The BIOS does not display a flash drive what to do. BIOS does not see flash drive

You decide to install Windows: you write a digital copy to a USB flash drive, configure the BIOS, restart your computer or laptop, and for some reason the installation does not start. What the heck? Why BIOS does not see the bootable flash drive? Everything seems to be done right...

Here are 2 of the most probable causes. The first is that the BIOS does not display the USB flash drive, because it is not bootable. The second is that you have not configured the BIOS correctly.

Although there is one more nuance - you have too old bios. It does not support USB media, and therefore does not see them. In this case, you can install Windows from a disk.

As for the first two reasons, we will consider them in more detail.

Did you burn the bootable flash drive correctly?

The fact is that it is not enough just to copy files from it. In this case, it will not be considered bootable. That is why the BIOS does not see your flash drive. You only need to write it down with special programs. There are plenty of them, but personally I use UltraISO. Why? Because she:

1. Free (from trial period for 30 days).
2. Records both Windows 7 and Windows 8.
3. Easily writes images to a 4 GB flash drive (some programs only support USB drives of 8 GB or more).

And most importantly: creating a bootable USB flash drive in UltraISO is as easy as shelling pears. First you need to install the program (link to the developer's website) and connect a USB flash drive to a laptop or computer. After that, there are only a few steps left:

During recording, all information from the USB flash drive will be deleted. The program will also warn you about this. Therefore, if it contains important data, copy it to another location.

Proper BIOS setup

If you did everything according to the instructions, then be sure that the USB flash drive was written correctly. And now it's really bootable. Try it - you may be able to run the Windows installation.

Therefore, restart your laptop or computer and enter the BIOS. To do this, you need to press a certain button several times. Most often it is Del or F2, although it may be different (depending on the model). motherboard and brand of laptop).

Next, you need to go to the tab, the name of which contains the word "Boot". It is here that the boot priority of devices is configured when the PC or laptop is turned on. By default, first (First boot device) is being loaded HDD, followed by the drive. In this case, you need to put a USB flash drive (USB-HDD) in the first place, and a hard drive ( hard drive) temporarily drop to the second.

When you exit the BIOS, be sure to save the new settings! To click the button that is responsible for the "Save and Exit" item.

That's all. Now, if the USB flash drive is connected to a computer or laptop, and the BIOS is configured correctly, Windows installation will begin.

P.S. If this is all too difficult for you, then you can go to boot menu. This is one of the BIOS options, which is designed just to quickly set up booting from a USB flash drive.

P.S. If the BIOS stubbornly refuses to recognize the USB flash drive, then it may be corrupted. But before you throw it out, read it. Perhaps everything will work out, and it will last a couple more years.

Modern laptops are getting rid of CD / DVD drives one by one, becoming thinner and lighter. Along with this, users have a new need - the ability to install the OS from a flash drive. However, even if there is bootable flash drive, not everything can go as smoothly as we would like. Microsoft specialists have always loved to throw curious puzzles at their users. One of them - the BIOS may simply not see the media. The problem can be solved by several sequential actions, which we will now describe.

In general, there is nothing better for installing an OS on your computer than a bootable USB flash drive made with your own hands. You will be 100% sure of it. In some cases, it turns out that the carrier itself is made incorrectly. Therefore, we will look at several ways to make it for the most popular versions of Windows.

In addition, you need to set the correct parameters in the BIOS itself. Sometimes the reason for the absence of a drive in the list of disks can be exactly this. Therefore, after we deal with creating a flash drive, we will look at three more ways to configure the most common BIOS versions.

Method 1. Flash drive with Windows 7 installer

In this case, we will use the Windows USB / DVD Download Tool.

This method Suitable for Windows 7 and older. To burn images of other systems, use our instructions for creating bootable USB flash drives.

IN the following instructions You can see ways to create the same drive, but not with Windows, but with other operating systems.

Method 2: Setting the Award BIOS

To enter the Award BIOS, press F8 while the operating system is loading. This is the most common option. There are also the following combinations for entering:

• Ctrl+Alt+Esc;
• Ctrl+Alt+Del;
• delete;
• Reset (for Dell computers);
• Ctrl+Alt+F11;
• Insert.

Now let's talk about how to properly configure the BIOS. In most cases, this is the problem. If you have an Award BIOS, do this:

Even the most experienced user at some point may encounter an unpleasant moment when an attempt to start the system from a bootable USB flash drive (for reinstalling Windows, for example) ends with nothing, because the BIOS simply does not see the USB flash drive. There is a logical explanation for this phenomenon. In this manual you will find a couple of tips that will help solve the problem.

What to do if the BIOS does not see a bootable USB flash drive

First, make sure your USB port is working. Try connecting to a port on the motherboard itself. If you try to solve this problem by overwriting the bootable media, but inserting it into a non-working BIOS port or, in principle, a port, your efforts will be of little use, to put it mildly. If the port is working, go to the next solution.

Most often, bootable flash drives are not displayed in the BIOS or Boot Menu due to the fact that the image written to it does not support booting in the mode installed on the motherboard (by the user or manufacturer). For example, an image for UEFI is written to the flash drive, and the motherboard is running in Legacy mode, or vice versa. Many motherboards support hybrid mode, which allows you to boot from both UEFI and Legacy drives. You need to go into the BIOS (UEFI) and find the item you need.

For example, on my motherboard from Gigabyte it is called BootmodeSelection and allows you to select two modes at once. It is because of the hybrid mode that when entering the Boot Menu, one drive is displayed twice - one Legacy and one UEFI (if an image is recorded for both systems at once), which allows you to select your preferred boot mode without overwriting the image or changing BIOS settings. On other motherboards, the boot mode selection may be called differently. For instance, Legacy Support or Compatibility Support Mode(it may be signed with the abbreviation CSM). In some cases, it is also called the name of the operating system, like Windows 10 / 8 for UEFI, and for Legacy Windows 7 or Other OS.

If your motherboard supports only one of the boot types, you will either need to switch the BIOS to Legacy / UEFI, or again. An error with the image most often occurs among users who have not figured out how to properly write Windows to a USB flash drive. Many simply copy the contents of the image to removable storage and then try to boot from it. This method will work on a UEFI system, but will not work on Legacy. And yes, copy content the image, not the image itself separate file. Copying the image itself will not work even on UEFI. In the case when the BIOS does not see the flash drive, we recommend overwriting the drive, because when you try to install Windows from a Legacy drive to UEFI system may need more disabling Secure Boot.

It is also worth considering that on some motherboards, the USB flash drive must be inserted into the USB port before the computer starts booting. In other words, it will not appear in the boot menu list if you insert the USB flash drive into the port after entering the same Boot Menu. Insert the drive into the port, restart the computer, go to the Boot Menu and boot from the USB flash drive.

If nothing helps at all, try to write Windows to another USB flash drive and boot from it. Alternatively, plug the drive into a USB 2.0 port rather than USB 3.0.

On older BIOSes, USB flash drives are not displayed at all as a separate boot menu item (USB-HDD does not work). In this case, you need to go into the BIOS and find the priority settings hard drives. In the list of connected drives, your flash drive with the recorded system should be displayed. Set it to the first place, save, reboot, and then select boot from HDD from the boot menu. The BIOS will select the flash drive first and start booting from it, which in turn will allow you to install the system.

If all attempts were in vain, you will have to write Windows to another type of media. If the computer you are trying to install Windows on has a DVD drive, try burning the system to a DVD and booting from it. For many, this advice will cause ridicule, but if nothing helps at all (this primarily applies to older computers), booting from a DVD should help solve the situation. You can burn the image to disk in the same Media Creation Tool, only select DVD as the target drive, not USB.

As a rule, such problems are detected when trying to boot from a specific Flash drive. If your computing device does not see the flash drive in BIOS, then most likely you have not made the necessary changes to basic system computer or your removable storage device is simply not bootable. However, let's take a closer look at such a confusing situation "the flash drive is inserted into the PC, but does not work properly."

Is your USB Flash Drive OK?

Of course, you can suffer for a long time and conduct unsuccessful experiments in the BIOS system itself, which in the end will turn out to be a waste of your valuable time. Because the flash drive may simply be inoperable. To be convinced of the opposite, try enlisting the help of a test device - insert a "capricious" USB flash drive into another PC.

And in general, check if the (seemingly faulty when booting the PC) storage device is seen in Windows environment. That is, is it determined USB memory in the operating system itself. If not, then flash drive needs to be repaired. Perhaps everything will be resolved after applying a special software tool, for example, a proprietary flash drive recovery utility from its manufacturer.

Priority BIOS settings or what, where and how ...

• Insert the flash drive into the USB port of your PC.

• Restart your computer.

• Enter the BIOS using the corresponding button on the keyboard (for those who do not know how to do this -).

