How do you boot a computer from an USB drive?

Answer 1

Another user has edited this:

My laptop is a HP Pavilion Notebook running Windows 10 Home x64. To boot from a USB drive on that, you need to go into Settings, select Update and Security and then Recovery. Click 'Reboot now'. It should take you to a menu. Select Use a device then select your USB name.

Answer 2

Laptops are turned on in the same way as a desktop computer. There is a power button located on either the side, or on top, towards the screen. Push this, and it should turn on. If it does not, plug the laptop in; the battery may be dead.

Answer 3

I don't believe that there is a way unless you can make it so that USB I/O devices are on your boot up list. I'm not quite certain on this subject but I don't believe they are. I believe that USB devices boot up last and after the Operating System loads there's no more boots.

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You do need to have the option in BIOS to boot to USB in order to boot from s USB drive. If the option is there the following will make a USB drive bootable:Steve's Ultimate Boot USBhttp://stevereeves.bizAbout: SUBU is a bootable USB drive comprised of free and open source operating systems and diagnostic/repair utilities.SUBU contains the following tools:BackTrack 3 FinalHiren's Boot CD 10.1Hiren's Mini Windows XpKon-BootOPH Crack 3.3.1 XPOPH Crack 3.3.1 VistaDBAN 2.0.0 (Darik's Boot and Nuke)Memtest86+ 4.00Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) v4.11Requirements: 2 gig's of free space & a computer capable of booting via USB. Patriot USB sticks are recommended.Installation:Steve's Ultimate Boot USB (SUBU) Installation Guide - - http://stevereeves.biz1. Goto MY COMPUTER and right click on your flash drive. Select "FORMAT" from the drop down menu. Format your flash driveto FAT32. A quick format should suffice.2. Use the Grub4dos tool located in '.READ ME\Grub4dos\grubinst_gui.exe'. Select "Disk" and press the "Refresh" button. In the Diskdrop down menu select your flash drive. Be 100% sure that you have the correct drive selected, once you are sure the correct drive is selected press the Refresh button next to "Part List". In the "Part List" drop down menu select "Whole Disk MBR".Press the "Install" button located at the bottom of the window.3. Copy BT3, HBCD, konboot, OPHVISTA, OPHXP, splash, dban-beta.2006042900_i386.iso, grldr, grub.exe, memtest86+-4.00.iso,menu.lst, and ubcd411.iso to the root of your USB drive.Installation is complete!Reboot your computer with your USB drive connected to the PC. Boot to your computer Boot Menu and select Boot to USB.Your computer should now boot to your SUBU USB Drive.If you experience any trouble installing SUBU to your USB drive please visit the SUBU forum at http://stevereeves.biz/forumInstallation instructions can also be found on the SUBU homepage at http://stevereeves.biz

Answer 4

Connect your flash drive and turn on your computer/laptop. If it doesn't boot from the flash drive, restart the computer. You need to modify your boot device priority.

When turning on the computer, there will be a line that says "Press Delete[or F8, or some other key] to enter Setup" or "Press F8 to change boot device priority". Press this key to enter setup.

In boot device priority, make sure your flash drive [If you have a Transcend device, for example, it will be listed as [model number]Transcend Ex: J8CB4CTranscend] is at the top of the priority list. That is, the flash drive must have a higher priority than your DVD drive and hard disk. Once this is done, save the settings and restart the computer. The computer will boot from the flash drive now.

Note: The flash drive must contain something bootable, such as an operating system.

Good luck.

Answer 5

Booting from a pendrive (or USB thumb drive) depends on two things being possible:

1. Your computer supporting USB booting.

2. Your pendrive supporting USB booting.

If either of these are not true, you will not be able to boot from your computer / drive. To determine if your computer supports USB booting, search for a mention of it in the boot devices order, or see if it is listed under the hard drives when you plug it in. If it is not, your BIOS probably doesn't support it, and your project of booting on this particular computer is over. Determining if your USB drive supports it is more difficult. Most drives of 1 GB and over support it. If you try the later steps repeatedly, and they still do not work, your drive may not support it.

Now, making your drive bootable depends somewhat on what it actually is you want to boot. If you want to boot a small Linux distribution, you will want to use Syslinux. Syslinux is very similar to GRUB. The Syslinux program (available for both Windows and Linux) places a small amount of code and a bootloader on the thumb drive, allowing it to boot. You just need to create a small text file telling it what kernel and initial ramdisk it should load. Detailed instructions can be found on the Syslinux website.

Another option is using WinPE or BartPE, both are slimmed down versions of Windows designed for booting from CD or other removable media. Creating a bootable drive with MS-DOS is also possible. HP has made a small utility to make a USB drive boot into DOS. There is a download link in the "Related links" below.

Answer 6

I assume you mean using the OS and files from one computer on another, if this is wrong, please clarify for the next editor. Please take all necessary safety precautions involved in opening a computer, such as turning off the power going to the computer etc.!

1. Get the computer which you want to boot off.

2. Unscrew the case or simply lift it off depending on the type.

3. Find the Hard drive and its connectors. If in a laptop it normally tends to be further to the front, and in desktops it can be anywhere.

4. Unconnect the hard-drive, making sure to disconnect all the possible plugs etc.

5. Open the case of the computer you want to boot.

6. Remove its hard-drive, replacing it with the one from the other computer.

7. Close the case, double check all the connections.

8. Boot the computer, and cross your fingers!

I take no responsibility should this not work, or worse, break any part of your computer. I take no responsibility for personal injury, or damage to property as a result of following these instructions.