New install alongside windows doesn't enter grub

Installing Zorin OS
1

Here is the pastebin

boot-repair-4ppa2081-zorin1 [20260213_2130]

============================= Boot Repair Summary ==============================

Recommended repair: ____________________________________________________________

The default repair of the Boot-Repair utility will restore the [(generic mbr)] MBR in /dev/sda, and make it boot on sda1.
Additional repair will be performed: unhide-bootmenu-10s win-legacy-basic-fix

Quantity of real Windows: 2

=========================== Restore MBR of /dev/sda ============================

dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr/mbr.bin of=/dev/sda
parted /dev/sda set 1 boot on
Information: You may need to update /etc/fstab.

SET@_progressbar1.pulse()

Boot successfully repaired.

You can now reboot your computer.

============================ Boot Info After Repair ============================

=> Syslinux MBR (5.00 and higher) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
=> No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc.
=> No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdd.
=> No known boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sde.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system:       ntfs
Boot sector type:  NTFS
Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:  
Boot files:        /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

File system:       ntfs
Boot sector type:  Windows 7/2008: NTFS
Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:  Windows 7
Boot files:        /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system:       ntfs
Boot sector type:  Windows 7/2008: NTFS
Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:  
Boot files:

sdc1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system:       ntfs
Boot sector type:  NTFS
Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:  Windows 10 or 11
Boot files:        /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sdc2: __________________________________________________________________________

File system:       ntfs
Boot sector type:  NTFS
Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:  
Boot files:

sdd1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system:       ntfs
Boot sector type:  Windows 7/2008: NTFS
Boot sector info:  According to the info in the boot sector, sdd1 has 
                   3518998527 sectors, but according to the info from 
                   fdisk, it has 7813965823 sectors.
Operating System:  
Boot files:

sde1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system:       ntfs
Boot sector type:  NTFS
Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:  
Boot files:

================================ 3 OS detected =================================

OS#1 (windows): Windows 10 (boot) on sda1
OS#2 (windows): Windows 7 on sda2
OS#3 (windows): Windows 10 or 11 on sdc1

================================ Host/Hardware =================================

CPU architecture: 64-bit
Video: Park [Mobility Radeon HD 5430/5450/5470] from Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
Live-session OS is Zorin 64-bit (Zorin OS 18, noble, x86_64)

===================================== UEFI =====================================

BIOS/UEFI firmware: V3.6(8.15) from American Megatrends Inc.
This live-session is in Legacy/BIOS/CSM mode (not in EFI mode).

============================= Drive/Partition Info =============================

Disks info: ____________________________________________________________________

sda : notGPT, no-BIOSboot, has-noESP, not-usb, not-mmc, has-os, has-win, 2048 sectors * 512 bytes
sdb : notGPT, no-BIOSboot, has-noESP, usb-disk, not-mmc, no-os, no-wind, 2048 sectors * 512 bytes
sdc : notGPT, no-BIOSboot, has-noESP, not-usb, not-mmc, has-os, has-win, 2048 sectors * 512 bytes
sdd : is-GPT, no-BIOSboot, has-noESP, usb-disk, not-mmc, no-os, no-wind, 2048 sectors * 512 bytes
sde : notGPT, no-BIOSboot, has-noESP, usb-disk, not-mmc, no-os, no-wind, 2048 sectors * 512 bytes

Partitions info (1/3): _________________________________________________________

sda1 : is-os, 64, nopakmgr, no-docgrub, nogrub, nogrubinstall, no-grubenv, noupdategrub, not-far
sda2 : is-os, 64, nopakmgr, no-docgrub, nogrub, nogrubinstall, no-grubenv, noupdategrub, end-after-100GB
sdb1 : no-os, 64, nopakmgr, no-docgrub, nogrub, nogrubinstall, no-grubenv, noupdategrub, end-after-100GB
sdc1 : is-os, 64, nopakmgr, no-docgrub, nogrub, nogrubinstall, no-grubenv, noupdategrub, end-after-100GB
sdc2 : no-os, 64, nopakmgr, no-docgrub, nogrub, nogrubinstall, no-grubenv, noupdategrub, end-after-100GB
sdd1 : no-os, 64, nopakmgr, no-docgrub, nogrub, nogrubinstall, no-grubenv, noupdategrub, end-after-100GB
sde1 : no-os, 64, nopakmgr, no-docgrub, nogrub, nogrubinstall, no-grubenv, noupdategrub, end-after-100GB

