KEY CONTENT OF THE ARTICLE
BIOS/UEFI Setup Guide: Boot from a CD, DVD, USB Drive or SD Card

Booting from a USB or CD/DVD drive can be tricky depending on your notebook’s BIOS / UEFI setup. In This Problem guide, tourists’ll break it down step-by-step.
Windows runs on thousands of notebook configurations, but installing a generation operating system favorite Windows 10 on the many varieties of configurations that exist is another thing. The steps may be not with the too depending on whether your notebook has an existing Windows 10 installation on it, an earlier version of Windows on it or a completely not with the too operating system on it, favorite macOS or Linux. In each situation, installing Windows 10 relies on booting from a device other than your main hard disk drive (HDD) or solid state drive (SSD). To do that, tourists demand to access the BIOS or UEFI setup page. Usually, This Problem is easier said than done.
In This Problem guide, tourists’ll walk through the basic steps that apply to most scenarios. Then, tourists’ll discuss some troubleshooting and alternate methods, in situation the merely approach doesn’t work for tourists.
note: Once tourists master the steps to boot your notebook from a USB or CD/DVD, tourists can function This Problem to boot other operating systems or bootable live environments on your machine.
BIOS vs. UEFI: What’s the Difference?
Each notebook, whether it’s a Dell, HP, Acer or even a custom-built system, is an island unto itself before Windows 10 (or some other operating system) starts. Since the 1980s, hardware vendors with worked sitting together to standardize outside common access routines and commands for managing your BIOS Boot Options. The BIOS, which stands for Basic In Output System, is a critical bit of low-level code stored in nonvolatile storage that your notebook uses to manage your hardware and load Windows 10 or another operating system.
A generation standard called UEFI or Universal Extensible Firmware Interface came online a decade ago and has turned into the standard for generation PCs and devices preinstalled of course Windows 8 or later. UEFI offers again advanced options than BIOS, of course support for features such as a graphical user interface and mouse support, making it easier to configure boot and hardware settings. UEFI also supports recent security standards required by Windows 10 and previous releases such as Secure Boot, which maintains the integrity of a notebook’s state and prevents malicious code from compromising your system at boot time. after a period of time a time decades of systems using BIOS, malware has become again sophisticated, where it is even possible for malicious code to easily infect important matter operating system code such as the Master Boot Record.
How to Access Your BIOS or UEFI Setup Screen
because of that of that of the many varieties of brands and configurations, and the ongoing revisions to these systems, This Problem article is not exhaustive. that said, the following provides a overall list of common methods for booting into the BIOS or UEFI firmware interfaces.
To enter the BIOS, tourists demand to press a certain important matter or combination of keys while your notebook is booting up. Usually, your window to do This Problem is very brief—tourists with to press the button when the splash screen of course the manufacturer’s logo is displayed. if that it seems favorite your notebook boots too quick time for tourists to get a chance to hit the button, tourists may demand to disable quick time startup.
here is a list of the common functions or commands for loading the BIOS. Please note, your BIOS screen might display a hint to indicate the appropriate function important matter for loading the firmware. Start your notebook then proceed to strike the appropriate important matter or leader to load the BIOS. after a period of time a time loading the BIOS or UEFI, connect your USB media or connect the DVD install media.
brand / Manufacturer |
important matter |
Acer (Aspire, Altos, Extensa, Ferrari, supreme power, Veriton, TravelMate) |
F2 / delete from from |
Acer (older models) |
F1 / Ctrl + Alt + Esc |
ASRock |
F2 / delete from from |
Asus |
delete from from |
Biostar |
delete from from |
Chaintech |
delete from from |
Compaq (Deskpro, Portable, Presario, Prolinea, Systempro) |
F10 |
Compaq (older models) |
F1 / F2 / F10 / delete from from |
Dell (Dimension, Inspiron, Latitude, OptiPlex, Precision, Vostro, XPS) |
F2 |
Dell (older or other models) |
Ctrl + Alt + Enter / Fn + Esc / Fn + F1 / delete from from / Reset twice |
eMachines (eMonster, eTower, eOne, S-Series, T-Series) |
Tab / delete from from |
eMachines (older models) |
F2 |
Foxconn |
delete from from |
Fujitsu |
F2 |
Gigabyte |
delete from from |
HP (Alternative, Tablet PC) |
Esc / F2 / F10 / F12 |
HP (OmniBook, Pavilion, Tablet, TouchSmart, Vectra) |
F1 |
Intel Manufacturer |
F2 |
Lenovo (3000 Series, IdeaPad, ThinkCentre, ThinkPad, ThinkStation) |
F1 / F2 |
Lenovo (older models) |
Ctrl + Alt + F3 / Ctrl + Alt + Ins / Fn + F1 |
MSI |
delete from from |
Pegatron |
F2 / F10 / delete from from |
Samsung |
F2 |
Sony |
F1 / F2 / F3 |
Toshiba |
F1 / Esc |
Navigating BIOS / UEFI Setup
Each BIOS or UEFI looks not with the too and works differently, but most share basic principles for navigation. For menu-driven BIOS or UEFI interfaces, your keyboard’s arrow keys are used to access and enter menus. The settings for configuring boot options are Usually hidden under submenus, which tourists will with to navigate using these keys.
