How to set the BIOS to boot the system from a flash drive. Boot selection process in AMI BIOS
You've probably noticed that now in many articles on fixing various errors in Windows or restoring it, they almost always recommend using a bootable flash drive with operating system installation files or a LiveCD. And only then do they remember to use the installation CD.
In principle, this is not surprising, since today DVD drives have already faded into the background, and they were naturally followed by CD/DVD discs. For example, when assembling a new computer, few people additionally buy and install a DVD drive; by the way, many PCs that are sold already assembled do not have a drive installed either. Well, I’m generally silent about modern laptops or netbooks; in most models the drive has been missing for a long time.
Just in this instruction we will look at several examples of how to set boot from a flash drive in different BIOS versions. In this article you can find examples both for the earliest versions of BIOS and for some modern UEFI versions from various manufacturers.
Procedure for installing boot from a flash drive in BIOS
Setting up booting from a flash drive in different BIOS versions may differ slightly, but in principle the algorithm itself is the same for everyone.
- We write or with ;
- We connect the prepared USB drive to the computer. If you are planning to install Windows, I recommend connecting the drive to USB 2.0, that is, to ports that are painted black (blue is USB3.0). So, sometimes the system may refuse to start installation due to the lack of drivers for USB3.0 to which the device was connected;
- Turn on or restart the computer and enter the BIOS using the " Del" or " F2" If none of these keys work, you can find options that can help you here;
- In the BIOS, open the “Boot” section, where in the list of boot devices we move the flash drive to the first place;
- By pressing the “F10” key and saving the changed parameters, we try to boot from the device we connected;
In general terms it looks something like this. Well, now let's specifically go through each BIOS version.
Booting from a USB flash drive into Pheonix AwardBIOS
AwardBIOS is a rather old version of the BIOS, and today it is very rare to come across it, but it still happens sometimes.
So, having entered the BIOS, we need to go to the “” tab.
Initially, the hard drive will be in the first positions, or if you have several of them, then all hard drives will be displayed first and only then the connected USB device. Here you need to use the " + » Move the flash drive to the very first line.
Then we return to the previous menu using the “ Esc" and in the parameter " First Boot Device" select the value " USB-HDD" (By the way, some versions of this BIOS may not have such a line, so you can try selecting either USB-FDD or USB-CDROM).
Well, in the parameter “ SecondBootDevice » set « HardDisk».
By pressing F10, save the settings and restart the computer.
Booting from a flash drive in another version of Pheonix AwardBIOS
Also, there are several more versions of Pheonix AwardBIOS, in which the principle of installing boot from a flash drive is similar, but the menu itself is slightly different.
We'll start by checking whether the USB controller is directly enabled:
Installing boot from USB flash drive:
By the way, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that this BIOS version may have several more options for installing boot from a flash drive, for example:
- In some cases, it is enough to simply select “USB-HDD” in the “Boot” section as the first device from which the computer will boot.
- Sometimes a flash drive can be found not in the hard drive settings, but in the “Removable Drives” subsection;
How to set boot from a USB drive in AMI BIOS
AMIBIOS is another version of BIOS, which is often found on not the latest motherboards. boards. In general, if once in the BIOS its appearance is the same as in the screenshot below, then to install the flash drive as a boot device you need to follow these steps:
In this BIOS version, also, the flash drive can be found not only in “ Removable Drives", but also in "", so be careful.
We set boot from a flash drive in UEFI BIOS Gigabyte
Now, let's move on to more modern types of BIOS, which can be found on later models of motherboards from various manufacturers.
Well, right now we will start with the UEFI BIOS on the Gigabyte motherboard.
So, having entered the BIOS using the same “Delete”, “F2” or “Esc” keys, go to the “ tab BIOS Features" Here you can see that initially booting from a flash drive will only be available in UEFI mode.
Well, since this option won’t suit most people, because the regular Legacy mode has a higher priority, we need to change it. To do this, go to the line “ Hard Drive BBS Priorities".
IN " Boot Option #1"We set a bootable USB flash drive instead of a hard drive, respectively, in " Boot Option #2", HDD must be installed.
After that, in the previous menu you will be able to select a flash drive as a boot device, but without the UEFI prefix.
There is another boot option, which, it seems to me, is much easier to use, but its trick is that it serves for a one-time boot from a USB drive, that is, the next time you reboot you will have to choose to boot from it in the same way again.
In order to use it, you need to move to the “ Save & Exit" and in " Boot Override» select the required device to boot the computer.
The beauty of this option is that it does not require any additional changes to the BIOS settings, and later you simply do not have to bother with returning the boot settings to their original position. By the way, this option is very similar to the same Boot menu, although in this case we will have to go directly to the BIOS.
Booting from a flash drive on ASUS motherboards
The BIOS on ASUS motherboards also has several options for starting a computer from a bootable USB flash drive with Windows.
On more modern motherboards the principle is the same. Below I will show an example using the same ASUS.
After entering the BIOS, on the initial screen we again need to use the mouse to move the priority device to the very top. Up because this menu has moved to the right side and become vertical.
You can also use the boot menu, as I showed in the previous example.
By going to " AdvancedMode ( F7)" and going to the tab " Boot", you can change the download priority manually in the " Boot Option Priorityties ».
Or simply select the desired device and start downloading from it in the “ Boot Override", which is located in the same "Boot" tab.
Booting from a flash drive in BIOS on an MSI motherboard
Regarding the motherboard in MSI, here we can set the boot from a flash drive in two ways.
In general, I hope that you will find an option that suits you, and that you will be able to set boot from a flash drive in your BIOS without any problems.
Hello friends! Today I will talk about how to BIOS configure booting from a flash drive, and what to do if this same flash drive is not displayed in the BIOS settings. I already wrote an article about that, but today I want to write in more detail about that how to boot from a USB drive, having previously configured the BIOS.
What is it for? Well, if you are reading this, then I think you already know why you need it. Well, if not, then I’ll tell you a secret: you can create bootable flash drives and install operating systems from them or launch other bootable disk images, for example. This is very convenient; flash drives are more resistant to mechanical damage compared to disks, and they can have more memory.
Before you start writing the instructions, be sure to read the article, it says how to enter the BIOS.So, you have already created a bootable USB flash drive and are ready to boot from it. First of all, we need to configure the system so that our flash drive comes first, and the system starts from it first. There is one joke here, through which questions arise such as the flash drive is not displayed in the BIOS settings.
Does BIOS not boot from a flash drive?
It's very simple, when the USB device is not connected to the computer, it will not appear in the boot options.
Setting boot from flash drive in BIOS
We do this: connect the flash drive, go to the BIOS (if you don’t know how, read the article above, usually these are the DELETE or F2 keys). And go to the page with setting the order of boot devices. I'll just show screenshots. Remember, everything may look different for you, and menu items may have different names. Look for the item with the word “Boot”.
If the flash drive is connected, we will see it in the list.
Now we need to install the flash drive in the first place in the boot list. To do this, press “Enter” and select “” .
We save all our changes by pressing F10 and restart the computer. If everything is done correctly and the USB drive is created correctly, the USB drive will begin loading. It may indeed be that USB is not displayed in the settings, most likely because you have an old computer and it does not support this function.
After a boring story about setting up the BIOS, I would like to advise you to think about the security of your home or office, and video surveillance, in my opinion, is the best means of protection. Moreover, with new technologies you can install IP video cameras, which will give you many new and modern opportunities. For example, creating a network from several cameras and even broadcasting the video to the Internet.
Also on the site:
Updated: January 12, 2015 by: admin
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 external hard drive.
Without the knowledge that you will acquire after reading this article, there is nothing to do in computer repair software. - the first step in such operations as installing Windows, diagnosing hardware, restoring information, 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.
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 computer components, 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 Windows starts loading, so if you see the logo of your operating system on the screen, you did not have time (or you pressed the wrong key). You need to shut down/restart your computer and try again.
You also need to enter different bios differently. 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 of 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 motherboards of desktop computers most 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. I will definitely tell you in more detail about the different types of 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?
After you find the boot menu in your bios, you need to change the boot order so that the device you want to boot from (flash drive or CD-ROM) is at the top of the list.
There are several options here.
- Select the desired device and move it up by pressing the + or – keys on the 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 bootorder
Press F11 to Enter Boot menu
F9 - Boot Device Option,
Feel free to press 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 very top line of the 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 hard drive boot order.
To do this, you need to find the item “ Hard Disk Boot Priority" or " Hard Disk Drives". Having entered this item, you should see your hard drive 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 the Hard Drive (which is now your flash drive).
In the photo below I show how to boot from a Kingston flash drive into AMI bios (ASUS eee pc 1215b laptop): 
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 different options 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 learned, how to set boot from CD/DVD, 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!
