offers no solution except to remind
me that if I have a UEFI windows install, than Linux needs to be installed UEFI as well in order to work with it in dual boot mode.
Can a resolution be created soon ? Please ?

I tried the same as well. Was not able to get it to boot into Zorin. I tried creating the repair disk and it just boots to a blank screen after the boot menu. I know it's booting using EFI because I can manually drop to the EFI shell and then browse to the EFI/zorin folder. However when you execute the grubx64.efi file it just drops you to a grub> prompt. Like I mentioned earlier in the post, it's as if something is missing to point it to where it needs to boot from. There has to be some major Linux gurus out there that know a simple fix for this.

On another note, I've installed other Linux distros using EFI and have not had any issues. It just works out of the box after install. Zorin, no so much. It's a shame too, I really, really like this distro.

Hi, It has been shown lately that EFI is not what it is all cracked up to be:

http://beta.slashdot.org/story/189779

You should try the method I pointed to in my previous post on this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7777#p37745

To be honest that doesn't seem like a solution to this issue. I believe this guy has the right idea. http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions ... mpt-no-gui.

Issue this command at the boot> prompt.

Code:

configfile (hd0,2)/boot/grub/grub.cfg

Then once booted, add the above line of code to the EFI/zorin/grub.cfg file.

OK glad you found a solution - my own personal opinion is EFI is over-rated - and at the end of the day its real aim was DRM - let's not get bogged down in that argument though!

I'm having the same problem with Zorin OS 9 Core. I'm not dual booting, just trying to get Zorin up and running on it's own. Ubuntu 14.04 works just fine when I install it. I can get Zorin to boot from grub promt by typing configfile (hd0,2)/boot/grub/grub.cfg but would like to get it to boot without having to do this each time. I added that line of code to the bottom of the EFI/zorin/grub.cfg file with no change. Any ideas? Thanks.

Just an FYI, I was never able to get this working. I ended up abandoning it after I saw no one was interested in getting it to work. You would think maybe the devs would take a look at these boards once in a while to see what is not working. I also wonder if the paid supported version has a solution somewhere.

Hi, wonder if this might help?:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8106&p=39538&hilit=EFI#p39148

That topic appears to be for just booting the install media from EFI. This topic has to do with the fact that the OS will not boot from EFI even though it was installed in EFI mode.

I was wondering if EFI is put on USB and OS installed form USB that it might install EFI - pure guesswork on my part as I don't have a machine with that type of BIOS!

I did install from USB. The problem is not that EFI doesn't get installed, the problem is that when it tries to boot from EFI there's some sort of linkage missing to tell EFI where to boot from. At least that's the way I'm tracking it down. I'm really surprised that none of the devs peak their head into this forum to check this problem out. Either that or this distro is not that popular for anyone to care.

Might I suggest then that you PM AZorin and zorink accordingly - they are the people behind the distro - you may also like to try and contact them from their contact link on the main page. Hope you get an answer!

Hi everyone
When I need to make a bootable usb pen with zorin os and efi I use Rufus and remember only 64b works. Download Rufus from the link below. For me it has been working 9 out of 10 times. You need to install Rufus in windows of course good luck
http://rufus.akeo.ie/

I have tried all these things without success.

In January 2015, I bought a brand new Asus H97+ motherboard and disabled the UEFI Mode via the BIOS. I easily installed Zorin 9.0 64-bit that was created using the most recent version of Unetbootin on a backup PC with Zorin 8.1 (8.1 was not more than 1.5 years old).

After running Zorin 9.0 by itself perfectly for 6 months, I needed to install Windows 7 on the Asus H97+ PC. I installed Windows 7 on a brand new separate empty hard disk, with no Zorin or other disks in the PC at the time. Either during Windows 7 installation - or during one of the updates, Secure Boot was enabled by Windows 7 and now no Zorin 9.0 or Zorin 9.1 media will boot - not USB thumb drives or DVDs - whether created by Unetbootin or Rufus (in Windows 7). The specs for UEFI and Secure Boot were created a few years ago. I could not find anything online that was a definitive way to install Zorin once Secure Boot was specifically enabled by a Windows installation.

I was able to disable "Secure Boot" using the method described here: (http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id- ... -boot.html) using a USB drive to save the PK keys. My BIOS consistently shows "Secure Boot" is disabled - as expected. The Zorin install media gets to the Zorin 9 wallpaper display and stops / freezes: for USB install drives, install DVD, and previous Zorin 9.0 installation on a HDD. I disabled Fast Boot, selected "CSM", every possible variation I could conceive of.

After spending more than 36 hours trying to get this to work, I will build a completely separate PC with brand new motherboard for Zorin 9 to run on that will never be touched by any Windows 7, 8, 10, 11, ...

I was able to somewhat 'install' Ubuntu 14.04 that I downloaded today. I wrote the .iso file to a 4GB SanDisk thumb drive using the app Rufus (for Windows) on a brand new Windows 7 PC. In Rufus, I selected the option "MBR" for UEFI and BIOS". When Rufus was done installing the files to the thumb drive, I booted the PC with a blank hard disk (no other OSs present).

