Zorin in China?

[Irishlostboy]

So, I am living in China, and I am trying to leave Windows, and like many I have been directed to Zorin. Downloading the ISO file for Zorin, I had no functional option but to download from a Shanghai university mirror. When I tried to download with my VPN on, it tried to download the ISO but the download failed. When I turned my VPN off, it said there would be two files downloaded, but there was only one file. (is this a security risk?)
I got Zorin installed on my new PC, but it cannot successfully update. I run sudo apt upgrade, it does stuff super slow for a few hours and fails. I cannot install shadowsocks through the terminal, or through the flatpack installer gui. I tried to download the deb file on my windows machine, and swap that over to the Zorin machine, but that won't install, as it has a need for dependencies that the OS cannot download.

Has ZorinOS allowed a compromised version of the OS to be hosted on Chinese servers or something? I am completely at sea with this OS. If I cannot get a VPN working, it is basically e-waste for me.

[Ponce-De-Leon]

Welcome to the Forum!

• Did You checked the Checksum of the downloaded ISO?
• Are Secure Boot and Fast Boot in BIOS disabled?
• Is Fast Start-Up in Windows disabled?
• Is Your BIOS in UEFI or Legacy Mode?
• What Tool did You use the create the Bootstick?
• Did You tried a different Mirror Server? For China are 2 available:
  
  
  
  Alternatively try it with a Mirror Server from a different Country.

[zabadabadoo]

@Ponce-De-Leon

Did You checked the Checksum of the downloaded ISO?

Ponce-De-Leon is correct. If concerned whether the downloaded .iso is valid, see this:

Check the Integrity of Your Copy of Zorin OS

If the SHA256 checksum of the .iso file matches that of Zorin published checksum for that version and edition of ZorinOS, then your download is considered verified and correct, not corrupt.

Regarding slow or no updates. Is your Software Updater pointing to a Regional Server e.g. located in Asia, or is it set as "Main Server"?

[Irishlostboy]

Thanks for the reply. I found that it was connected to China server. I changed it to Main server.... which is clearly blocked in China.
I checked the HASH thing on the iso file I installed. It did not match.
I got:
934DF8549B44F8D72DB8348FDDD1B08F99CDD46CFEE8660206FA9EC814ACE69D

[zabadabadoo]

@Irishlostboy

I checked the HASH thing on the iso file I installed. It did not match.
I got:
934DF8549B44F8D72DB8348FDDD1B08F99CDD46CFEE8660206FA9EC814ACE69D

From my records:
Zorin OS 18 Core 64-bit (r2):
SHA256 checksum
934df8549b44f8d72db8348fddd1b08f99cdd46cfee8660206fa9ec814ace69d

So the SHA256 Checksum you quoted actually matches that of the r2 version of Z18 Core, not the r3 version.

The SHA256 checksum for Zorin OS 18 Core 64-bit (r3) is:
09959ce793b8a065b70207e46cd646b1de805fc7e0bad925ce28df6e04b7f807

I am sure we have had users from China posting on the forum previously who have installed ZorinOS on their PC's there.

Can you try and download the Z18Core r3.iso again. Maybe the file on the Mirror Server has not been updated to the latest r3 version yet. But you should nevertheless be able to update a Core r2 installation to r3 and beyond via Software Updater, or using the terminal update commands.

EDIT: @azorin Can you confirm which revision of ZorinOS 18 Core r2 or r3 is now on the Shianghai Mirrors. OP seems to have downloaded older r2.

[Ponce-De-Leon]

On both chinese Mirros are the r3 ISO's available: