Can't boot from USB

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arcon

406 posts

Ultimate Geek

#214194 1-May-2017 18:50

I'm trying to get my computer to boot from USB. I've tried a 4TB NTFS drive and a 512MB usb stick. Both are visible in the boot priority in the BIOS, but they are always ignored and Win7 always loads. I have an Asus Z-97A USB3.1 mobo.The ISO files on the USB drives were made with Acronis True Image 2017 (so I can do disk rescues).

Is there some sort of security BS in the BIOS preventing the drives from booting? I found a "Secure Boot" section but no way to disable it, just a whole page on keys and crap lol... its hard to believe Asus would be so stupid as to make it so difficult to boot from usb/cd etc..?

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gregmcc

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#1773722 1-May-2017 19:11

usually in the BIOS there is a sequence of boot devices, most likely the hard drive is set to boot before the USB

solutionz

589 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1773724 1-May-2017 19:18

You can't just copy an ISO file onto a HDD, you need to use an application to write it and make it bootable: https://rufus.akeo.ie/

Depending on your ISO you may need to disable Secure Boot.

You may also have to disable or enable UEFI in your BIOS.

richms

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#1773824 1-May-2017 20:22

UEFI needs it to be formatted fat32 to boot off. Wasted many an hour on that problem.

Richard rich.ms

arcon

406 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1773828 1-May-2017 20:29

solutionz:

You can't just copy an ISO file onto a HDD

That was it lol,fixed.

Dynamic

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#1773867 1-May-2017 21:35

Awesome.... great to hear!

Just for the future information of someone else struggling to USB boot who finds this thread in the future, I battled with this 2 days ago when trying to install pfSense onto a computer. Followed instructions to the letter a number of times using two different imaging utilities, with no luck. Switched to a different USB stick and it worked first time. Tried the original USB stick and still no luck. I can't explain why.

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solutionz

589 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1773870 1-May-2017 21:38

Dynamic:

Awesome.... great to hear!

Just for the future information of someone else struggling to USB boot who finds this thread in the future, I battled with this 2 days ago when trying to install pfSense onto a computer. Followed instructions to the letter a number of times using two different imaging utilities, with no luck. Switched to a different USB stick and it worked first time. Tried the original USB stick and still no luck. I can't explain why.

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