In the Boot Menu (now called UEFI; not "BIOS"), I selected the device "UEFI: (FAT) SanDisk Cruzer" (NOT the "San Disk Cruzer") and the USB thumb drive installer started up. I selected 'Install Ubuntu' and it hung up and froze. I rebooted the PC using the same USB thumb drive - but this time selected "Try Ubuntu Without Installing". After the thumb drive was up and running, I selected "Install Ubuntu" (which is contradictory to the "Try Ubuntu Without Installing"). The installer did actually install Ubuntu -- but on re-boot, the hard disk only shows a "Western Digital" and not "UEFI: Western Digital" - which I assume would be required to get it to work.

Just for the heck of it, I did the install "Software Updates" from the USB thumb drive to install all updates -- which it did -- I assume on the hard disk. Anyway - Ubuntu was installed - but it does not do anything other than display a peach-colored Ubuntu 14.04 LTS desktop wallpaper which is not what I had in mind.

Hi,

did you select "Legacy" as the first boot option in your UEFI/BIOS settings?, did you disable "Fastboot/Quickboot in Windows 8?.

Thanks for the suggestions !!

In my Asus H97-Plus Mobo, "Legacy" is called "CSM"; meaning non-UEFI. I enabled that a few unsuccessful attempts ago, so that was not the issue. I also disabled "Fastboot" (I'm working on a machine where the initial Install of Windows (Win7 Home Premium 64-bit) on that motherboard caused the activation of "Secure Boot".

ONE EXAMPLE SUCCESSFUL INSTALL OF ZORIN 9.0 onto UEFI Mobo after Disabling "Secure Boot":

I purchased a brand new Asus H97-Plus motherboard in December 2014 and installed Zorin 9.0 (64-bit) onto the motherboard with no problems. The motherboard had never been exposed to any version of Microsoft anything - or any other OS. It ran excellent until June 2015, when I installed Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) - that apparently enabled "Secure Boot" with Microsoft keys, etc. and prevented my Zorin 9.0 64-bit install thumb drives from booting the machine and also prevented my full Zorin 9.0 64-bit system disk from booting.

After finding out how to disable "Secure Boot" and doing it, Zorin 9.0 DVDs, thumb drives and hard disk drives that were all created before Windows 7 was installed - all refused to boot.

I was able to get an Ubuntu 14.04 (64-bit) thumb drive to boot, and do the first part of the Ubuntu install process. After rebooting from the hard disk, the system just froze up.

After carefully reading the Install Instructions on the Ubuntu 14.04 overview page (because Zorin 9 is based on it) -- it became bluntly obvious what I had missed. For an Intel processor (mine is an i3-4360 (64-bit)), Ubuntu states that the 32-bit version of Ubuntu 14.04 should be installed (the 64-bit version of Ubuntu 14.04 is intended for various versions of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) microprocessors.). All my previous installs of Zorin were 64-bit versions - I had assumed that my 64-bit motherboard wanted a 64-bit OS. Wrong - at least with Ubuntu 14.04 - and Zorin 9.0 IS based on Ubuntu 14.04.

My Asus boot menu has an additional choice of "Operating System:" "Windows UEFI" or "Other OS". I selected "Other OS". I enabled "CSM" (aka "Legacy") and Disabled "Fastboot". I took the thumb drive installer with Zorin 9.0 Core 32-bit (that I already had) and was able to successfully boot the machine by selecting "SanDisk Cruzer" (the thumb drive I was using) and NOT "UEFI (FAT): SanDisk Cruzer" (which gave a few strange messages). I went ahead and installed Zorin 9.0 Core (32-bit) onto a completely blank but not brand-new hard disk, The install went smoothly, with no surprises. I did NOT select "Do updates during install" - in case the install did not work. It did work. I immediately installed all updates, etc., configured the firewall and other settings, and in an hour I had everything installed and configured (including items from software center, command-line installs, and one .deb file install).

For Reference: The Zorin 9.0 (32-bit) install thumb drive I used was created in July 2014 using Unetbootin in Zorin 8.1 and was my first download and install of Zorin 9.0 - on my old 8-year old PC. That old PC with Zorin 9 runs MUCH faster than WinXP ever did on that old machine. The 32-bit Zorin 9 install on my new PC seems to run faster than the previous install (64-bit) that I used before "Secure Boot" was enabled (I assume) by Windows 7 install - though I have no way to actually measure the speed difference.

Disclaimer: With all the different settings and variables, it is possible that a Zorin 9.0 (64-bit) install after disabling "Secure Boot" possibly COULD work. I was not able to get 64-bit to work. After reading the details about using Ubuntu 14.04 (32-bit) installs for Intel processors, I am not surprised that I was unable to get the 64-bit version to work.

Hope this helps !

Thanks for your detailed feedback but I would be surprised if Windows 7 has UEFI installed - what tends to happen is that 7 creates a 100 Mb System File Partition, then C:\ - In earlier versions of Windows C:\ was at the start of the drive - if GNU/Linux cannot find space it will not install and HP Notebooks or rather Netbooks come with 4 primary partitions - which would require deleting at least 1 partition in order to install GNU/Linux.

I was not aware of the 32-bit issue with Intel 64-bit processors - as wherever possible I avoid 'WinTel' processors through choice - even though they outperform AMD ones, bang for buck AMD works out the best - also why I have never suffered from pae releases!

I recently successfully installed Makulu Linux "fun build" alongside Windows 10 Insider Preview - I had to shrink Windows to make space, make one Extended Partition and create /, /home and swap area within the Extended Partition - what was interesting is that the Insider 10 created a 'restore' partition at the end of the drive - this is what GRUB picked up to get Windows 10 to boot!