Installer not picking up main drive

Rory · August 22, 2021, 1:32pm

Can you just check, in your BIOS, that you are using UEFI and that Legacy ROM/Boot is turned off.

Then when you reboot and press F12 (or whatever it is for your BIOS) to the boot selection, that you see Zorin as a boot option?

If you don't see the Zorin option then it is the same problem I encountered and fixed by doing this:

Zorin os 16 core don't boot with USB drive

This is what worked for me on a Dell Inspiron laptop.

Flash the Zorin iso file on USB using Balena Etcher, not Rufus. Rufus didn't work for me, I couldn't find the necessary grubx64.efi file but could find it when using Balena to flash the USB.

In Windows (if you're using it):

Disable Fast Startup
Disable Hibernate (I did this through the registry using regedit: see this 3 Ways to Enable or Disable Hibernation on Windows 10 - TechCult

In Dell Bios:
Make sure the Boot Sequence is set to UEFI and Legacy ROM option is off/disabled.
Disable Secure Boot
POST Behaviour - set to 'Thorough'

Follow these steps from the Zorin guys:

Plug in the Zorin OS Installation USB Drive

Go the computer's BIOS settings screen

Navigate to the "Boot" or "Security" section and disable the "Secure Boot" option

Navigate to General > Boot Sequence > Add Boot Option

Select the "Boot Option Name" and insert "Zorin"

Click on "..." in "File Name", select the Zorin OS Installation USB Drive and EFI / Boot / grubx64.efi

Click OK to add the new boot option

With the arrow up/down you can set this boot option as the first one

Press the indicated key to save the BIOS settings and restart

Boot the Zorin OS Installation USB Drive and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation normally

After installing Zorin OS, you can choose to re-enable Secure Boot from the BIOS settings screen if you wish.

Step 8 isn't necessary as you can move up/down, using up/down arrow keys, the list of bootable options when you reboot and F12 for boot options.

When you next boot and F12 you should be able to see Zorin as a boot option. It should now boot and load the Zorin install and it will also find your Windows installation if you have one and you then have the option to install alongside Windows.