Dual booting Dual SSD'd - working but

Installing Zorin OS
1

Ok> win10 on "C" disk0
Removed disk0 and tried installed Zorin on earlier unallocated space created on disk1.
Zorin installer asked for location for EFI.
Created a new 50mb partition from the unallocated space.
Installed on free space and rebooted.
Zorin came up fine, iNvidia dual monitors, network NAS's and windows shares, all fine.
shutdown PC, reconnected win10 SSD.
booted into win10 or Zorin choosing from BIOS boot device choice.
All is working as it should except that each time I do boot to either Win or Z, I get an quick messge displayed before either splash screens, saying " cannot open EFI - EFI not found"
it feels like the PC does a longer boot or a second boot then the OC's come up. both working fine, other than this.

Ideas, is it a problem?!
cheers CD

2

What is your terminal output for:

sudo efibootmgr

3

Just to add, the norm these days is for /boot/efi to be at least 300 Mb (I usually go for 512 Mb).

4

Welcome to the Forum!

Is that a Typo? If not, it might be a bit small Parition.

Did You made in Zorin a sudo update-grub for detecting Windows?

5

Hi there, thanks for your prompt reply
terminal output gives "BootCurrent: 0001
Timeout: 0 seconds
No BootOrder is set; firmware will attempt recovery"
So I'll try making a larger partition for the EFI
I chose 30mb because I read 'somewhere' to make at least 20mb, so I thought +50% should do it.
Actually I would have expected the installer to either set it automatically or specify/recommend a size.
I'm still learning.
cheers CD

6

I set mine to 512megabytes for plenty of room.

7

Hi there
I deleted and reformatted, re-set up the disk again with a 5000mb efi partition.
but the same is happening. can't open efi message as before.

sudo efibootmgr gives >
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
No BootOrder is set; firmware will attempt recovery

sudo update-grub gives>

Sourcing file /etc/default/grub' Sourcing file /etc/default/grub.d/init-select.cfg'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/zorin/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-64-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-64-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-60-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-60-generic
Memtest86+ needs a 16-bit boot, that is not available on EFI, exiting
Warning: os-prober will not be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Systems on them will not be added to the GRUB boot configuration.
Check GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER documentation entry.

since the two OS are on separate SSD's is this important?
I will be selecting which OS to boot through the BIOS since Zorin is in the UEFI section and the Win10 partition is in the "LEGACY" section of the bios.

cheers CD

8

I am thinking 5,000 is a typo?
512 megs is sufficient. More than a gig and it can create alignment or recognition issues on some firmware.

In the below command, you can add the Zorin bootloader. Replace /dev/sdX with the device for Zorin installation. It may be sda or sdb or nvme01p1...
Run

sudo blkid

And look for the EFI output. I am posting mine as an example:

/dev/nvme0n1p1: UUID="9881-1702" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI system partition" PARTUUID="06473201-4f1f-4f59-bb9c-7937e01d7a82"

You can see on mine it is Partition 1. Find the **Partition Number and replace P below in the command with That Number:
sudo efibootmgr -c -d /dev/sdX -p P -L "Zorin" -l '\EFI\Zorin\grubx64.efi'

As an Example mine would look like sudo efibootmgr -c -d /dev/nvme0n1p1 -p 1 -L "Zorin" -l '\EFI\Zorin\grubx64.efi'
That will solve the error.

Windows is installed as Legacy MBR. I generally advice to stick with One Mode. So if Windows is installed as MBR, Zorin OS should be, too.
If Windows is installed as EFI, so should Zorin OS be.
Switch both to MBR would also solve the error.

9

Hi there Aravisian
Sorry again, another typo, 500mb, correct.

This issue with MBR or EFI. Not that I understand it, other than it describes how many partitions you can have on a particular disk. And I assume that UEFI and GPT are connected!?

Before I started this project with dual booting Linux, I did change the second SSD to MBR because I thought that it was sensible to have the same for both. (and the maximum number of partitions on any of my drives is three).