Partitions info (2/3): _________________________________________________________

sda1 : isnotESP, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, bootmgr, is-winboot, ntfs
sda2 : isnotESP, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, haswinload, no-recov-nor-hid, no-bmgr, notwinboot, ntfs
sdb1 : isnotESP, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, no-bmgr, notwinboot, ntfs
sdc1 : isnotESP, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, haswinload, no-recov-nor-hid, no-bmgr, notwinboot, ntfs
sdc2 : isnotESP, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, no-bmgr, notwinboot, ntfs
sdd1 : isnotESP, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, no-bmgr, notwinboot, ntfs
sde1 : isnotESP, part-has-no-fstab, no-nt, no-winload, no-recov-nor-hid, no-bmgr, notwinboot, ntfs

Partitions info (3/3): _________________________________________________________

sda1 : not--sepboot, no---boot, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, no--grub.d, sda
sda2 : not--sepboot, no---boot, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, no--grub.d, sda
sdb1 : not--sepboot, no---boot, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, no--grub.d, sdb
sdc1 : not--sepboot, no---boot, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, no--grub.d, sdc
sdc2 : not--sepboot, no---boot, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, no--grub.d, sdc
sdd1 : not--sepboot, no---boot, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, no--grub.d, sdd
sde1 : not--sepboot, no---boot, part-has-no-fstab, not-sep-usr, no---usr, part-has-no-fstab, no--grub.d, sde

fdisk -l (filtered): ___________________________________________________________

Disk sda: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk identifier: 0xee5f4ca4
Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
sda1 * 2048 206847 204800 100M 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
sda2 206848 976771071 976564224 465.7G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
Disk sdc: 894.25 GiB, 960197124096 bytes, 1875385008 sectors
Disk identifier: 0x18995ed1
Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
sdc1 2048 1874324294 1874322247 893.7G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
sdc2 1874325504 1875380223 1054720 515M 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE
Disk sdb: 1.82 TiB, 2000398933504 bytes, 3907029167 sectors
Disk identifier: 0x5dfe9c13
Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
sdb1 2048 3907024895 3907022848 1.8T 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
Disk sde: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk identifier: 0x6828bb54
Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
sde1 * 206848 1953522687 1953315840 931.4G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
Disk sdd: 3.64 TiB, 4000752599040 bytes, 7813969920 sectors
Disk identifier: FAE4D349-D105-46BA-9F58-B5E6F1698B6D
Start End Sectors Size Type
sdd1 2048 7813967871 7813965824 3.6T Microsoft basic data

parted -lm (filtered): _________________________________________________________

sda:500GB:scsi:512:512:msdos:ATA ST3500418AS:;
1:1049kB:106MB:105MB:ntfs::boot;
2:106MB:500GB:500GB:ntfs::;
sdb:2000GB:scsi:512:4096:msdos:Seagate BUP Slim BL:;
1:1049kB:2000GB:2000GB:ntfs::;
sdc:960GB:scsi:512:512:msdos:ATA SanDisk Ultra II:;
1:1049kB:960GB:960GB:ntfs::;
2:960GB:960GB:540MB:ntfs::msftres;
sdd:4001GB:scsi:512:4096:gpt:WD easystore 25FA:;
1:1049kB:4001GB:4001GB:ntfs:easystore:msftdata;
sde:1000GB:scsi:512:512:msdos:TOSHIBA External USB 3.0:;
1:106MB:1000GB:1000GB:ntfs::boot;

Free space >10MiB: ______________________________________________________________

sde: 0.03MiB:101MiB:101MiB

blkid (filtered): ______________________________________________________________

NAME FSTYPE UUID PARTUUID LABEL PARTLABEL
sda
├─sda1 ntfs 4E4C2D3F4C2D2367 ee5f4ca4-01 System Reserved
└─sda2 ntfs B6E832DAE8329897 ee5f4ca4-02
sdb
└─sdb1 ntfs 5CF297B0F2978CC0 5dfe9c13-01 Seagate Backup Plus Drive
sdc
├─sdc1 ntfs F680AAAA80AA70B3 18995ed1-01
└─sdc2 ntfs CC364AAF364A99FA 18995ed1-02
sdd
└─sdd1 ntfs C032403C324039A4 b3d006e9-af3f-4f6d-82bd-64b2602029a9 easystore easystore
sde
└─sde1 ntfs F26289DB6289A547 6828bb54-01 TOSHIBA EXT

Mount points (filtered): _______________________________________________________

         Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/sda1 64.3M 36% /mnt/boot-sav/sda1
/dev/sda2 84G 82% /mnt/boot-sav/sda2
/dev/sdb1 612.6G 67% /mnt/boot-sav/sdb1
/dev/sdc1 113.7G 87% /mnt/boot-sav/sdc1
/dev/sdc2 87.9M 83% /mnt/boot-sav/sdc2
/dev/sdd1 795.9G 79% /media/zorin/easystore
/dev/sde1 361.3G 61% /mnt/boot-sav/sde1

Mount options (filtered): ______________________________________________________

/dev/sda1 fuseblk rw,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096
/dev/sda2 fuseblk rw,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096
/dev/sdb1 fuseblk rw,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096
/dev/sdc1 fuseblk rw,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096
/dev/sdc2 fuseblk rw,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096
/dev/sdd1 ntfs3 rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8
/dev/sde1 fuseblk rw,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096

======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc =========================

Unknown MBR on /dev/sde

sprunge.us ko ()

2

Windows OS is installed as MBR (legacy) and probably, the BIOS settings are set to Legacy.