• Depending on the version of the underlying microsystem, the name of the section in which the connected flash drive is displayed may be different than the “BOOT” tab discussed below. And yet, be guided by the abbreviated values ​​\u200b\u200bof “USB” when searching for the required partition in the BIOS.

• We set the boot from the flash drive.

• Also check if it is disabled hardware USB controller.

• Save and restart your computer.

Great if USB Flash Drive was determined and the PC went into boot mode from a USB flash drive. IN otherwise Let's move on to the next section of this article.

USB flash drive boot properties

Let's say you want to install an operating system whose distribution is written to a removable storage device. However, in order for the USB flash drive to be defined as a bootable drive, you must make it such. In other words, in the process of recording installation Windows files need to use special utility, for example, "Rufus" (to download, click here ). Only in this case will the flash drive really become bootable.

Storage device hardware incompatibility

In some situations, the system BIOS does not see the flash drive due to the outdated interface of the memory device itself. Make sure your USB stick is not a receiver of the "ancient" 1.1 standard. However, new flash drives with technological characteristics 3.0 may also not be perceived by outdated computer systems.

So, detailed specifications your storage device can be found on the official website technical support- enter the flash drive model and read the information you are interested in. By the way, this action can help solve problem situations knitted with whatever fault your USB devices(meaning the presence of a specific recovery utility on the site).

Updating the BIOS of the system - as a solution to the "invisible" USB problem

Sometimes it is advisable to carry out the process of updating the microsystem BIOS software. How to do this is described in detail here. However, in modern computers This operation is performed in a fairly simple way.

• Visit the technical support site for your motherboard.

• Download new version BIOS(a).

• Using a special flasher - flash the BIOS of your computer.

However, before proceeding with the implementation, albeit not difficult, but still very responsible operation "upgrading the version of the basic PC microsystem", carefully and in the most detailed way study background information about a properly implemented update process (perhaps this will be an invaluable help for you - go to ).

Bootable USB incompatibility of outdated computer systems - there is a solution!

Let's call such computers "exotic". However, if you need to endow your old computer with the properties of "boot from USB drive”, then follow the instructions below.

• Use this link - https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/download.html .

• Once you have downloaded Plop Boot Manager, burn it to a CD.

• Set the BIOS to boot from the optical drive.

• Further, after the workspace “Plop” of the utility is displayed on the screen, insert the USB drive into the appropriate slot (preferably the main one, which is located at the back system block PC).

• Select in the bootloader window - USB.

Now your "old man" can use the flash drive as a boot drive.

Summing up

So, the author of this article is sure that after you have read the material of the presented article, you will certainly succeed. And yet, I would like to note one not unimportant fact: most users make mistakes only because they misunderstand the problem and resort to the sometimes meaningless advice of “dear Internet GURU”. At the same time, exposing your car to the critical danger of “complete failure”. Be smart when choosing one or another solution to your computer problems and your experience will always be productive!

Booting the computer from an external drive may be required to reinstall or restore the operating system in the event of any failures or the appearance of virus software.

If the bios does not see the flash drive

BIOS may not see the flash drive in several cases: broken usb drive, wrong entry bootable flash drive or simply not produced correct setting BIOS or UEFI.

Flash drive not written correctly

Incorrect boot drive writing is one of the most common causes problems when trying to boot from a memory card. For the record better use program " Rufus”, it will allow you to load absolutely any operating system onto a USB flash drive, which most other programs have problems with.

Instructions for preparing a flash drive through Rufus:

Checking the boot from the flash drive

If the flash drive is not detected when you turn on or restart the computer, you need to set the correct one in the BIOS download priority.

After entering the BIOS, you will need to go to the tab " Boot»;

Next, go to the item " Boot Device Priority» (on some motherboards there may be a different menu name);

In the window that appears select the desired storage.

Methods for booting from a USB flash drive in UEFI

When working with UEFI, it is still easier, although in some cases unforeseen problems may arise. Ways to start from a flash drive under UEFI will be shown on the example of an Asus motherboard:

If you need a computer constantly booting from external storage, specify desired device in download priority. After that, the computer will turn on from the USB flash drive until you remove it or change the boot priority again;

For single boot from flash drive worth discovering boot menu and choose desired disk . After restarting the computer, it will boot from hard drive in normal mode;

If nothing helped

old Operating Systems(Windows 7 and older), as well as some linux distributions do not support boot to UEFI. To remedy the situation, turn on operating mode with unsupported operating systems. You can do this in the following way:

First you need to go to additional settings;