How to set the BIOS to boot from a flash drive. How to set the BIOS to boot from a flash drive

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There are sometimes quite unpleasant situations when operating system"flies away." And to restore you need the original disk. If you don’t have one available, you can write the image to a regular flash drive. But here's the problem - what to do when the BIOS does not allow booting from a flash drive? Many users simply do not know what to do and are lost in this matter. Let's try to dot all the i's.

How to enable it in BIOS using the simplest method?

To set these parameters, you must first decide how exactly you will enter the BIOS. The most common way is to use the Del, F2, F12, etc. keys.

However, on the same laptops Sony Vaio access is carried out using special button ASSIST, located on the keyboard panel. On some laptops, the BIOS can only be accessed by calling the primary boot menu using the Esc key.

How can I set the BIOS to boot from a flash drive? Yes, very simple. After calling the I/O system, you need to go to the boot section. Here you need to find the boot priority line, which may have different names, depending on the developer and manufacturer of the BIOS (Boot Device Priority, Boot Sequence, etc.). In any case, something like this will be present. But that's not the point.

What to do if the BIOS does not allow booting from a flash drive?

It also happens that the bootable flash drive is not recognized by the primary I/O system. With what it can be connected? There are usually several reasons for this:

incorrectly recorded image or installation distribution;
damage to the USB drive itself.

To make sure that all the steps for booting from a flash drive are completed correctly, there are several steps you need to take. For now, let’s leave the question of how to enable booting from a flash drive in the BIOS in the background, and move on to pressing problems.

Checking in Device Manager

Let's start with the last point. When checking the device itself for its functionality, there can be two options: either it is faulty itself, or the accompanying driver responsible for recognizing the flash drive by the operating system is missing or installed incorrectly.

In case of malfunctions everything is clear. The device will simply have to be replaced. But here's what to do when it is in working order (according to at least, is detected on another computer or laptop)? We need to check its functionality. And to do this, in the simplest version, you just need to insert it into the appropriate USB 2.0/3.0 port, and then call the standard “Device Manager” through the “Control Panel” or use the devmgmt command in the “Run” menu bar (Win + R).

Let's assume that after inserting into a port, it may either not be displayed in the manager or be displayed with yellow icon, on which it is present. In the second case, everything is simple: you need to install or produce re-installation drivers. It may very well be that the system itself does not find a suitable driver, although it should do this automatically. But this mostly concerns non-standard devices. Flash drives like Transcend are usually recognized immediately.

If the device is not displayed in the corresponding manager, there may also be two reasons: either the corresponding universal USB controller driver is not installed, or the port itself is faulty. Again, you should install the driver (the controller is indicated yellow or is not in the manager at all), or try to plug the flash drive into a different port. It is worth considering that if the device is designed exclusively for data transfer only with USB 3.0 support, when connected to standard port 2.0 it will not be determined.

Formatting USB device partitions

Let’s leave aside the question of how to boot from a flash drive in the BIOS for now, and let’s move on to the procedures, without which even recording an image to install the system on the device may be in vain.

First of all, if the device has problems in operation or no action can be taken with it, you should first format it. In this case, it is not advisable to quickly clear the table of contents, but it is better to full formatting. Only in this case will the file system contained on it ensure correct data transfer and reading.

This operation is performed in standard Explorer. On the device you just need to right-click and select the appropriate line from the menu. In the new window, be sure to uncheck the quick formatting line, and then activate the start of the process. Depending on the total volume, this may take a long time.

Creating a bootable distribution

If we consider the question of how to set boot from a flash drive in the BIOS even more broadly, we cannot ignore the issue of creating a boot image and transferring it to the drive. This can be done using UltraISO utilities or something similar.

However, the original must be used as the source installation disk Windows. Actually, it’s not that difficult, so there’s no point in dwelling on this in detail. And if the BIOS does not allow booting from a flash drive, in the future it all comes down to correctly transferring the image or unpacked distribution files to the drive. Here you will have to tinker a little.

Media preparation

In case of use own funds system, even after formatting with a USB device, you still need to perform a series of additional actions(assuming the image has already been created with original disc using the same UltraISO programs or even 7-Zip, and the flash drive is in working condition and connected to a computer or laptop).

First we call command line(cmd in the “Run” menu), always on behalf of the system administrator. In the console that appears, enter and press the enter button.

