I'm not completely computer ignorant, but I had problems with the double-boot installation with Zorin Pro and Win 10. I wanted to move away from Win 10 and first wanted to see if Zorin performs well on my computer.
When I installed, I opted for the 'Try out Zorin as a dual-boot'
Zorin runs well, but as soon as I restart and click the Start to Windows option, Windows starts with a blue screen with the message You need to repair Windows.
I had to completely reinstall Windows. Uninstall Zorin and reinstall Zorin.
I have tried this 2 times, and every time the same thing happens.
I'm about to give up on this now unless someone can give me a solution to this.
Welcome to the Forum!
Some basic Stuff first:
- Are Secure Boot and Fast Boot in BIOS disabled?
- Is Fast Start-Up in windows disabled?
- Is Your BIOS in UEFI or Legacy Mode?
- What Tool did You choose to create the bootable USB Stick?
That doesn't sound familiar for me. When You install Zorin, there should be a Window where you get 3 Options:
- Install Zorin alongside Windows
- Erase disk
- Something else
It should look like this:
You should use the first Option.
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Hi and welcome. You can't install Try Zorin, that just launches a live environment. I would also check if you have TPM 2.0 enabled.
Can you boot Windows when you set it in your BIOS at first position of boot order?
And you installed Windows first and then Zorin? Other way round there are often problems with bootloader.
Thanks for teply. Windows 10 was installed and had no problems before if I had to use Bios.
Sorry newby here. What is TPM 2?
TPM is a security chip. You can disable it in your BIOS at tab security (if you have one).
Secure boot you can also disable there at tab security.
Here is a guide how to disable fast startup in Windows:
What are the specs of your computer? Brand, model...?
Thanks for your reply. I was writing from memory but yes that is the screen I got when booting. I chose the first option. If I remember correctly I pretty much typed yes to everything afterwards. Maybe I got it wrong where it asked for partition. I give it a try again on a laptop I hardly use and will write down the steps I took so we can check if I had the same problem again.
Can you please answer the four questions of @Ponce-De-Leon? They are very important. Before you install it again, take a look into your BIOS, disable secure boot, fast boot and TPM. Look if you have UEFI mode or legacy mode enabled.
Check if you can boot Windows when you set Windows at first position at boot order instead of ubuntu and if it is possible disable fast startup there.
Just to add, some motherboards like mine, an AMD one from ASUS, does not require a TPM chip, they included it in a BIOS update. I only updated my BIOS to ensure any latest nasties don't get onboard and sadly this included TPM 2.0.
Here are my computer specs:
Work Station (WS) 1650
Processor: 12 x Intel(R) Core (TM) i7-3930 CPU @ 3.20 GHz
Installed memory (RAM): 32 GB
System type: 64-bit Operations System
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
Reply to your questions:
Not sure if Secure Boot was disabled, but I did have Fast Boot in BIOS was disabled before I installed Zorin
Fast Start was probably on
BIOS was Legacy Mode
Used Rufus to create the bootable USB
Note that after I installed the 'Install alongside Windows Boot Manager' and tried to restart in Windows mode, the Repair Windows screen came up. When I inserted my Windows repair USB it was not able to repair, and I had to do a clean installation, losing all my files, etc (which I did have backed up)
Hope this info helps
I did reply to him now, thanks
When your BIOS is in legacy mode then you should set in rufus tool when creating the boot stick as partition scheme MBR.
It was set to the default MBR
When it comes to dual-booting in Windows I never let any GNU/Linux distro use the 'install alongside Windows. It is far safer to first let Windows Disk Manager shrink C:\ partition first and then install GNU/Linux to the free space. Personally I would never do that these days on a desktop, I would install a second drive and disconnect the Windows drive first before install. I appreciate Notebook users can't do this but could be done using an external drive.
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Thanks for all your help. I have decided not to try and do a dual-booting on my PC anymore as it seems too much hassle. I will just run Zorin on my laptop and wait until Windows 10 is no longer usable and then replace it also with Zorin
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That would be worth a Look and disable it.
That would be also a Point to take look on and disable it.
Okay, You used MBR. That was good.
After this Screen comes only one for choosing how much disc Space You want use. do You mean that? Because You don't have to manually create Partitions.
Is an Option, too. As an alternative, you could try Zorin at least in a Virtual Machine. Maybe not as godd as have it on the PC directly but for take a Look at it, it should be fine.
Many thanks Ponce-De-Leon. As I wrote before I will keep it on my laptops and once I'm completely familiar with it I will switch all my computers runing on Zorin Pro.
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