Can I force a boot from a USB drive?

C

childofthetao

Posts: 161   +1
Hello, is it possible for me to force my laptop to boot from a USB drive? When I go to the boot menu I see no option to boot from USB so I guess it's not supported in the bios.

Is there any way to force it? I want to install linux but my dvd drive overheats after a few minutes of reading the disc.

Thanks

EDIT: Or is it possible to force a boot from a USB dvd drive?
 
Hello childofthetao,
Boot your laptop with the USB drive plugged in, and change the BIOS boot priority. That should do it.
Good luck!
 
None in mine either. It only appears when I have a USB drive plugged in before bootup. Which is why I told you to try that.
 
Marnomancer said:
None in mine either. It only appears when I have a USB drive plugged in before bootup. Which is why I told you to try that.
Click to expand...

I can't seem to figure out how to get into the bios on this Asus A2500H laptop, DEL doesn't work, ESC gives me the boot menu. I tried mots other keys but nothing happens. Maybe you can get into the bios on this laptop.

Looks like it's no USB booting for me :(
 
Marnomancer said:
Have you tried F2?
Click to expand...


F2 worked! I got quite excited when I saw USB FDD in the boot list. But it the thing won't boot :( I used universal USB installer to put Linux Mint onto my USB drive. I'll try it again, this time Ubuntu, hopefully it was just a dodgy transfer to the USB stick.

EDIT: I only see USB FDD in the boot priority list in the bios, the actual boot menu never did display my USB FDD. That to me might indicate the the drive was not bootable, for some reason.
 
hi childofthetao

can i know which laptop are you using, I mean which model are u using to boot from USB? Toshiba, HP,Acer,Axio,or Dell?

because not all laptop can boot from USB.

Thanks
 
USB FDD drive is a USB floppy drive not a flash drive or USB optical drive. So unless your USB drive is a floppy, selecting that as your boot drive won't do anything.
 
How about buying(cheap!)/borrowing an external USB DVD ROM?
Then you could install Linux from the disk without heat problems, or run it as a live disk.
Either way, you'd side-step that whole boot issue as your laptop BIOS should just pick it up.
 
Doctor John said:
How about buying(cheap!)/borrowing an external USB DVD ROM?
Then you could install Linux from the disk without heat problems, or run it as a live disk.
Either way, you'd side-step that whole boot issue as your laptop BIOS should just pick it up.
Click to expand...

I used to have one, but it never worked either.

As mailpup said, it must just be the floppy drive.

Well I just checked and the laptop doesn't have a floppy drive :/

Oh well I give in anyway, ill just have to go through the hassle of propping the thing up with a powerful fan underneath it, it usually works about eight times out of ten.

Thanks for all the help though.
 
Try this: Plug in the usb device, then press esc when booting to see if it's listed in the boot menu. If not, sometimes you can upgrade the bios to enable booting. Computers manufactured as recently as 2006 can often not boot from usb flash drives, etc.
 
Just thought I would add the solution to this thread in case anyone comes across it in future :
  • Press F2 quickly at boot up
  • Go to advanced tab and navigate down to "Fast Bios Mode" and disable. (this mode stops the bios from recognizing usb devices as boot)
  • Go to Boot tab and change "Boot Device Priority" so USB HDD is at the top
  • Save and reboot
 
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