After this, use the list disk command, again, followed by pressing the Enter key, after which we look through the available disks and remember the USB device number. To accurately check the USB drive number, you can use the diskmgmt.msc command entered in the Run menu.

Now in the console you need to enter the select disk command and, separated by a space, indicate the number of the disk you are looking for. Next, the device should be cleared of its contents using the clean command.

The next step is to create a primary boot partition. This is done using the create partition primary command followed by entering. After confirmation of a successful operation appears on the screen, use the select partition 1 command, then - active (to activate the selected partition) and finally - format fs=ntfs quick for formatting with selection If you need to create a file FAT systems 32, a similar command is used: format fs=fat32 quick.

The next step is to assign a name to the device using the assign command (the name will be assigned automatically). Finally, enter exit and finish the job. The bootable USB device is ready to use. All that remains is to correctly transfer the distribution files to it.

Transferring data to a flash drive

On at this stage no more configuration required. We don’t yet need a BIOS to boot from a flash drive, but we will need the 7-Zip program. In the very simple version with its help you can correctly copy installation files to the media (roughly speaking, extract them from the image).

Let's launch Zip utility File Manager from the standard “Explorer”, then select the installation distribution image previously created or downloaded from the Internet, specify the USB flash drive as the final device and confirm the actions by pressing the OK button. At the end of the process, the media will be completely ready for use.

Start download

Now let’s move on to the question of how to set the BIOS to boot from a flash drive directly. We reboot the system and at the initial stage press a key or key combination to enter the BIOS settings. Usually these are Del, F2, F12 (for ASUS laptops, BIOS loading from a flash drive is done this way), but other keys or combinations described above can also be used. Depending on the manufacturer of the equipment, you may first need to call up the main menu. This situation is typical for laptops like HP - booting from a flash drive (BIOS) is installed somewhat differently, although the operations themselves are very similar.

In the boot section, look for the Boot Device Priority item and look at the line 1-st Boot Device. By pressing the PgDn key, we select the desired device, after which we exit and save the parameters (as a rule, this is done using the F10 key). This is followed by a reboot, and the installation starts automatically.

However, it is not enough to know how to select boot from a flash drive in the BIOS. It is important to remember that you should call up the settings of the primary I/O system only when a USB device is connected before starting to boot your computer or laptop. Otherwise, the flash drive simply will not be detected.

How to fix problems?

Now let's look at a situation where the device seems to be working, since all the steps described above were supposedly performed correctly, but in fact there is still no boot from a flash drive in the BIOS. What to do in this case?

We use the same command line. Let's assume that the USB device in the system is designated by the letter F, and optical drive- E. Now you need to enter the command E:\Boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 F: (F is a flash drive in our case, and E is a disk drive).

Alternative method

If this does not work, enter the following one by one:

F:\Boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 F:

After this, everything will definitely work as expected.

Compatibility issues

If none of the above methods help, first you should pay attention to the state of the drivers. In the very optimal option you can use programs like Driver Booster, which are able to update drivers automatically.

If everything is fine with them, the reason may be that the user is trying to install a 32-bit system over a 64-bit one. In addition, the file system on the USB drive and the installation distribution may also differ in terms of bit depth. Actually, the flash drive itself may not support USB ports 3.0, in which it is included. Here you need to be very careful.

Instead of a total

That, in fact, is all that concerns how to set boot from a flash drive in the BIOS. Of course, many users may have questions about the advisability of using the system’s own tools for preliminary actions, after all automated programs make it much faster and easier. But here I would like to note that such knowledge is extremely important, and programs in case of failures in Internet access are also not always available.

But prerequisite, as is already clear, is a disk image that is created based on the original or downloaded from the Internet. You can't go anywhere without him. It remains to add that attention should also be focused on the bit depth of the installed system, since the 32-bit version is on top of the 64-bit version without formatting system partition will not install. This is only due to the fact that OS versions require 32 bits and 64-bit modifications require at least NTFS. And the flash drive itself must contain the corresponding file systems FAT or NTFS, not UDP, as is sometimes the case. As for the volume, 4 GB will be quite enough for any system, including even the tenth modification that is gaining popularity.

If you decide to install Windows 10 from a flash drive, then one of the steps that you will need to perform is to specify in the boot settings that the computer should boot from the flash drive. So the question is as follows: How can I set the BIOS to boot from a USB flash drive?

