How to install Ubuntu Linux on HP Z2 Mini G4 Workstation

[dslate]

Congratulations on getting RHEL 7.5 installed.  The PDF file you mentioned says the HP Z2 Mini G4 should be compatible with Ubuntu 18.04.1, but if so, what did they actually have to do to install it?  As is often the case, "the Devil's in the details".  As you say, I hope our posts are useful to others who run into similar problems.

[DibyenduM]

I think the Linux Ready version comes with UEFI disabled and legacy enabled in the BIOS. I spoke to an HP support engineer and the guy said this was the only setting he could find that was necessary.

I did have to change the BIOS to let the system boot from USB first.

[Ewald_C]

I purchased a Z2 mini G4 and also struggled to install Ubuntu 18.x and/or Linux Mint 19.x.  Despite being an ex-HP employee and experienced in Linux, it took me more than a half day to figure it out.  Many solutions listed like re-formatting the disk in MBR (versus GPT), moving to BIOS legacy mode etc. didn't work and were anyhow not optimal.  This finally worked for me:

- First, and highly recommended: take an image backup of your EFI partition e.g. using Macrium Reflect Free using the pre-installed Windows 10

- Make sure your BIOS is at the latest version (I lost time by not doing this right away, previous versions had defects making it even more difficult, ...)

- Make a bootable USB disk or hard drive from your downloaded copy of the Linux Mint or Ubuntu ISO file.  UNetBootin (diskimage mode) or Rufus work great.    You can do this from the pre-installed WIndows 10.  Make sure it's UEFI enabled (GPT formatted USB). Good reading here.

- Reboot the Z2, hold down F10 to go into BIOS config (Secure Boot settings)

1. Turn off Secure boot but also keep Legacy mode off (Legacy support disable and Secure Boot disabled)
2. Keep  Microsoft UEFI Ca Key enabled. Ubuntu will use it.
3. Do not reset Secure Boot keys to default (you won't be able to boot your Windows image!).   If you accidentally enabled this, recover your EFI partition from the image backup
4. Save config and reboot but hold the F9 key (boot order)

- Boot from the Linux installer on USB stick or disk.

- Don't use the GUI installer, instead open a terminal window (Linux shell)

- Type following commands:

1. ubiquity -b (this runs the installer without installing grub)
2. sudo bash (after the installer finishes, run following commands are root)
3. mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi
4. mount /dev/nvme0np3 /mnt (in my case the TurboZ drive contains the OS: nvme0p1 is EFI partition, nvme0p2 is Windows 10, nvme0p3 is Linux root partition; if you are installing to the SSD, it’s most likely /dev/sda[0123])
5. mount /dev/nvme0np3 /mnt/boot/efi
6. for i in /dev /dev/pts /proc /sys /run; do mount -B $i /mnt$i; done
7. chroot /mnt
8. apt-get update
9. apt-get install ubuntu-system-adjustments (for Linux Mint)
10. apt install --reinstall grub-efi-amd64-signed grub-efi-amd64
11. os-prober (for Linux Mint)
12. update-grub
13. exit

Now the system will boot into the Grub boot manager and one can select Windows or Linux.

Alternatively, it's possible to install Grub2Win to either modify the Windows Boot Manager or have the Win2Grub boot manager instead.

Hope this helps,

Ewald

[dslate]

Thanks Ewald for your detailed post on how you succeeded in installing Linux on an HP Z2 Mini G4. If/when I decide to upgrade my system from Ubuntu 16.04 I may find it useful. But as I didn't want Windows on my machine at all, I purchased the so-called "Linux Ready" version which came with no OS installed.  So any steps that depend on a pre-installed Windows 10 won't work without some modification.

[Ewald_C]

Hello,

fortunately none of the steps really require Windows and there are ready-available solutions on Linux (Debian, Mint, Ubuntu, ...) or Mac.

The only two steps which I performed on Windows were:

- (optional step, but recommended) make an image backup of the (U)EFI partition:  on Linux you can do this with the dd command

- create a bootable Linux USB stick or driver: UNetbootin is available on Linux too.

But since you already run Ubuntu, you can simply upgrade using Software Updater.  That said, there is a slight change you hit the problem since I believe the issue may be with the 18.x version of Grub2 for 64bit AMD/Intel, if not already fixed since there is a defect filed. The Linux-ready version also comes with Secure Boot already disabled (if I am not mistaken), so one less hurdle to take.

[DibyenduM]

Hi Ewald_C,

Thank you for sharing your experience. Unfortunately with the Linux ready version you cannot do anything as the boot loader cannot be installed (hangs there if you try to install Ubuntu 19.x for example). For me it worked with the "certified" version of RedHat i.e. 7.5. RHEL 8.0 hangs too. I think it is to do with BIOS incompatibility with Linux Kernel 4.x and above.

Anyway I would like to update the BIOS. How can I do this? I am on RHEL 7.x.

Thanks and Regards

Dibyendu

[Ewald_C]

Hello Dibyendu,

The bootloader problem is (most likely) the same problem that I encountered installing Linux Mint 19.1 and Ubuntu 18.x.  So you may have success with the steps I documented.  Haven't tried 19.x though. Of course  I already have grub2 installed now, which the installer will for sure recognize.  Hence it will likely install without issues.

I don't run RHEL so I can't try it out for you, but there are at least 2 ways you can upgrade the bios:

• Download the RHEL bios patch and tools here
  Please note that this is not the latest BIOS (01.05.04.0 Rev.A) according to HP release notes.  So you will need to download the latest BIOS version  for Windows OS and then copy the files (Q50_010504.bin and .inf) with 7zip (or similar) to your RHEL BIOS tools installation
• Download the BIOS from the Windows OS driver page, extract with 7z.  Copy the firmware binary file from the HPFWUPDREC directory to a USB key and rename as:  <drive letter>\HP\DEVFW\Firmware.BIN .
  Reboot the system into the update menu (hold ESC) and choose the "upgrade BIOS" menu.

There are indeed kernel issues with ACPI (and some other defects), but as far I can tell, these only generate error messages (e.g. during kernel boot).   I tried fixing the kernel code but discovered that my ACPI knowledge is not sufficient.

I guess you'll find that Ubuntu 19.x will be running fine once you get it installed.

Ewald

[SteveCasicas]

I have now installed Ubuntu 18.4 Server on my Z2 Mini G4 and it works just great, these are the steps I took.

1) Download Ubuntu 18.4 ISO. Use the alternative download from here:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/18.04.3/release/ubuntu-18.04.3-server-amd64.iso
Do NOT use the 'live' ISO

2) Use rufus version 3.8 to create a bootable USB
a) Select the downloaded ISO as the disk image
b) Change the partition type to NTFS
c) When prompted choose DD image as the image type (NOT ISO).

3) Change the Z2 Mini Bios Settings
a) Turn fast boot OFF
b) USB bootable storage ON
c) Set Legacy boot disable Secure boot disable
c) Enable USB in UEFI boot list

4) Power off Z2 Mini

5) Power on Z2 Mini into startup menu (esc at splash screen)

6) Select Boot options. Your bootable USB should now be in the list

7) Select your USB drive

😎 Follow the Ubuntu installation instructions.

NOTE: This is not dual boot so your original windows will be destroyed if you install to the primary SSD!!!

If anyone is interested I have also installed the original Windows 10 Pro and macOS Mojave as virtual machines running under Ubuntu using QEMU/KVM and both work nicely.

Hope this helps