Assistance with Booting from a USB

Discussion in 'all things UNIX' started by Alexhousek, Nov 29, 2020.

  1. Alexhousek

    Alexhousek Registered Member

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    I have an older laptop (HP Envy) running Windows 10. I wanted to try out Linux Mint, so I used Rufus to install the latest Mint on a new usb flash drive. I cannot get my laptop to recognize the usb and boot from it.

    I did notice that Secure Boot is enabled. I also went into the power options and disabled fast boot. I also know that I am using uefi boot mode.

    Since I use the free version of Macrium Reflect, I installed the MR boot manager. So, upon bootup, I can choose Windows 10 or Macrium Reflect.

    Getting into the bios settings hasn't been easy. Once I did get in, I noticed that the boot order has usb drive listed second.

    Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.
     
  2. Stupendous Man

    Stupendous Man Registered Member

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    To boot from USB flash drive, that needs to be listed first in boot order.
    Perhaps this HP documentation may be helpful to configure boot order: HP PCs - Configuring the Boot Order in the System BIOS - Configuring the boot order

    I hope that helps.
    (For my own main PC, non-HP, with old ASUS P5K board, listing the USB flash drive first in boot order doesn't help, for some odd reason, I need to use a CD or DVD to boot from.)
     
  3. Alexhousek

    Alexhousek Registered Member

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    Unfortunately that's not an option for me as this laptop doesn't have a CD/DVD drive.

    Thanks for the link.
     
  4. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    Longshot maybe you can boot from an SD Card.
     
  5. hawki

    hawki Registered Member

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    Did you disable Secure Boot?
     
  6. Stupendous Man

    Stupendous Man Registered Member

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    I hope HP's documentation regarding configuring the boot order is helpful to you.
     
  7. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Alexhousek,

    I completely ignore the BIOS Boot Order apart from having the HD as the first item. I never use it as the BIOS can swap it around randomly. I suggest you use the BIOS Boot Menu. If you can't find it use the BIOS Boot Override and choose your Mint UFD.

    Secure Boot is fine to use with Mint.

    When you used Rufus, did you select GPT Partition scheme and UEFI (non CSM) Target system?

    Edit... Esc or F9 could be the key to press to get the HP BIOS Boot Menu. This is not the key to get into the BIOS.
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2020
  8. Alexhousek

    Alexhousek Registered Member

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    I'm sorry Brian, but what is the difference between the BIOS Boot Order and the BIOS Boot Menu? How do I get into the BIOS Boot Menu?

    The way that I tried to boot from the USB involved going to Start>restart (and holding down the shift key), >click on "use a device"?>select the usb device.
     
  9. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    Actually, I've noticed my old 2010 HP Pavilion is also no longer booting any modern distros - from this autumn. The last successful boot was 20.04. Might have to do with the old Nvidia card.

    Mrk
     
  10. Alexhousek

    Alexhousek Registered Member

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    Yes. Thank you.
     
  11. Alexhousek

    Alexhousek Registered Member

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    I did not. I choose MBR. I'm trying it again, this time using GPT.

    It does ask me if I want to use ISO or DD mode. I choose ISO.
     

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  12. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Perfect.

    Alex, that's fine. But what if you can't boot into Windows, such as a failed HD or Windows file corruption. You need to know another way. Changing Boot Order is the "old" way, before Boot Menus became available. A disadvantage of having USB or Optical disks first in "Boot Option Priorities" is certain computers will freeze if you have a non bootable UFD or optical disc inserted. We've all forgotten to remove devices at times. Also, the Boot Option Priorities can randomly change in certain systems. In addition, if CSM is enabled and you have two entries for a device, which one is chosen? The correct one or not?

    When my computer starts (Gigabyte motherboard) the first screen shows...

    DEL: BIOS Setup\Q-Flash... F9:System Information... F12: Boot Menu... END: Q-Flash

    So F12 is my "Boot (One-Time) Menu" . The Boot Menu says "Please select boot device" and it only shows devices that are connected to the computer. If a bootable UFD or optical disk isn't present, there will be no entry in the Boot Menu. If you have a UEFI system and have CSM enabled (Compatibility Support Module) you will see two entries for each bootable device. A Legacy and a UEFI entry. With UEFI systems it's better to have CSM disabled as you don't want to boot Legacy devices anyway. Then you only have one entry for each bootable device.

    Intel had planned to remove CSM from new motherboards this year. Has it happened yet?

    When should you press and hold the F12 key? As soon as you hear the BIOS beep (if there is a BIOS speaker) or as soon as you see video evidence on the monitor. Press it too late and it won't work. In some computers it works better after a shutdown than after a restart.

    Sometimes you can't get the Boot Menu, then you can use the "Boot Override" menu in the BIOS settings. Just select your UFD (etc) and press Enter.

    Does your UEFI UFD boot now?
     
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2020
  13. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    A quick way to get into the BIOS from Win10 is this from an Admin command prompt...

    Code:
    shutdown /r /fw /t 0
     
  14. Alexhousek

    Alexhousek Registered Member

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    This laptop has 3 usb ports. Does it matter which one I use?
     
  15. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    In general, no.
     
  16. Alexhousek

    Alexhousek Registered Member

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    YES!!

    As a matter of fact, I didn't even have to press or hit f12. Once I rebooted the laptop, it automatically booted up with the Linux menu and I was able to run Linux Mint from the usb. I was even able to install the Zoom client and saw that both my video and microphone worked. I also went to Youtube to make sure that the sound/video worked there as well. After I spend some more time familiarizing myself with Mint, I'll decide if I want to dual-boot this old laptop.

    Thanks everyone.
     
  17. Stupendous Man

    Stupendous Man Registered Member

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    Great! I'm happy it worked.

    Sorry for the late reply.
    I'd like to fix one loose end:
    Thanks very much. :thumb:
    I never new there was such a thing as a separate BIOS boot menu, apart from the boot order in BIOS setup. That info was not in the my old ASUS P5K motherboard user guide, but now I notice the option is shown in POST, and it is also mentioned in several forum threads that I find online.
    For my old ASUS P5K board, I see that I can access the BIOS boot menu by hitting F8 during POST and next select the bootable flash drive in the boot menu. It works! Never too late to learn. :)
     
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