I have a new external hard drive and tried to install zorin 18 on it. It installs fine, i think because I can't get it (ext drive) booted up thru my bios. the ext drive shows up in first position in bios, but when i select it i get a quick flicker then it goes to windows (10) on my system. tried installing on side of windows and that was a crash, so i figured it was safer to just use an ext drive. followed all the instructions, using gpt, bios is picking up my ext drive but then nothing except windows boots up. yes, fast boot is disabled and all the other stuff i can do in bios is done, tried a couple of different downloads of zorin 18, used rufus to set it up, a few times and ways but no booting off of the ext drive. it looks like a bootloader issue but shouldn't that be set up when it is being installed. any suggestions, please, Thanks in advance
Hi and welcome.
If you are running Windows 10 there are some changes you will need to make in the BIOS and in Windows itself.
First, go into the BIOS and turn off Secure Boot and Fast Boot.
In Windows, go to Power Options and then unhide the Advanced Power Options and uncheck settings there.
All the above prevents the hard drive with Windows on to turn off fully, it is in a permanent 'sleep' state so that Windows boots it's bloatware quicker.
Also ensure any other settings in BIOS allow external drives to boot from as well as priority setting.
If you have TPM 2.0 chip installed, turn off TPM discrete mode as this too can prevent alternative drives from booting.
Don't forget to download your copy of the Unofficial Manual, still a work-in-progress:
Welcome to the Forum!
How did You install Zorin? Did You set up manually the Partitions?
yes, set up partitions, 512mb for boot loader info (i thibk it was set for efi or esp or something like that, then half of the remaining drive ext4 for / then the remaining for /home. i bought a new 500gb external drive for this purpose. my bios looks like it can boot uefi or legacy, it is an older lenovo desktop but the internal hd is set for gpt and the bios can recognize and boot it no problem, so i created the zorin iso on rufus to be gpt as well. i've tried it several times, redownloaded zorin, remade the iso with the latest ver of rufus as well as the latest ver of zorin 18.1. i tried loading on side of windows and that didn't work either, other than crashing my entire system after trying to use terminal to correct things. so now the only way i would use zorin is if i can get it to boot from an external drive, which so far is not happening. i am about to give up, considering trying linux mint next, but i really like zorin better.
I would suggest the Following: You create 2 Partitions. One with ... let's say 300mb and that You use as EFI-Partition. And the whole Rest of the Drive You use for / in ext4. That is the Minimum what is neccessary.
if anyone has successfully installed zorin 18 on an external drive that will actually boot up thru bios, please described how it was done, Thanks ps: i just tried linux mint and getting the same "NO" boot problem from the external drive,
Maybe this guide can help you:
Unfortunately, I don't have any personal experience installing Linux on an external drive.
Thanks, I will try it, haven't looked at it yet, but from other research I've gathered so far it seems like physically disconnecting the internal drive first may be an option, but i was hoping to not have to go that far. Thanks again, much appreciated.
Hey FOSS, i tried it exactly as it described, gparted, etc, but still no luck, zorin just will not boot from my external drive. i didn't want to have to disconnect my internal drive, but that may be my last hope to get this thing to work. even so, if i have to go down that road i hope it would be worth it, meaning zorin will work as it should. Thanks again for your reply and help, i really thought that would do it:(
Since you want to be able to port the external drive, I assume you put your EFI partition on that drive too. You may need to use OSprober to have your grub recognize the two different EFI partitions, one for Zorin and one for windows.
Is the Zorin/Ubuntu bootloader listed in your BIOS? If so does it come ahead of Windows bootloader. It should.
Lastly, I assume secure boot is disabled.