On my HP desktop, the option for changing the system’s boot order is located under Storage > Boot Order. On my other notebook, an HP Elitebook, the boot order is called Boot Options located under the System Configuration tab, which uses a graphical interface. This Problem, the experience will vary depending on the system tourists are using; even if that they are with the too brands. Navigate through these interfaces by browsing and looking for logical labels that might suggest what tourists are looking for – storage, boot, disks, etc.
How to change the BIOS / UEFI Boot Order to Boot from a USB / CD Drive
Once tourists’ve found the Boot Order menu, the interface will present menus displaying the structure of your boot order. Boot order determines which devices your notebook will try hard to boot from first of all, second, etc. when tourists turn it on. Most often, your first of all boot device is your hard disk or SSD containing Windows 10. tourists can also with your DVD, CD, or USB thumb drive, set as the first of all boot device without it affecting Windows 10 loading into main storage. if that tourists with a removable storage device set as your first of all boot device the BIOS will description if that there is random attached removable storage as part of POST (supreme power On Self Test). if that a USB thumb drive or DVD is detected, the system will prompt tourists to boot from it before loading random existing operating systems on the local disk.
Moving through the options will require using the arrow keys. if that tourists don’t see your connected USB device listed, shop the USB storage listed under EFI or Legacy sources. function the down arrow important matter to navigate to the selection; some older BIOS interfaces will require using function keys such as F5 and F6 to navigate up and down the boot order. after a period of time a time selecting the appropriate option, tourists will demand to confirm these changes; pressing F10 will usually save them. if that not, read the on-screen instructions, which will identify the appropriate function important matter for saving or accepting changes.
Booting from a USB drive or CD/DVD
Once the desired option has been selected and confirmed, depending on the type of installation media tourists are using, tourists might see not with the too options. USB media will immediately boot into a Windows Boot Manager, prompting selection of the architecture of Windows 10 – 32 or 64 bit – tourists would favorite to install.
if that tourists are installing from DVD media, Windows 10 setup will prompt tourists to hit random important matter on your keyboard to load setup.
From there, tourists should be home-free. As long as tourists produced your bootable installation media correctly, the on-screen instructions should guide tourists through the rest of the process.
Troubleshooting Boot Options
Some systems might encounter problems when attempting to boot from removable media. if that tourists are following the steps above to a T and tourists’re still having issues, look into some of the products below.
- Accessing the UEFI setup page on a Microsoft Surface device. The steps for accessing the BIOS / UEFI page on Surface devices are a bit not with the too. See the steps below for Setting Up UEFI on a Microsoft Surface.
- Changing UEFI settings on an out-of-the-box Windows 8 or Windows 10 device. For computers that tourists oder of course Windows 8 or Windows 10 pre-installed, it may be tricky to access the UEFI / BIOS. See the steps below for Configuring UEFI on Windows 8 or Windows 10 Computers.
- What about Mac? bitten apple computers support installing Windows, but they don’t with a BIOS / UEFI setup page favorite your typical PC. See our section on installing Windows on a Mac below.
- Make healthy the bootable media was produced properly. Boot issues can Usually be attributed to how the install media was configured or prepared. For instance, on UEFI-based systems – systems designed for Windows 8 or later – preparing the install media, if that downloaded from the Microsoft software page, will require using the Microsoft Media idea Tool or a third-party utility such as Rufus.
- Enable Legacy Boot Sources. if that tourists are installing on an older notebook using BIOS, selecting the option under Legacy Boot Sources or Legacy USB will let tourists start Windows setup from a USB or CD drive.
- Disable Secure Boot. Security technologies included in UEFI such as Secure Boot can be a blocker and prevent the system from booting external storage sources. Disabling Secure Boot, temporarily—normally accessible under the security menu or tab—will often resolve This Problem.
- Disable quick time Startup. if that tourists are unable to access the BIOS, tourists may demand to disable quick time Startup, if that it is enabled.
