How to boot from USB device?|| Windows, Linux, or macOS 2022

How to Boot from USB Device?|| Windows, Linux, or MacOS 2022

How to boot from USB device? , USB device se boot kaise kare? When you boot from a USB device, you are running your computer with the operating system installed on the USB device. When you start your computer normally, you are running it with the operating system installed on your internal hard drive—such as Windows, Linux, or macOS.

While fans of different operating systems may debate which one is most stable, reliable, flexible or user-friendly, there is one undeniable point: Every machine — regardless of OS — can run into issues.

And while users would historically pop boot media discs into their DVD or CD drives, many computers no longer come with optical disc drives. As a result, booting from USB media is becoming the standard. How you start that rescue media can vary depending on the operating system you’re using, but there are some general guidelines that can help you start your machine, regardless of which OS you prefer. So if your system is unstable, you need to run a diagnostic tool on the hard drive, or you just want to load a Linux desktop to see what it is, let’s see what you can do using a rescue USB boot media. How to start your machine

How to boot from USB device?

Follow these steps to boot from a flash drive, external hard drive, or any other bootable USB device. This can take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes, depending on whether you need to change the way your computer starts up.

Change the boot order in the BIOS so that the USB device option is listed first. By default the BIOS is rarely set up this way.

If the USB boot option is not first in the boot sequence, your PC will start “normally” (ie, boot from your hard drive) without seeing any boot information that you may have on your USB device.

Attach the USB device to your computer via any available USB port.

Restart your computer

Since you are not actually inside the operating system at the moment, restarting is not the same as using the normal restart button. Instead, the BIOS must specify which key to press to save changes to the boot sequence and restart the computer—such as F10.

Look for a Press any key to boot from external device… message.

You may be prompted with a message to press a key on some bootable devices before the computer boots from the flash drive or any other USB device.

If this happens, and you do nothing, your computer will check the boot information on the next boot device in the list in the BIOS (see Step 1), which will probably be your hard drive.

Your computer should now boot from the flash drive or USB based external hard drive.

Note: What happens now depends on what the purpose of the bootable USB device was. If you’re booting from the Windows 11, Windows 10, etc. installation files on a flash drive, the operating system setup will begin. If you’re booting from the DBAN flash drive you just created, it will start. you get the idea.

How to Boot a Mac from USB: Steps

Loading your Mac from a USB drive is fairly straightforward.

Insert the USB boot media into an open USB slot.
Press the Power button to turn on your Mac (or restart your Mac if it’s already on).
When you hear the startup bell, press and hold the Option key. Holding that key gives you access to OS X’s Startup Manager. Once the Startup Manager screen appears, release the Option key. The utility will look for any available drives that contain bootable content.
Using the pointer or arrow keys on the keyboard, select the USB drive you want to boot from.
Once selected, either press the Return key or double-click on your selection. The machine will start booting from the USB drive.
Note: Do you have multiple USB devices connected to your Mac? Don’t worry. Startup Manager only lists drives that contain bootable content.

How to boot from USB on Windows?

Starting your PC using USB rescue media is not difficult, although it does require adjustments to the BIOS (Basic Input Output System) first. This is because the BIOS settings include the boot sequence that the machine follows when starting up. The boot order tells the machine which devices to search for the software needed to launch the computer and to prioritize each device in that search. If you’re booting from USB media, you’ll need to change the BIOS boot order so that the USB device is listed first. Otherwise the computer will load normally from the hard drive.

Start by plugging the thumb drive into a USB port. Then to change the BIOS boot sequence:
Press the power button for your computer.

During the initial startup screen, press ESC, F1, F2, F8 or F10. (Depending on the company that made your version of BIOS, a menu may appear.)
When you choose to enter BIOS Setup, the Setup Utility page will appear.
Using the arrow keys on your keyboard, select the BOOT tab. All available system devices will be displayed in the order of their boot priority. You can rearrange devices here.

Move the USB to the first position in the boot sequence. Note: If you can’t find a USB or removable device in Device Options, your BIOS may list it under Hard Drive Devices. In that case, you’ll need to: Move hard drive device to top Expand to show all hard drive device options Move USB device to the top of that hard drive list

Save changes and then exit BIOS Setup.

Booting from your USB drive, the computer will restart using the new settings.

stay alert! Depending on your BIOS, you may be prompted with a message to press any key to boot from an external device and you’ll only have a few seconds to respond. If you do nothing, your computer will move to the next device in the boot sequence list, which will probably be your hard drive.

In the future, your computer will first check the USB port for boot media when you start it. This won’t be a problem, as the BIOS will move to the next device in the boot sequence… as long as you don’t put the boot media in a USB port. Then the system will launch from that device every time.

How to boot from USB on Linux?

To boot Ubuntu from USB media, the process is similar to the Windows instructions above.

Confirm that the BIOS boot sequence lists the USB drive first, or make changes as needed.

After inserting the USB flash drive into the USB port, press the power button for your machine (or restart if the computer is running).

The installer boot menu will load, where you will select Run Ubuntu from this USB.
Ubuntu will launch and you can start working in the system – setting preferences, reconfiguring the system as needed, or running any diagnostic tools.

Creating USB Boot Media

Regardless of the operating system you’re using, booting your machine from USB media doesn’t need to be difficult. A general understanding of how your system loads can provide the basics needed to understand what’s going on when you use boot media. Creating USB boot media is also not difficult, although there are several options to consider. For Mac users, we recommend visiting Apple’s support page on USB boot media.

It provides guidance that is specific to the iteration of OS X you are running (ie Sierra, High Sierra, Yosemite, etc.) to help you get the boot version you need. Windows and Linux users may consider Acronis Disk Director 12.5, which includes an intuitive boot media builder that streamlines the process and offers tremendous flexibility for the type and type of boot media you can create, including WinPE media is also included.

What to do when USB device won’t boot?

If you’ve tried the steps above, but your computer won’t boot from a USB device, check out some of the tips below. There are many places where this process can get stuck.

Double-check the boot sequence in the BIOS (Step 1). The number one reason why a bootable flash drive or any other USB device won’t boot is because the BIOS isn’t configured to check the USB port first.

Can’t find “USB Device” boot order list in BIOS? If your computer was made around 2001 or earlier, it may not have this capability.

If your computer is newer, check out some of the other ways that the USB option may be worded. In some BIOS versions, this is called “Removable Devices” or “External Devices”.

Remove other USB device. Other connected USB devices, such as printers, external media card readers, etc., can consume a lot of power or cause another problem, preventing the computer from booting from a flash drive or any other device . Unplug all other USB devices and try again.

Or, if you have multiple bootable devices plugged in at once, the computer may be booting on the wrong device, so the easiest solution would be to remove all USB storage devices but the ones you want to use now. Huh.

Copy the files to the USB device again. If you created the bootable flash drive or external hard drive yourself, which you probably did, repeat all the steps you took. Maybe you made a mistake during the process.

Note: If you started with an ISO image, burn the ISO file to USB. Getting an ISO file onto a USB drive, like a flash drive, isn’t as easy as expanding or copying the file there.

Switch to another USB port. On some motherboards the BIOS only checks the first few USB ports. Switch to another USB port and restart your computer.

Update your motherboard’s BIOS. If your computer is older, the BIOS version running on the motherboard may not support booting directly from a USB device. Try updating the BIOS and check for this feature again.