In fact, there is nothing complicated here, except that your BIOS may differ slightly from mine and you will have to look for similar buttons.

So, first of all we need to get into the BIOS. To do this, turn on the computer or reboot it if it is already turned on and immediately after the start we begin to press the DELETE key. Click several times until you see BIOS program. It may look like this:

On different computers On laptops, the button to enter the BIOS may be different. For example, on my laptop you need to use the F2 key. These can also be the F1, F8, ESC and others keys. Of course, in most cases we need to use DELETE or F2. Everything else is less rare cases.

Once the BIOS is launched, you can begin setting up. Using the arrow keys on your keyboard, go to the Boot tab and click Enter. There we will need to select the second item Hard Disk Drives. Open it by pressing the key Enter.

As you can see, we now have the hard drive (HDD) listed in first place.

We go there and indicate your flash drive in the menu that appears. In my case it's USB: Corsair Voyager.

By selecting it, it will appear in first place, instead of the hard drive. Now go back up one level, pressing ESC key.

We are in a familiar window. Here we go to the adjacent Boot Device Priority item and open it.

We go to the first point and click Enter.

We select our USB flash drive again, and it becomes first in the download priority. Great

In others BIOS set to boot from flash drive maybe a little differently. For example, on my laptop, in the BOOT tab, you immediately need to open Boot Device Priority and then use the keys F5/F6 raise the flash drive to first place.

It's even easier on my new computer! Everything there is in Russian and you can use the mouse. In my case, you need to open the SETTINGS section and go to the tab.

In a new window, select your flash drive.

After we have set the boot from the flash drive, all that remains is to save in a way already known to us ( F10 key).

That's all I have for today, I wish you success in booting from a flash drive and installing Windows 10 or any other system on your computer or laptop.

How to boot from a flash drive old computer, which has in the settings BIOS option no boot from USB devices? Today everyone is modern computer devices this possibility is provided, because that’s why they are modern, but if not in the users’ homes, then at least in budgetary institutions There are still old PC builds that can only boot from CD/DVDs, floppy disks or over a network. It is designed to cope with such restrictions free program Plop Boot Manager. This is a bootloader with its own menu, which, in particular, provides the ability to boot from USB drives.

The program can be installed in boot entry MBR hard disk, while the selection menu bootable media will appear every time you boot your computer. Another way to use Plop Boot Manager is to write its disk image to a disc and use it only in cases where it becomes necessary to boot from a flash drive. Once recorded, such a disc will serve as a bridge connecting the computer and USB devices for their interaction. You can boot from a flash drive - be it an operating system installation disk, or a rescue or anti-virus Live-Disk - by selecting it among the options for loading the Plop Boot Manager environment. Whereas the latter will appear on the screen after setting the computer to boot from a CD/DVD.

To create a CD/DVD with the Plop Boot Manager boot menu, we need to download its distribution for recording onto a blank disc. Go to the official website of the program and download the archive from latest version Plop Boot Manager.

Unpack the archive.

Of the files in the archive, we only need the image ISO disk. In our case, the remaining contents of the archive with the Plop Boot Manager installation files in the boot record of the hard disk are not needed.

The next step is to write the disk image to a disc. For these purposes, a lot of different software is provided, you can also use regular means Windows.

A standard CD/DVD burning tool will require a minimum of effort.

We boot the computer from the burned disc, setting the priority in the BIOS to boot from the drive.

An important point: the flash drive must be inserted into the USB port before the Plop Boot Manager menu loads.

The Plop Boot Manager menu is primitive and minimalistic. Navigation in the bootloader environment is carried out using the navigation keys "" "↓", and selecting a boot option is done using the Enter key.

Among possible actions we'll see:

Setup– bootloader settings;
About– information about the version of Plop Boot Manager;
Shutdown– turning off the computer;
HDA Partition No.— loading from one or another disk partition;
USB– loading from a flash drive is actually what we need.

Did this article help you?

Every System Administrator should know how boot computer from USB flash drive. Most often, this skill is needed when installing an operating system. After all Windows distribution does not have to be on a CD. And, for example, it won’t even be possible to install Windows on a netbook any other way, because... it usually does not have a disk drive.

Today I will tell you how to set boot from a flash drive in BIOS various manufacturers. Regardless of which version you have, the procedure will be as follows:

1. We insert our bootable USB flash drive into the USB connector of the computer. It is advisable to insert it into a port located directly on the motherboard, i.e. from the back of the system unit.

