Secure Boot has also been a standard since 2012 however there was a major Grand Unified Bootloader 2 (GRUB2) Security Exploit in 2020 which compromised the integrity of Secure Boot allowing smarter Ransomware to bypass Secure Boot. Secure Boot is designed to prevent Ransomware from hijacking the Bootloader and compromising the Operating System and Operating System Security features before the Operating System Boots. Secure Boot is a Hardware Security Feature that only allows a Bootloader with a Secure Boot Signature to proceed. The words UEFI and BIOS are however often used interchangeably, to prevent confusion I tend to explicitly use the terms UEFI BIOS and Legacy BIOS.
UEFI has been the standard since 2012 and is an upgrade from the Legacy Basic Input Output System (BIOS). Creating a Windows 10 UEFI Bootable USB.Optimising for Desktop (Keyboard and Mouse).
Booting from the Zorin OS Live Bootable USB.Dell Unified Extensive Firmware Interface (UEFI) Settings.Updating your UEFI BIOS from USB using the Dell UEFI BIOS Boot Menu.Create a Non-Bootable USB Flash Drive (Linux).Create a Non-Bootable USB Flash Drive (Windows).Unified Extensive Firmware Interface (UEFI).Create a UEFI Bootable USB in Ubuntu or Zorin OS.Create a UEFI Bootable USB in Windows 10.Installation of Zorin OS 16 on a Dell PC with a UEFI BIOS, Secure Boot and Machine Owner Key (MOK).Zorin OS can be used as a Windows replacement particularly for PCs that are just used for simple tasks such as web browsing, streaming and basic office work. Zorin OS 16 isn't as heavy as Windows 10/11 and is likely to perform better on than Windows 10 on older computers manufactured in 2012-2015 which can be a bit sluggish running Windows 10 and below minimum system requirements for Windows 11. There are no product keys or activation mechanisms which are commonly found in commercial products such as Windows.
Zorin OS is open source software meaning you can download, install and use it without any payment (however you can optionally pay for a token Ultimate version to give financial support for Zorin OS software development). Zorin OS supports a UEFI BIOS with Secure Boot and uses a Machine Owner Key to configure Secure Boot for multimedia audio codecs and proprietary NVIDIA drivers.
Therefore in the vast majority of cases (unless your device is absolutely bleeding edge) all the required drivers will be inbuilt into the Linux Kernel or obtained via Software Updates.
This makes it very easy to use for both traditional Desktop and 2 in 1 Touchscreen Convertible Laptop/Tablet Devices.Īs Zorin is built upon Ubuntu, the mainstream support provided in Ubuntu from chip manufacturers such as Intel, AMD and NVIDIA and OEMs such as Dell and Lenovo is ported over to Zorin OS. Zorin OS is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS that has a Windows like Desktop Environment. Installation of Zorin OS 16 on a Dell PC with a UEFI BIOS, Secure Boot and Machine Owner Key (MOK)