I'm having a frustrating issue with installing KDE Neon (and even other distros like Kubuntu) on my dual boot NVIDIA desktop. The installation always hangs at the 'Install Bootloader' step. I've flashed the USB multiple times (at least thirty) and tried five different distros, but nothing seems to work. Interestingly, the same USB installation of KDE Neon runs perfectly on my laptop. Could this issue be related to having Windows installed on a separate drive? My plan was to keep the Windows drive untouched and install Linux on a dedicated hard drive. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
Make sure you're booting the USB installer in UEFI mode rather than legacy mode. You want to confirm your disk is set up with a GPT partition table for a UEFI install. I recommend adjusting your firmware settings to enable UEFI boot only to avoid confusion. If trouble persists, try using the boot-repair tool from a live Ubuntu USB after booting it up—this can sometimes resolve tricky boot issues.
This problem often stems from a firmware bug that prevents new boot entries from being created in NVRAM. It's worth checking your BIOS/UEFI settings to see if there are any clues there.
You might want to try disconnecting or disabling the Windows drive in your firmware settings just to see if that's the root of the issue. It could help simplify the boot process for the Linux installation.
I've already tried making my USB a UEFI drive in Rufus and agency mode; both resulted in hanging at 76% completion. I can't even get to the point where I can run the Live Repair Tool—I'm quite stuck here!