Most often, we think about the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) only when we need to reinstall the operating system and need to somehow set it to boot from a disk or flash drive. I often wrote about this in articles such as:, and others. Now I want to put it together and refer only to this article when necessary. This article will be useful for all BIOS versions and for different companies. A kind of single reference book
The first thing you need to know is that BIOS is divided by manufacturer and version.
To change boot method in BIOS- You must first enter it.
You can, of course, find out what version and manufacturer of your BIOS is from the manual that came with your computer.
You can also find out by looking at the line at the top of the black screen when loading (the manufacturer will be indicated there).
Well, then enter the BIOS, knowing what it is for you.
Some BIOS versions do not have such a screen showing lines. There’s just a logo there and at the bottom it says something like “Press F2 to enter SETUP,” which means press F2. If there is just a logo and there are no inscriptions, press ESC, and then del or f2
Here is a small list of manufacturers and keyboard shortcuts for entering BIOS:
Also at the bottom of the black screen there are keys for entering the BIOS and for displaying a list that contains available devices for booting and so that you can boot from it. But more about him at the end of the article.
As you can see, most often you need to press the key F2 or Del.
Now you need to load a flash drive or disk.
Let's look at a few examples that differ from the BIOS manufacturer.
Setting up Award Bios to boot from a flash drive or disk:
The main window looks like this, in which we need the second item:
Further depends on the firmware version. In one case, you will need to go to an item similar to “Boot Seq & Floppy Setup”
in another case, you don’t need to go anywhere - everything will be right before your eyes
Clicks on First Boot Device(First boot device), click Enter and a window like this will appear
in which you need to select the disk or flash drive that will launch first. You can specify a Second boot device, for example, but usually the BIOS itself fills in this data.
On a note:
If you select a flash drive, then, among other things, you also need to go to the “Hard Disk Boot Priority” item and move our flash drive to the very top using the “+” and “-” or “PageUp” and “PageDown” buttons:
It is also worth remembering that In order for the BIOS to see the flash drive, it must be connected before turning it on or before rebooting
Then press “F10” (see the exact key in the hint at the bottom of the screen called “Save”, “Exit”) or go to the main BIOS menu and select “Save and Exit Setup”. In the red window, select “Yes” using the “Y” button on the keyboard and press “Enter”
The computer will reboot and when booting from the Windows installation disk, the following request may appear for a few seconds: “Press any key to boot from CD or DVD...”
Which translates to “Press any button to boot from a CD or DVD.”
This means that if you do not press any button on the keyboard at this moment, the computer will continue to boot from the next device on the list.
Another version of this BIOS:
I've only seen this on old computers from ten years ago, before 2003. The main menu looks like this:
To configure the boot order, you need to go to the menu BIOS FEATURES SETUP:
At this point, use the PageUp and PageDown buttons (or Enter and arrows) to select what to put first - CDROM or flash drive. DO NOT forget about the second and third device
And further:
How to choose what to boot from in AMI BIOS
If, after entering the Bios, you see such a screen, it means you have AMI BIOS:
Use the right arrow button on the keyboard to move to the Boot tab:
Go to "Hard Disk Drives" and in the line "1st Drive" (may be called "First Drive") select a disk or flash drive:
Next, go to "Boot Device Priority", go to "1st Boot Device" and select from the list what you selected in the previous tab (i.e. if you selected a flash drive in Hard Disk Drives, then you need to specify it here too. This is important! )
To boot from a CD/DVD disk, you need to select “ATAPI CD-ROM” (or simply “CDROM”) in this menu; there is no need to go to the previous “Hard Disk Drives” menu.
Now we save the results with the “F10” button or go to the BIOS “Exit” section and select “Exit Saving Changes”.
Another AMI BIOS, but everything is clear here:
Setting up Phoenix-Award Bios to boot from a flash drive
If, after entering the Bios, you see a screen like this, then you have a Phoenix-Award BIOS:
Go to the “Advanced” tab and opposite “First Boot Device” set what you need (flash drive or disk):
Save with F10 key
Setting up EFI (UEFI) Bios with a graphical interface for booting from a flash drive
Now this won’t surprise anyone. Almost all new computers are equipped with a similar shell. You can read more about it in the article.
When loading, at the bottom of the screen there is a “Boot Priority” section, where you can use the mouse (by dragging) the pictures to set the desired boot order.
You can also click the “Exit/Advanced mode” button in the upper right corner and select Advanced mode in the window that appears.
