Dual boot Windows 10 on a non-UEFI computer

Installing Zorin OS
1

I've got The Computer That Time Forgot, a Dell Studio XPS 435T running Windows 10 Pro v22H2, Build 19046466. It does not have, to the best of my ability to detect, any UEFI capabilities.

I attempted to install Zorin OS 18 as a dual boot with Win 10 (because I didn't want to delete the contents of my primary hard drive. (I know, picky, picky, picky!) But, no matter what I do, the computer boots directly into windows.

If my BIOS/CMOS settings don't have UEFI, is there a way to tell the computer to find and open the GRUB file to let me pick my boot?

Failing that, is it possible to create a bootable USB stick that will serve only to open a grub menu, so I can boot into my OS of choice, then remove the stick until my next reboot?

Does an ISO to do that already exist?

Does an automated tool exist to ask me the drive letters and/or paths of the partitions and generate the ISO I need?

If anybody can point me in the right direction, I will be most grateful.

1 Like
2

For non-UEFI computer i.e. Legacy BIOS, use a USB creation tool that allows you to choose MBR (not GPT as for UEFI) e.g. Rufus. See this: I have a problem installing Zorin Linux on my laptop - #8 by zabadabadoo

Also worth looking at this pre-installation advice: Before you install

1 Like
3

Welcome to the Forum!

Like @zabadabadoo already wrote, You would have to create a bootable USB Stick with the MBR Sheme for Your non-UEFI BIOS. Rufus is a good Tool for this because You have diectly the Option available as ''Partition Sheme''. Choose there MBR.

Because of Your BIOS: When Your there in the Boot Tab (or similar named), do You have there a Boot List? Maybe You could do some Pictures of Your BIOS and post it here. So, we could get an Overview.

4

I went to re-do it, and it looks like the USB stick I made with Rufus WAS defined as MBR. I re-made the stick and am re-attempting the install.

5

My BIOS doesn't have any such boot tab or boot list. No GUI, just a blue screen, and neither the BIOS or -- the other choice when booting, the boot device options list, showed the Zorin partition as an available choice.

6

1000008360
1000008360999×749 215 KB

Is ubuntu not shown when you go to "Boot Device Confiuration" in your BIOS?

7

First disable Fast Startup inside Windows.

You can do it quickly by launching CMD or Powershell as administrator and run the following command:

powercfg /h off

And make sure Secure boot is disabled inside your BIOS. Then try to boot from the flash drive and install the OS.

1 Like
9

Hi and welcome.

I can't comment on Dell notebooks, but HP ones tended to have mbr and 4 Primary partitions:

  1. Driver Store
  2. C:\ partition holding Windows
  3. Factory reset
  4. Media creation for reinstallation.

mbr only allows 4 primary partitions to exist.

Did you create space on the drive by shrinking C:\ first? It is an old video, but the principals remain the same:

You should be able to get to the BIOS by pressing F2 repeatedly when the Dell logo appears at boot time. Windows 8 was the first version to include Fast Boot which means there should be a BIOS setting somewhere. From memory you need to expand items in a Dell BIOs by clicking on a bracket next to each BIOS heading.

10

Thta is fine. Not all BIOSes have a fancy Interface.