I had a close look at the error message (the one without 3rd party driver installation).
I also get this ACPI error in one of my desktops, but giving it some time, it will eventually boot into the desktop.
Thank you for the suggestions.
The first and last command didn‘t bring out any errors. I also did the chkdsk and restarted to start the process – At 1% right now and the ETA is steady over 10 hours. Should‘ve googled it beforehand to realize a 2TB drive will take up to a day to be checked and fixed and you can‘t cancel the process, but oh well, here I am. 
2 Likes
That is good to know! I will try and wait a bit longer next time I get to that stage.
1 Like
could also be. Luckily I‘m heading to bed soon anyway and, fingers crossed, can wake up to a checked and fixed drive that doesn‘t trouble Zorin? Like an early Christmas miracle? We shall see.
1 Like
Not a lot of terminal work is required on this, really.
Firs things first, check the integrity of the Windows Drive. Look for bad sectors.
Next:: DEFRAG. Thoroughly. NTFS fragments badly and if trying to secure or move a partition, this can really cause problems. Defrag until it will defrag no more.
Once done, you can open your Windows Partition Manager and create a partition for Zorin - you can even preemptively format it to ext4, if you want. I cannot (effectively) write a guide on using the Windows Partition Manager as I do not use it... But it may be more familiar to you than the Linux Equivalent Gparted is.
We can use Gparted, too, if you prefer. It is really, really easy to use.
Once all that is done, boot the LiveUSB of Zorin OS.
Connect to the net and run the installer. Check to ON for downloading third party drivers, etc and the additional updates as you go.
Monitor the installation. If it gets stuck, then try again with the checkmark OFF for third party drives and not connected to the net.
If still no good, we may need to check some BIOS settings.
3 Likes
That is not recommended if you have an SSD. Read:
It says:
The answer is short and simple — do not defrag a solid state drive. At best it won't do anything, at worst it does nothing for your performance and you will use up write cycles. If you have done it a few times, it isn't going to cause you much trouble or harm your SSD. You just don’t want this to be a scheduled, weekly type thing that takes away from the finite number of SSD rewrites. There are other ways to clean up and increase speed on your computer. There are even reasons for formatting an SSD, encrypting SSDs, and ways to increase storage space on a SSD. They all serve a purpose — there just isn’t a reason to defrag an SSD.
Sorry I did not realise that it would take so much time. I usually run those scan after getting my work done and never actually come back to check if it is over (I go to bed).
Thanks for the useful info. That could spare many users a bit of headache.
According to the O.P.'s specs, he is using a 5400 rpm optical Sata Hard Drive.
1 Like
Hmm...Well, I cannot find where he mentioned that but if he has a hard drive then he should go for it.
1 Like
Not directly, but I looked up the specs based on his model in the O.P.
This does not however, detract from the information you provided. One, it is helpful and two, he may have installed an SSD with an adapter.
1 Like
The dskchk didn't change anything unfortunately. I think I might actually try uninstalling Windows and then installing Zorin (and Windows later if I even need it) like you suggested before.
However, I can't figure out how to actually do it. All the information I find is either for reinstalling Windows in the process, or for replacing Windows in the installer of a different OS but I can't do that because of, well, the stuck installer. Any tips?
If you want to completely remove windows...You need to select either "Erase Disk" option or the "something else" option while installing Zorin. In case you opt for the "something else" option, you will need to delete the windows partitions and create a root partition and a home partition (and a swap partition if you want) for Zorin OS. If you have UEFI boot make sure to create an efi partition as well.
Thank you for the heads up about the defrag. I haven't changed anything about the hardware so I guess it's what Aravisian said. And no worries - I also did the chkdsk in the evening and it was done by morning.
1 Like
I use those three commands when Windows does not behave. It works like a charm (every time).
Yeah, the thing is the installer gets stuck there no matter which option I choose, so I'm looking for a way (if it exists) to uninstall Windows without using an OS installer.
Defrag done! I do have Gparted on a flash drive but when I opened it, I couldn't figure out how to really do anything. I couldn't unmount any of the drives and when I looked in properties, it said they were all already unmounted 
That is to say, I'm willing to do it with Gparted, I just don't know what to do.
2 Likes
A pictorial explanation here. I think it is easier to read this than me trying to explain by words.
2 Likes
As for the defragging of SSD, you could still do so-called
defrag freespace without wearing it out.
This is what I use in Windows.
https://www.ccleaner.com/defraggler
1 Like
Personally, I find the Gnome Disks Utility much easier to understand and use. That's why I installed it in Kubuntu as well.
Why?
It is easier to understand because the GUI is similar to the Windows 'Disk management tool'.