Hey everyone. I'm trying to have Zorin installed (Dual Boot W11).
I've shrunk the windows drive (100GB) and I'm using a 16GB usb drive.
I'm following the instructions on YouTube videos; But now, I can't install it on the drive.
Please Help!
That "Unusable" partition might have readable data on it. Have you tried wiping that partition, first, then try formatting it to ext4?
From long-distant and inexact memory I vaguely recall something similar when I was tweaking my Windows disk. The partition/installer software refused to use a portion of the disk because it was in the middle of other active partitions, which looks to be the case here.
Perhaps copying whatever data are on the P3 & P4 drives to an external disk (or copying them to P2 - there looks to be enough free space), deleting & formatting those 3 bottom partiton spaces, creating new partitions and copying the data back (if needed) and then installing Zorin in the final partition where it is not impeded by being "sandwiched" between Windows partitions?
Oh, and it would be foolish of me not to add in big red flashing letters - back up all your data on an external drive before you touch anything at all to do with disk manoeuvring... ![]()
No it's the unallocated part of the partition where the windows is installed. I did exactly what the videos on youtube told me to.
I'm no expert, but I doubt that you're correct. The partitions look (to me) like the Windows boot partition in P1, Windows system in P2, and data in P3 & P4. I may be entirely wrong, but I don't see any way that Windows is installed in the "unusable" space.
Ha... I recommend that giagligli listens to your advice rather than mine... ![]()
Oh, I was responding to giagligli's comments, not yours. I wasn't questioning your advice - I just happened to be writing my response at the same time as you.
Thank you for helping me!!
and something interesting! when I want to make a new partition out of that space, surprisingly this error pops up:
"The selected GPT formatted disk contains a partition which is not of type 'PARTITION_BASIC_DATA_GUID', and is both preceeded and followed by a partition of type 'PARTITION_BASIC_DATA_GUID'."
My drives' style is MBR and the bios is on Legacy.
The drives are both MBR. I checked them in volume tab of the drives. I personally installed W11 with a usb and remember it was MBR. Instead of shrinking C, can I use the other partition (Coding) as the location for Zorin OS? if it's possible (which I guess it is), what should I exactly do? Format the drive? or make it unallocated?
I backed up the data, and deleted the partition (Coding). and hopefully, I was able to use it here in installation type; however, yet, I couldn't find "Install alongside Windows" option, and in manual mode, no partition is assigned to the boot loader.
@Prof.Dr.Daniel Sry I'm still confused and I don't know what to do. Should I install it on the partition? because I think something is wrong here and I don't see the "bootloader" thing assigned to a partition somewhere in the "system" tab.
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when I clicked on Install Now, this error popped up:
No EFI System Partition was found. This system will likely not be able to boot successfully, and the installation process may fail.
Please go back and add an EFI System Partition, or continue at your own risk.
Alright! I changed the boot priority to Legacy first, and fortunately, "Windows 11" tag appeared in the partition table; yet, the ESP is not there. I guess I am left with only one simple option: "MBR to GPT".
Am I not right?
Just an additional note regarding 4 Primary partitions in legacy mode (mbr). This is the maximum per system, even if there is more than one hard drive.
Comment: I find it strange that Windows 11 would install without EFI/UEFI.
Unfortunately the "No ESP Found" error pops up. but doesn't require to format other partitions. Same warning; "PC may not be able to boot".
Can we establish in the BIOS, does it have CSM? Does it have options to change from mixed mode of EFI and legacy, EFI only, Legacy only?
It's an old laptop. Legacy only, UEFI only
So what are the settings in the BIOS? Could you take some photos and upload them to the forum? (Be xareful of your photo settings as the maximum size permitted is 1 Mb per photo.
Amigo no te apresures instalar zorin en la particion de windows por que trae problemas de Boot o algo asi he escuchado lo que si te aconsego es comprate un SSD y si la tienes conviertela en externa es decir comprale una carcasa y lo conectas a parte y luego metes el usb de instalar zorin y cuando llegue el momento de detectar particiones con el SSD externo conectado selecciona la unidad externa eso si asegurate que tenga mas de 50 Gb al menos para que zorin pueda funccionar sin problema si tienes 1 Tb como yo perfecto yo cuando quero zorin doy reninciar sistema y aprieto varias veces F11 aparece donde quero IR a zorin o windows pero ambos estan aislados uno del otro asi no rompes el Booteo de ninguno de los dos..
Thank you everyone, especially @Prof.Dr.Daniel , for your time and the amount of help you provided.
I finally decided to completely let go of Windows and stick to Zorin and I just finished installing it.
Be sure I'll be asking so many questions regarding knowing the deep structure of Linux and the adjustments I'm about to make.
again, Thanks.
Don't forget the Unofficial Manual:
I was experiencing it for like 30 minutes and I guess it was the best moments of me using my laptop.



