Booting a Laptop Externally

Owned by John Hall, created
Last updated: Oct 30, 2020
1 min read

Typically, laptops boot from an internal hard drive but there will be times you may need to boot from an external device. This may be required to install a new operating system, boot into a separate operating system, or run diagnostic utilities.

Instructions

  1. Attach the external boot device to your computer.

  2. Restart the computer and will see a prompt that says, Press ## to Enter Setup or Press ## to Enter BIOS.

  3. Press the key combination while booting. When entered successfully, you will see a message stating Entering Setup or Entering BIOS.

  4. The mouse will not work in the BIOS so you must use arrow keys to navigate the BIOS and press Enter to make selections. Find Boot Sequence, Boot Menu, or Boot Options. This option may appear as a subcategory under Advanced BIOS Settings.

  5. Change the boot order so that the external device is higher than the internal hard drive. Which can be done by these two methods:

    1. Select the external device and press the up arrow to move higher in the list

    2. Select the first position and choose the external device from a list of available devices

  6. Save your settings and restart your computer.

  7. Once you see, Press Any Key to Boot From ####, where #### is replaced with the external boot device. Press any key on the keyboard.