I disconnected my internal hard drive, installed zorin 18 on the external following all the directions, but it somehow will not recognize the bootloader to initiate the system on startup. I then gave up on the external drive and decided to try once again to install alongside of windows (10) on my work pc. everything seemed to install ok, i prepared the bios first as directed, my bios is older, but it can recognize EUFI as well as Legacy, right now my entire system is set for EUFI, my disk is GPT and it's been ok. However, after the zorin installation bios and windows bootloader still does not pick up zorin's files to boot up zorin, it goes straight to windows, zorin or ubuntu is not listed at all in my bios. I just don't know what I'm missing. I've made several iso's just in case they were bad, but after several tries, external, usb and now my own internal nothing works as far as booting up zorin. FYI, I used the same usb made from rufus and did an install on an older laptop erasing old windows 7 and installing zorin 18, works great, no issues booting up or any other problems, which is why i'm trying so hard to get it working on my pc, so that i can stay on 1 computer. I would actually do an erase install on my lenovo pc, but i can't do that because I run a cad program on it that so far I cannot install to zorin on the laptop, it's a large windows based file! I'm lost and exhausted about this! Thanks for any help or suggestions.
Just a side comment here, is BitLocker enabled on Windows? This can cause issues:
Also, another side note. I was at a client yesterday and in live boot mode the only OS that saw it was Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE 7).
Just to be clear LMDE 7 was to be installed on the Lenovo notebook, the external drive had backup data.
Yo he instalado mi zorin en disco NVME con su propria carcasa conectada a USB c de mi portatil y esta ciempre coenctada por cierto mi portatil es un MSI Thin GF63 12VF-696XES Intel Core i5-12450H/64GB RAM / SSD 512GB SSD/RTX 4060/15.6" precio 849 € y despues compre https://www.pccomponentes.com/disco-duro-kioxia-exceria-plus-g3-1tb-disco-ssd-5000mb-s-nvme-pcie-40-m2-gen4 en oferta de 71 euros bien le compre una carcasa or ali expres compatible con el y lo meti simplemente ahi ese SSD extra y puse zorin Iso en USB de 32 gb pendrive cargado y lo probe un poco modo test y de ahi le clickee install zorin y segui los pasos ahi hay que tener cuidado y busque la particion de 1 Tb de capacidad y la borre lo que tenia dentro con - y luego le di a + eso crea nueva particion necesarias todo en automatico no he modificado nada cuanto para GPT y esas choradas que no las entiendo jajaja pero luego selecione la particion grande que quedo y le di NEXt y luego install facil pan comido fue para mi cuando termino empeze a decorar mi zorin 
un poco .
just checked, Bitlocker is off on all drives and was off when doing the zorin install. seems like the efi fat32 partition is not picking up the files to boot zorin with, at least from what I'm seeing so far; on external drive install as well as alongside of windows install. but it is now above my pay grade! but i did verify bitlocker is off, fast boot is off whichever i'm trying to boot (external or internal drive) at the time is first in bios. the usb's i'm using are good/healthy and all internal partitions including the one made for zorin are healthy. i've tried boot repair several times as well, but no change or solution to my zorin boot issue.
Have installed Zorin OS several times as single and also in different dual boot modi with Windows11 (intentionally frozen in prison: without Win Updates without using Internet).
Have also installed Zorin OS on an external SSD but only for maybe repair use. For daily use I cannot recommend because the external SSD over USB connection is too slow during using.
As the BIOS and Windows configuration on your system is already checked, here some ideas for possible causes and solutions:
- a USB Stick is not very durable in case of many I/Os as it happens during installation. It can appear ok during normal using but fails while high amount of writing processes.
- Please flash with Ventoy an other new high-quality USB Stick (for examle SanDisk or equal) and copy the Checksum pre checked fresh downloaded ISO file to the Stick. Also use on other USB slot preferred USB-A instead of USB-C, stick is then connected more stable.
- Start again the Zorin Installation alongside windows and activate the message logging: so you can see and take pictures for any errors.
Hi there! Don't worry, this is a very common issue when installing Linux on an external drive. You are exactly right — it is almost certainly a bootloader (GRUB) issue.
What usually happens is that the Zorin installer, by default, places the bootloader files into the existing EFI partition on your internal drive (where Windows lives), instead of the external one. When you select the external drive in your BIOS, it finds no bootloader there, panics for a millisecond (the flicker), and defaults back to Windows.
Since you are using GPT, here is how to fix this and get a truly portable external Zorin OS drive:
Step 1: Check your current installation
Before reinstalling, boot into Windows, right-click the Start button, and open Disk Management. Look at your external drive.
- Do you see a small (~100MB - 500MB) partition formatted as FAT32 labeled as "EFI" or "System" on the external drive?