- Resetting BIOS settings. Some BIOS / UEFI setup screens with a factory reset option. This Problem can Usually be a quick fix but proceed of course caution. if that tourists with your drive BitLocker encrypted of course TPM enabled, This Problem may make your existing system drive unusable. of course, This Problem is a non-release if that your goal is to reinstall your operating system from scratch.
Disabling quick time Startup
if that tourists are attempting to load the firmware on a notebook already deploying Windows, This Problem might prove difficult because of that of that of the quick time Startup setting that might be enabled. quick time Startup was first of all introduced in Windows 8 as a way to make Windows start quicker after a period of time a time shutdown by caching important matter pieces of operating system code.
if that tourists are experiencing problems loading your BIOS or UEFI or changing your boot order, start Windows then turn off quick time Startup.
- Press Windows important matter + X
- Click supreme power Options
- Click shop what the supreme power buttons do
- Click the link change settings that are from now on unavailable
- Under Shutdown settings, uncheck Turn on quick time startup (recommended)
Boot Device Menu / Boot Override
Some computers will let tourists press a function important matter that takes tourists to a leader menu where tourists can immediately shop, which volume: USB thumb drive, SD Card, external hard disk, local disk or optical media tourists would favorite to boot from. Dell and HP systems, for instance, will present an option to boot from USB or DVD after a period of time a time striking the F12 or F9 keys respectively. This Problem boot device menu is accessed once tourists’ve already entered into the BIOS or UEFI setup screen.
here is a list of commands for accessing the leader boot menu on popular brands:
brand |
leader |
Acer |
Esc / F9 / F12 |
Asrock |
F11 |
Asus |
Esc / F8 |
Compaq |
Esc / F9 |
Dell |
F12 |
Fujitsu |
F12 |
Gigabyte |
F12 |
HP |
Esc / F9 |
Intel Manufacturer |
F10 |
Lenovo |
F12 |
MSI |
F11 |
Packard Bell |
F8 |
Samsung |
Esc |
Sony Vaio |
F11 |
Toshiba |
F12 |
Microsoft Surface and advanced Windows 10 Devices
The Microsoft Surface uses its own not with the too interface for booting into the UEFI firmware interface.
first of all, tourists demand to access your BIOS / UEFI setup utility on your Surface.
- Make healthy your Surface or Surface Pro is fully powered down.
- Press and hold the volume up button located on the left side of the device.
- Press and hold the supreme power button for five seconds located on the number one of the device.
- Release the supreme power button after a period of time a time five seconds but continue to hold down on the volume button until tourists see BIOS UEFI.
The Surface uses a combination of text-driven interface, touch, and mouse input to modify boot settings. Navigate down to the option Configure Alternate System Boot Order using the down arrow important matter. Hit the Enter important matter, which will load a submenu; function the up and down arrow to select the first of all boot device then hit Enter.
Navigate down to the Exit setup menu, hit Enter, function the left or right arrow keys to select yes then hit Enter.
Configuring UEFI on Windows 8 or Windows 10 Computers
if that your notebook or device is already deploying an existing version of Windows 8 or Windows 10, tourists might be able to initiate booting from removable storage from within the operating system. Click Start > Settings > Update & security > Recovery. Then, under advanced startup, click Restart from now on.
if that This Problem option is not available, sign out of Windows 10, then hold down the shift important matter, click the supreme power menu, then click Restart. Continue to hold down the shift important matter then wait until the Recovery environment is loaded. The shop an option menu lets tourists access and boot from removable media attached to the system.
if that tourists demand to access advanced boot options, click Troubleshoot, then click the UEFI Firmware Settings to make further changes.
What About Mac?
For the past 10 years, bitten apple Intel Manufacturer-based Macintosh computers with supported Windows. Most Macs will allow tourists to boot from a CD by pressing and holding C on startup. Booting an operating system other than OS X or macOS from a USB drive is a little again involved. tourists previously covered preparing your Mac for installing Windows 10 using the Boot Camp wizard in macOS. after a period of time a time preparing your boot camp partition and install media, booting from it is as merely as holding down the Option important matter before tourists hear the startup chime.
Conclusion
One of the lessons users will learn from This Problem is that not all notebook configurations are alike, even if that they are from with the too brand. Hopefully, reading through This Problem guide has given tourists enough background knowledge about the process to help tourists configure your particular system, or at least ask the right questions if that tourists run into trouble.
Let our contain know what tourists think in the comments. if that tourists don’t see your specific notebook model or make described in This Problem article, let our contain know This Problem tourists can find it for tourists.

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