Option for install with Windows not available

Installing Zorin OS
1

I want to keep my Win10 install, but I think I did something.

1st attempt: I inadvertently and stupidly tried to install onto a portable drive. It hung for an hour before I looked more closely and pulled the drive out.

2nd attempt: Got past the "with Windows" option, but started playing around with the partition size, and decided to go back to the smart function thing. That turned out to be confusing, but when I backtracked I couldn't find the "with Windows" option, only saw the "delete everything" option.

3rd, 4th attempt: Same, only get the "delete everything" option.

Any ideas?

2

It looks like Zorin install can't see that windows is there. It was obviously there when you did your 2nd attempt.

Could you, perhaps, have done something to the windows partition or boot loader partition when you were "playing around with the partition size"?

Can you get into Gparted using the "try Zorin" option and post what your drive partitions look like now?

3

This is what my disk status looks like in Windows. I'm fairly sure the unallocated 33.59 GB represents my attempted (successful?) partition during my failed installs, but I don't understand why it doesn't show up in the volume listing.

disk partition
disk partition985×561 92.3 KB

4

Windows works fine, so I don't think I damaged the Windows partition.

5

We’ll that’s a relief that windows still works as it should.

You can try installing Zorin to the unallocated partition using the something else option. You should reformat it to ext4 and use / as the mount point. You can do all that through the something else option Use the + button. Point the boot loader at the efi partition.

However it would be better if your Zorin partition were bigger. Problem is your windows partition is so full.

See if others have suggestions too. May be a bit slow given Thanksgiving and the time difference for those in Europe.

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6

You do have secure boot and fast boot disabled, right?

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7

I'll try this, thanks.

I just want to try it out for a while. If I get serious about Zorin I'll get another internal drive for my desktop computer and put it on that.

8

I'm not sure what this is, but I'll look for these options next time I try an install.

9

Fast boot is a windows tool that stops your pc from fully shutting down so it can reboot more quickly. It can be disabled in windows settings.

Secure boot stops programs that aren’t Microsoft registered (such as Zorin) from booting. It can be disabled in your b
BIOS settings before you boot from your thumb drive.

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10

I'd prefer not to mess with the BIOS if at all possible. At least for now. I'm just in the early stages of this, so I'll see how this plays out down the road.

11

Especially if you are not very experienced, it is easier to disable secure boot while using Linux. It often causes problems with drivers not loaded correctly or prevent other OS to boot.
Alternatively, you could create a MOK key.

Here is a thread about the mok registry in Zorin 17 - I haven't used it yet myself.

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12

Don't be afraid of changing things in your BIOS. Most is basically toggling enable/disable on a setting and you can easily change back the same way.

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13

Basic pre-installation advice can be found here: Before you install