- If you only see one large
ext4partition and maybe some unallocated space, it means Zorin put the bootloader on your internal Windows drive.
Step 2: The Right Way to Reinstall (The safest bet)
To make the external drive completely independent, you need to force Zorin to create and use an EFI partition on the external drive itself.
- Boot into the Zorin OS USB live installer using Rufus (set Rufus to GPT and UEFI (non-CSM)).
- When you reach the "Installation Type" screen, do NOT choose "Install alongside Windows". Choose "Something else" (Advanced partitioning).
- In the list of drives, locate your external drive (be very careful not to touch your internal Windows drive!).
- Delete the previous Zorin partitions on the external drive so it shows as "Free Space".
- Click the Free Space on the external drive and create two partitions:
- First Partition: Size:
500 MB| Use as: EFI System Partition. (This is the missing link!). - Second Partition: Size: Rest of the space | Use as: Ext4 journaling file system | Mount point:
/(the root).
- CRITICAL STEP: At the bottom of that window, look for the dropdown menu called "Device for boot loader installation".
- Change this from your internal drive to your external drive (select the whole drive, e.g.,
/dev/sdbor/dev/sdc, not a specific partition number).
- Click "Install Now".
Step 3: Check Secure Boot
If it still flickers after doing this, go back into your BIOS and temporarily Disable Secure Boot. While Zorin officially supports Secure Boot, some motherboard firmwares are very picky about booting external unsigned/signed loaders.
I have an old laptop that had an old windows 7 system on i never used anymore, installed zorin on that, with the erase hard drive and install zorin choice, it runs without issue. only problem is my desk is not big enough to house 2 compters, so the zorin laptop will be put aside after so many failed attemps to get linux to boot on my main machine.
Summary; installed various linux distros on external and internal drives- even to run alongside of windows-installation no problem, except none boot-no os or something to that effect!
unfortunately regardless of what and how I try to install Zorin (also tried LMint and even Ubuntu-all failed to boot. Physically disconnected my internal drive, no go. Went out and bought another (2nd) internal drive to house only zorin, mint or ubuntu, whchever might run/boot on it, connected and disconnected main internal, installed each linux system (not at the same time of course) on different occasions as each one failed to boot. I've spent way too much time on this and although i really like all of the 3 mentioned above, i have to surrender. last attempt i installed another windows system on the 2nd internal just to see if i may then be able to get them to work (alongside, with and without...) - ended up crashing my main internal (for the 3rd time!) attempting to get any of these linux distros to run on my main machine-all for nothing- it can't be this complicated, I thought!
Too bad linux or zorin do not have readily support available for situations like this; maybe a number to call or chat or whatever. chatGPT, ai and youtube have all kinds of answers and directions, commands etc., none worked! I am tired, when linux, whichever distro doesn't matter at this point can supply real support, at least on installations maybe i'll try again, maybe. but i am really tired of breaking my working windows system trying to get any linux to boot on it. i should say that i run a cad program that cannot be installed on the zorin system, only reason i have to keep windows. My head is spinning from typing sudos, plugging and unplugging drives, etc etc... only to end up with a main crash; Thanks to those that offered help and for trying, Charlie
side note; yes i did the power button thing on windows, quick and fast start turned off in bios, tried with main internal drive (C) physically unplugged completely, disabled encription (sp?) mode (wasn't enabled anyway), re-made boot ios usb's for all three linux distros to make sure they were good....and some other things i can't remember now... unfortunately it appears that i will have to completely ditch windows on my main system to get any linux distro to boot up on it, but i cannot do that because of the cad program i need to run and it only runs on windows. tried to load it on the laptop that zorin is running ok on as windows is erased from that system, but my cad program i guess being a huge program just couldn't be installed on it, i tried that several times with wine and bottles, no go. kinda frustrated at this point.
I don't think that this should be neccessary. Are Secure Boot and Fast Boot in BIOS disabled? Is Fat Start-Up in Windows disabled? Does Your BIOS run in UEFI or Legacy Mode? What Tool did You use to create the Bootstick?
Does microsoft have a support line you can call for real answers to installation questions? If so I must have messed it.