2. Turn on the computer and press the key Delete(or F2) to get into the BIOS. Depending on the manufacturer and BIOS version, other keys (Esc, F1, Tab) may be used, so you need to carefully watch the prompts on the screen.

In Bios, we can navigate through tabs and lines only using the keyboard.
Next I will describe in detail this process using the example of different BIOS versions.

Setting up Award Bios to boot from a flash drive

Award Bios:
First, let's check if the USB controller is enabled. Let's go to “Integrated Peripherals”. Use the arrow on the keyboard to move down to the “USB Controller” item. Press the “Enter” key and select “Enable” in the window that appears (also using “Enter”). Opposite “USB Controller 2.0” there should also be “Enable”.
Exit this tab by pressing “Esc”.

Then go to “Advanced BIOS Features” – “Hard Disk Boot Priority”. Now in my example the hard drive comes first, but the flash drive should be there.
We stand on the line with the name of our flash drive (Patriot Memory) and raise it to the very top using the “+” key on the keyboard.
We leave here by pressing “Esc”.

Now on the line “First Boot Device” press “Enter”. We selected “CD-ROM”, but we need to set “USB-HDD” (if suddenly loading from a flash drive does not work, come back here and try setting “USB-FDD”). Let the second device be “Hard Disk”.
Exit this tab by pressing Esc.

Now exit the BIOS, saving the changes. To do this, click “Save & Exit Setup” – press the “Y” – “Enter” key.

Setting up AMI Bios to boot from a flash drive

If, after entering Bios, you see such a screen, it means you have AMI Bios:
First, let's check if the USB controller is enabled. Go to the “Advanced” – “USB Configuration” tab.

Opposite the items “USB Function” and “USB 2.0 Controller” should be “Enabled”. If this is not the case, go to this line and press the “Enter” key. From the list that appears, select “Enabled” (also using “Enter”).
Then exit this tab by pressing “Esc”.

Go to the “Boot” – “Hard Disk Drives” tab.
Now my hard drive is in first place, but I need to put a flash drive here. We go to the first line, press “Enter” and in the window that appears, select our Patriot Memory flash drive.

It should be like this:

We leave here via “Esc”.

Select “Boot Device Priority”. Here first boot device There must be a flash drive.
Press Esc.

Then we exit the Bios, saving all the settings made. To do this, go to “Exit” – “Exit & Save Changes” – “OK”.

Settings Phoenix-Award Bios to boot from a flash drive

If, after entering Bios, you see such a screen, it means you have Phoenix-Award BIOS:
First, let's check if the USB controller is enabled. Go to the “Peripherals” tab – opposite the “USB Controller” and “USB 2.0 Controller” items there should be “Enabled”.
Then go to the “Advanced” tab and opposite “First Boot Device” set “USB-HDD”.

After that, exit the Bios, saving the changes. To do this, go to “Exit” – “Save & Exit Setup” – press the “Y” – “Enter” key
That's practically everything you need to know in order to boot from a flash drive. In my article, I described the process of setting up the BIOS of the most popular versions: Award And AMI. The third example presents Phoenix-Award Bios, which is much less common.
In different BIOS versions The described procedure may vary slightly. But the main thing is that you understand the principle of setting itself.

By the way, I would also like to add: in order to choose which device to boot your computer from, it is not necessary to change the settings in the BIOS. You can immediately call up a special menu after turning on the computer to select boot devices (this can be done by pressing the F8, F10, F11, F12 or Esc key). In order not to guess with the keys, look carefully at the monitor immediately after turning it on. We need to have time to see an inscription like this: “Press Esc to selest boot device.” In my case, it was necessary to press “Esc”. If on your computer BIOS UEFI, and you need to boot from a flash drive - you can check it out.

If you need reset forgotten password user by using bootable flash drive- , how to do it.

Hi all! Today I'm going to tell you how to change the boot order of your computer/laptop devices so that you can boot from an auto-booting USB flash drive, CD/DVD, or from an external hard drive.

Without the knowledge that you will acquire after reading this article, in software repair computer - there is nothing to do. - the first step in operations such as Windows installation, hardware diagnostics, information recovery, etc.

So, let's begin.

