HP Laptop F3BU0MLC; W10 pro w/normal system partitions, c and d partitions.
usb nvme 235GB, external device
usb 8gb boot stick which does indeed boot zorin install menu
First question: What format [is current ext3 correct?] and what partition do I "tell" Acronis Disk Director 12.5 to do upon that usb nvme 235GB device?
Second question: how large should the EFI[?] partition be within this usb nvme 235GB device?
Third question: Earlier attempts kept getting final "no root file" error -- what can I do in advance upon usb 235 nvme to prevent no root file error?
I do not intend to dual boot at all. When I want to, I want to attach usb nvme and the 8GB boot stick -- and boot into zorin.
Please allow me to thank all of you very much for your gracious time and attention! I will learn and do as you all instruct.
Roland
The EFI partition should be a minimum of 512 MegaBytes. It does not need to be large. Larger than 1 gig is wasting space. At half a gig, it has plenty of room, so that you do not need to worry about file corruption disabling your ability to boot.
The standard currently is ext4 journaling file system, with your Mount point set to/ - Setting the mount point should resolve the root file.
Thanks! I was able to make lots of progress! However, I was unable to make the usb 235GB nvme self-bootable [not tied to windows in any way] and with zorin pro completely installed and available. I do not know the choices to make within the install menu to make usb 235GB nvme self-bootable and zorin available.
I had made a usb 8GB stick zorin-install-bootable. I was able to install zorin onto the 235. However, every time I booted the 8GB stick, it would re-install zorin onto 235. I do not know the choices to make within zorin install to make 235 bootable and zorin complete.
Acronis does not work with GNU/Linux (ironic I know because from earlier versions I found it installed 'cygwin' which is used to allow Linux things to run in Windows!)
Checkout this A.I. generated answer. The only thing I would change is make '/' 50 Gb, not 9 Gb!
Replace Ubuntu with Zorin and replace /boot/esp with /boot/efi.
"To install Ubuntu 22.04 onto a USB NVMe drive to make it bootable, follow these steps:
Create a live Ubuntu 22.04 USB installer using tools like Rufus, mkusb, or dd.
Power off the computer and unplug the internal hard drive or disconnect it from the laptop. This step is crucial to prevent the installer from incorrectly configuring the boot loader or fstab to reference the internal drive's partitions, especially when booting in UEFI mode.
Plug the computer back in, insert the live USB, and boot from it. It is recommended to boot in BIOS mode for this process.
Select "Try Ubuntu" from the live session.
Insert the target USB NVMe drive.
Open GParted. Unmount any partitions on the target USB NVMe drive. Create a GPT partition table on the drive.
Create the following partitions on the USB NVMe drive:
A 1MB unformatted partition on the left side (this will be flagged as bios_grub ).
A 300MB FAT32 partition next to the 1MB partition (this will be flagged as boot,esp ).
A 9GB ext4 partition next to the 300MB partition (this will be used for the root filesystem / ).
An additional ext4 partition in the remaining space for /home (optional).
Apply all operations in GParted.
Flag the 1MB partition as bios_grub and the 300MB partition as boot,esp .
Start the Ubuntu installer. Select your language and keyboard layout.
At the "Installation type" screen, select "Something else".
For the "Device for boot loader installation," select the target USB NVMe drive (e.g., /dev/sdx ).
Select the 9GB ext4 partition (e.g., sdx3 ) and click "Change". Set it to use as Ext4 , format it, and set the mount point to / .
If you created a separate partition for /home , select it, set it to use as Ext4 , format it, and set the mount point to /home .
Click "Install Now". Confirm the partitioning changes when prompted.
Complete the user setup (name, username, password, etc.).
Wait for the installation to finish.
Once complete, turn off the computer, re-plug in the internal hard drive, and replace the computer's cover.
After installation, the USB NVMe drive should be bootable. If booting issues occur, you may need to re-install GRUB to the USB drive using the commands sudo mount /dev/sdx3 /mnt followed by sudo grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sdx .
Because I do not want to open the HP case and remove the HD in the middle of Zorin 17 Pro install...
I moved all Zorin 17 Pro install attempts over to:
Acer Aspire 77416-6426 laptop, Windows 7 Pro, 16GB[?] RAM.
I have removed the hard drive containing the Windows 7 OS.
What Swarfender437 posted is great!
However, I cannot get past this: I am getting a system error, no device found error when attempting to boot the Ventoy stick. I do not know how to get past this error.
Did you check the BIOS setting? Is it EFI capable? If your BIOS supports EFI and you select boot option you should see two options, Ventoy and Ventoy with EFISupport. Something I did not realise until recenrly that Zorin 17 is EFI centred and not mbr. I thought @Aravisian had done a Tutorial about this, or possibly another member.
Unsupported Hardware: The AS7741G-6426 features a 1st Gen Intel Core i5 processor (i5-480M) and an Intel HM55 Express chipset. This hardware predates the widespread adoption of UEFI on consumer laptops, with UEFI support becoming standard in later generations.
Legacy BIOS Firmware: Your laptop's firmware is a Legacy BIOS, not a UEFI. The UEFI mode is a feature of the system's firmware, not just the hard drive's partition style. An old BIOS cannot be upgraded or "converted" to a modern UEFI.
Long story short, will have to find an EFI desktop...
I have temporarily shelved this project, the Aravisian tutorial is a very thorough, very deep, very wide, one. I do not understand, cannot visualize, where and when those commands are done.
I am an absolute beginner with Linux in general, and Zorin for sure.
Now, if one wants to discuss Windows 3.1 - Windows 3.11, Windows 7 -- there I can understand and visualize much more.
I have earlier purchased Zorin 17 Pro.
I see that Zorin 18 Pro is available.
Do I need to purchase Zorin 18 Pro, or, since I have Zorin 17 Pro - are updates/upgrades free?
You'll have to buy a new license for Zorin 18 pro, but you'll get a discount. If you just a few weaks ago have purchased Zorin 17 pro you can contact the Zorin group.