Therefore if I check the partition type in the windows \computer management\disk management it reports both SSD's are MBR.

The only place UEFI shows its head is in the BIOS boot devices options after I have installed Zorin.
The USB that holds the Zorin iso (created in RUFUS) shows up in the UEFI section. automatically.

"Quote: So if Windows is installed as MBR, Zorin OS should be, too."

Q. so I should be looking to run the installation from the USB by booting the USB as a LEGACY DEVICE??

thanks for you help, cheers CD

10

Yes, or convert your Windows OS to EFI boot.
You can convert Windows (OR Zorin OS) without needing to Reinstall.
Here is a guide for Zorin OS:

Converting Windows OS uses mbr2gpt.exe, but it has been a long time, several years... since I have done it. I do not remember entirely how to. You may need to turn to the internet if you want to take that route. If I remember correctly, that conversion requires GPT.

With MBR, you only get a total of Four bootable Partitions (You can have more than four if some are Non-bootable. Or Three primary if one is an extended logical partition.)
The maximum partition size on MBR is 2 terabytes.

GPT is GUID Partition Table. The GUID is Globally Unique Identifier.
It is a partition format tool and has nothing to do with filesystems or U.I. Operating systems like Zorin OS or Windows OS. It stands apart.

11

Hi there and thanks again for your patience with this learner, even though I'm "well into my advanced years".. haha
I will try converting windows to EFI from Zorin. (I trust it more)
cheers CD

12

I believe converting Windows OS must be done from Windows or Windows LiveUSB.

13

If you have a fresh install of Zorin and not much installed yet, I'd recommend to make a fresh install of Zorin in MBR format or try to format Zorin into MBR before, perhaps it works and you need no fresh install. It is possible, but tricky to do this in Windows on a running system. I wouldn't risk it.

When you use Rufus tool to create the USB boot stick choose MBR at partition scheme.

14

Oki doke, thanks

here's the terminal output>

zcd@zcd-HP-Z210-Workstation:~$ sudo grub-install --boot-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=ubuntu /dev/sd3
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.

zcd@zcd-HP-Z210-Workstation:~$ sudo update-grub
Sourcing file /etc/default/grub' Sourcing file /etc/default/grub.d/init-select.cfg'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/zorin/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-64-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-64-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-60-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-60-generic
Memtest86+ needs a 16-bit boot, that is not available on EFI, exiting
Warning: os-prober will not be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Systems on them will not be added to the GRUB boot configuration.
Check GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER documentation entry.
done
zcd@zcd-HP-Z210-Workstation:~$

It doesn't look successful, correct?
cheers CD

15

It looks successful to me... You changed Zorin OS to MBR, right?

16

I still get message about the efi error

"Failed to open \EFI\ubuntu\ - Not Found"

cheers CD

17

I facepalmed. I missed spotting this.
You were correct - I failed to read properly.

Shouldn't this be sda or sdb?
It installs to the whole target, not a partition.

18

yes, durr sda.
"3" is the partition

1 Like
19

update that it should be sdb

here's the output>

zcd@zcd-HP-Z210-Workstation:~$ sudo grub-install --boot-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=ubuntu /dev/sdb
[sudo] password for zcd:
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.

zcd@zcd-HP-Z210-Workstation:~$ sudo update-grub
Sourcing file /etc/default/grub' Sourcing file /etc/default/grub.d/init-select.cfg'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/zorin/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-64-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-64-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-60-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-60-generic
Memtest86+ needs a 16-bit boot, that is not available on EFI, exiting
Warning: os-prober will not be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Systems on them will not be added to the GRUB boot configuration.
Check GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER documentation entry.
done
zcd@zcd-HP-Z210-Workstation:~$

looks like it failed again, to me

I'll try from windows I think
Cheers CD

20

Your troubles caused be to Double Check that guide.
It seems that the command to install grub as MBR from EFI are not quite correct. That command can work on some systems, but will not work on all and is therefor, not correct.
I have edited that quide with a correction, now:

The portion to convert from MBR to EFI are still correct.