Next, go to the “Boot” tab and in the section Boot Option Priorities in the “Boot Option #1” field, set the default boot device to be a flash drive, DVD-ROM, hard drive or other available device.
How to boot from a flash drive or disk without entering BIOS
This is what I wrote about almost at the very beginning of the article.
This is when you need to press a key once and a window will appear with a boot selection. This method does not change the BIOS settings.
Usually Award BIOS prompts you to press "F9" to bring up the boot menu, and AMI asks you to press "F8". On laptops this may be the “F12” key.
In general, look at the bottom line and look for items like “Press F8 for BBS POPUP” or “Press F9 to Select Booting Device after POST”.
Why can't I boot from a flash drive into BIOS?
Possible reasons: 
On older computers there is no way to boot from USB flash drives at all. If a newer BIOS does not exist, then the project may help.
1) Download the latest version of "Plop Boot Manager" from the link above and unpack it.
2) The archive contains the following files: plpbt.img – an image for a floppy disk, and plpbt.iso – an image for a CD.
3) Write the image to disk and boot from it (or from a floppy disk).
4) A menu will appear in which we select our flash drive and boot from it.
A small explanation of disk designations when selecting:
Do not forget, after you have done what you wanted (namely, why you changed the boot in the BIOS) - return the boot settings back so that the computer boots from the hard drive.
The world does not stand still. Once upon a time, the height of popularity was to store information on a disk or floppy disk. Now preference is given to more convenient and capacious flash drives.
To boot into BIOS via a flash drive, you need to take into account several features:
- It is recommended to connect the removable disk to the connector located on the back of the system unit. It is he who is located on the motherboard;
- Connect the storage device before turning on or restarting the computer.
Regardless of the BIOS manufacturer, to boot Windows from a flash drive, you must take the following steps:
- Open BIOS. To do this you need to click Delete or Esc. The service call keys may differ in different versions of the program. They are usually written at the bottom of the screen immediately before the operating system boots.
- Next you need to enable the USB controller.
- After this, the flash drive must be moved to the first place in the list of devices from which to boot.
- Save your changes.
Running from a flash drive in Award Bios
This version of the program is called by the button DEL or keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Esc(in older versions).
Go to the tab "Integrated Peripherals" to enable the USB controller. Near the inscription "USB Controller" And "USB Controller 2.0" set value "Enable". To do this, use the button Enter. Go back one step by clicking Esc.
Now we need to directly configure booting from a flash drive in bios. To do this, go to the tab "Advanced BIOS Features". Choose a section "Hard Disk Boot Priority". Here the first line should indicate the name of the memory card. By default, this position is occupied by the hard drive. Using the key «+» , move the required line to the first place. Return to the previous menu.
Pay attention to the line "First Boot Device". Next to this inscription there should be "USB-HDD", which means booting from a flash drive or external hard drive. Sometimes the installation process may not proceed. In this case, you should select the external floppy drive indicator - "USB FDD".
Hard Disk should be indicated next to Second Boot Device.
After making changes, you can exit the BIOS while saving the changes. Press Esc to exit to the main menu. Then click "Save & Exit Setup".
Installing boot from flash drive in AMI Bios
Exit to “AMI BIOS” is carried out by pressing keys DEL or F2.
USB controller settings are located in the tab "Advanced", In chapter "USB Configuration". Index "Enable" should be near "USB Function" And "USB 2.0 Controller".
Return to the previous menu (Esc) and go to the tab "Boot", chapter "Hard Disk Drives". The name of the flash drive should come first. Click "Enter" on the first line and in the new window, select the desired item.
In the previous menu, go to "Boot Device Priority". There should be a flash card at the top.
After this, you can return to the main menu and exit the BIOS, saving the settings.
Set to boot from a flash drive in Phoenix-Award Bios
Clicking F1 or F2 you can open the BIOS version “Phoenix-Award” .
The USB controller section can be found in the tab "Peripherals". Index "USB-HDD" must be placed in line "First Boot Device", tab "Advanced". Don't forget to save your settings.
Configure booting from a flash drive in Bios UEFI
New laptops released no earlier than 2013 have a special BIOS version. One of its features is the presence of protection against installing operating systems from any media other than a licensed disk. To install booting from a flash drive in this version of bios, you must first disable this protection and set the compatibility mode with other operating systems.
After entering the BIOS, go to the tab "Security", chapter "Secure Boot" and set the value there "Disabled".
In chapter "Boot", in line "Boot Mode" value should be set "Legacy Support". In line "Boot Priority" should stand "Legacy First".