I think this article on the site would be incomplete if I didn’t first tell you how, in fact, to get into this very BIOS and what it, in short, is.

Speaking in simple words, BIOS is a program “hardwired” into a special chip on the motherboard that controls the initial boot of the computer and all hardware devices (“hardware”). After pressing the power button, it tests all components of the computer, and only then, if everything is fine, passes the boot baton to the operating system.

There are several types of BIOS that manufacturers install in their motherboards. The main ones are Award, Phoenix, AMI.

So we found out that The BIOS is loaded on the computer first, even before loading the OS. Accordingly, you need to try to get into it immediately after turning on the computer by pressing a certain key. You must press it before starting Windows boot, so if you saw the logo of your operating system on the screen, you didn’t have time (or pressed the wrong key). You need to shut down/restart your computer and try again.

Enter different bios also needed in different ways. Usually, when you turn it on, at the beginning of the computer boot, something like “ Press DEL to run Setup". But it often happens that instead useful information Just a splash screen with the manufacturer's label appears on the screen, and you have to enter the BIOS blindly, going through several options for keys.

On motherboard desktop computers more often BIOS is called by pressing keys DEL or F2 . On laptops, keys can be used to enter bios F1, F2, F10, DEL, ESC. Experiment.

A nuance if you can’t get into bios: for some laptops (Lenovo likes to do this) - the F1-F12 keys are in “functional” mode by default, and you need to press not just F2, but Fn+F2.

That's it in a nutshell. More details about different types I will definitely tell you about bios, their settings, and flashing the BIOS in a separate blog article on the site.

How can I configure booting from external devices in the BIOS?

We are looking for BOOT MENU.

First you need to find BOOT menu. This menu looks different in different BIOSes. We're looking for something like this:

Boot
Boot Settings Configuration
First/Second/Third Boot Device
Boot Device Priority
Boot Sequence

This menu may have different names and be in different places, but the meaning doesn’t change much.

How to change the boot order in the BOOT menu?

Once you find it in your bios boot menu, You need to change the boot order so that the device from which you want to boot (flash drive or CD-ROM) is top of the list.

There are several options here.

Choose required device and move it up by pressing the + or – keys on your keyboard.
Use the F5, F6 buttons to move.
Select the first line, press Enter, select the device to boot first.
In new BIOSes (with mouse control), you can select the boot order of devices by simply dragging the mouse.

If you speak a little English, you can usually see hints on the right or by pressing F1.

Call the boot menu without changing BIOS settings.

It happens that we are lucky and have the opportunity to select a device to boot without delving into the BIOS settings. When loading, look for a message on the screen like:

Press to change boot order
Press F11 to Enter Boot menu
F9 - Boot Device Option,

Feel free to click the indicated button and choose where to download from - this will save you time!

Sometimes you can enable downloading via F12 in the BIOS by changing the parameter value
on Enabled.

This option is often found in Phoenix bios, in the Main or Boot tabs.

How to set boot from CD/DVD in BIOS?

There shouldn’t be any difficulties at this point, just put the CDROM in the most top line boot-menu (specify it as First Boot Device):

How to boot from a flash drive or external hard drive?

With USB flash drives everything is a little more complicated. The fact is that, in essence, an autoboot flash drive is no different from hard drive our computer. Accordingly, we need to change not the boot order of computer devices, but boot order of hard drives.

To do this, you need to find the item “ Hard Disk Boot Priority" or " Hard Disk Drives". By going to this point, you should see your HDD and your flash drive. Swap them so that the flash drive is on top.

Then take a look device boot order- the first place should be loading from Hard Drive(which is now your flash drive).

In the photo below I show how to boot from a Kingston flash drive to AMI bios(laptop ASUS eee PC 1215b):

In some BIOSes (mainly on old computers and laptops), you need to put it first in the boot list. usb device, it could be something like External Device, USB-HDD, USB-Drive, etc. Try it different variants and everything will work out!

Don’t forget to save our settings before exiting the BIOS by finding the “ Save & Exit Setup", or by pressing the F10, Y, Enter keys.

If, after completing manipulations with the boot device, the operating system stops loading, simply return booting from the internal hard drive of your computer to first place 😉 You already know how to do this!

So, in this blog article, the site we have learned, how to set boot from CD/DVD disk, USB flash drive, external HDD , and from any other device.

If there is something you don’t understand, ask questions in the comments, I will be happy to answer them!