However, you burned the Zorin OS .iso as a bootable EFI - and your SDD is set to EFI/GPT. There is no EFI partition to install to, since Windows is MBR.

Can you try burning the .iso as MBR (Legacy), not EFI, and then install?

3

So I have to reinstall? I burned the iso I downloaded to dvd and installed from it.
I don't remember saying anywhere that the install wasn't legacy. Was I even asked?

4

The burner or etcher should have a setting for it. I do not know which Disk Burner you used...

Before performing a disk burn and reinstall, you might try this method:

5

I used ImgBurn on windows 10. If my install was EFI I can't get into it to change it now. I'm sure my BIOS is legacy--I can't upgrade it by the methods i saw online because my disk has too many partitions.

6

MBR only allows up to Four bootable partitions.

Given what you describe, maybe creating a new disk and installing is the easiest option.

If you have a USB stick - and can burn a bootable LiveUSB of Zorin OS - you can boot from it, mount the drive and then run the commands.
And, I think it is possible to run a command from Windows OS - I believe I saw a member post something about this in the last few months...

7

I really wanted to install on a different drive but was only asked about partitions on this one during the install. I do have WSL and maybe can mount the drive from there. I sound like I know more than I actually do. I'm learning as I go along but was hoping for something that would just work. My previous dual boots were on old 32 bit laptops and always went right into Grub. If I manage to mount the proper disk, what commands should I use?

8

Just for clarity - you mean by booting a LiveUSB or LiveDisk, right?

To convert from EFI to MBR, you must boot on a LiveUSB. Once Booted, use Try Zorin, then open a terminal.
Run:
Replace sdX with actual root partition
sudo mount /dev/sdXn /mnt
sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
sudo chroot /mnt

Install BIOS GRUB to MBR:
sudo grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sdX
Generate GRUB config:
sudo update-grub

9

I was going to mount /dev/sda from WSL (debian running under windows 10)
If I read the pastebin properly, that's where Grub is. The pastebin says something about updating /etc/fstab. I assume that will be on /dev/sda.

But it's not telling me where Zorin was installed. Maybe I can reinstall it on /dev/sda2 somehow.

10

hmmm...
Your comment made me scroll up and look.
According to your pastebin - Zorin OS is not installed at all. All drives are NTFS, with none as ext4... And there are no grub files at all.

I think maybe starting at the beginning is the best option.
When you went to install Zorin OS, did the installer finish?
Did it display any errors?
Or is the Boot repair showing the wrong disk, entirely?

11

Boot repair might be showing the wrong disk--the install went fine.
I just went into WSL and there's no /etc/fstab so that method won't work.
Is there a way I can install from my nice dvd to /dev/sda2?

12

There's a regulard HD and theses a separate ssd. Not sure where boot repair looked.

13

I see sda with two partitions.
sdb, one partition.
sdc with two partitions.
sdd with 1 partition.

How many drives do you have connected?

14

Here's what I can see from WSL:
jimb@speedy-ssd:/etc$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 388.6M 1 disk
sdb 8:16 0 186M 1 disk
sdc 8:32 0 3G 0 disk [SWAP]
sdd 8:48 0 1T 0 disk /mnt/wslg/distro
jimb@speedy-ssd:/etc$

Not sure what this is telling me.

15

That is because it is listing virtualization drives, not the actual drives. That is only within WSL.
The proper method is to LiveBoot. Can you do this using the DVD you burned Zorin OS to initially?

16

Yes, but not until tomorrow. Does it have gparted on it?

17

Yes and in Gparted or in the Installer - you can select the down arrow for the Drop Down Menu, on the header that shows the current disk, to switch disks.

18

Some Tools have a dedicated Option for choosing between MBR and GPT. Because You are on Windows Rufus would be a good Choice. There You can set it up directly:

Bildschirmfoto vom 2025-10-21 20-19-18
Bildschirmfoto vom 2025-10-21 20-19-18935×1216 209 KB

19

After trying lots of things, I can't find the install anywhere--yet I received no error messages during it (not a good thing!). So I'm going to start over from scratch.

When I'd tried to install alongside Windows 10, it didn't show both my disks--is there any way to make it do that I can try this time?
(Preferably using the same DVD)