I tried installing Zorin OS onto my main drive after duel booting from a USB SSD. Anytime I go to boot Zorin, the WBM is still popping up and not allowing me to boot into windows. I thought that doing a Erase Everything install would get rid of Windows, but it has not. I have two hard drives in my computer and I partitioned both to try and get rid of WBM, but it still shows up even in the install at this point. What do I need to do? I am very new to Linux, and do not understand all the terminal commands yet, so please keep that in mind when you answer. Thanks!
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Welcome to the Forum!
- Are Secure Boot and Fast Boot in BIOS disabled?
- When You look in BIOS for Boot Order, ist there a Windows Entry still shown?
- Please give an Overview of Your Partitions on Your Drives please. You can do that with the Bootstick for Example when You start it in Live Mode and open there GParted. Alternatively, You can install it in Zorin with the Terminal Command
sudo apt install gparted - Also, You could check in the File Manager in the Directory
/boot/efi/EFIif there is aMicrosoftFolder. When You go to this Directory, You will have to type in Your Password; that is normal.
Thank you for responding
- Both Secure and fast boot were disabled. I also prioritized Zorin to boot first and disabled WBM. Zorin was running on an external SSD before, and it worked fine. I am only having issues now that I want to install it on my main hard drives.
- Yes, Windows is still showing in the boot menu. I did disable it.
- I did not know about Gparted, so I will check that out. When I went to install I put an EFI partition, /, and /home on one drive, and /usr on the second drive since it would not let me install two /home partitions.
- I did not check the File Directory, but I will try that. Can I do that from the launch USB "trial" Zorin before installing?
Thank you again!
Did you make sure bitlocker was not enabled in Windows before deleting?
I don't remember for sure,but I thought I turned it off.
Yes, You can. You open in Live Mode the File Manager and go to ''Other Places'' and there You choose the Drive where Zorin is installed and then move through the Folders.
That will not work, yes. You would have to install Zorin and after the Installation, install Zorin again on the other Drive and then, You can create for the new Installation a home Partition again.
Would it just be a home partition, or would I want to do a efi root home combo like the first drive?
I will give the File Directory a shot since I have not tried that yet as well. I didn't know what system type stuff I could do on live Zorin flash drive.
No, it would be the Installation of a 2nd Zorin System. So, complete with EFI, root and home. What You could do: You could relate to the EFI Partition of the first Zorin System. Then the Boot Stuff would land into this and You wouldn't have to create a new one.
I got both drives installed, and I don't see any windows, Microsoft, or WMB files that I recognize. That being said, are there any filenames that are not marked with those names in the file?
Everything seems to be moving smoothly so far.
No, I don't think so. You chould check in Terminal the Output of efibootmgr if there is a Windows Entry.
I will check that. I also realized that this happened when I tried to Timeshift a snapshot from the external SSD, and that is probably where the problem was coming from. Everything worked until that happened, and I'm guessing the mounted SSDs were trying to act like the external SSD. I ended up just moving everything manually, and reinstalling what I had on the external, which thankfully wasn't much. Thank you so much for your help, and for answering so quickly!
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It sounds like the Windows Boot Manager (WBM) entry is still present in your EFI/boot partition. Since you’re new to Linux, I’d avoid deleting anything manually for now. Boot from the Zorin USB, check which drive contains the EFI partition, and make sure Zorin’s bootloader is installed there. If you want to completely remove Windows, back up your important files first, then use Zorin’s “Erase disk” option on the correct drive.