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Question Can not boot from USB

R

retab12332

Member
Hi. My desktop is OEM DELL Optiplex 7010 Small Form Factor. I'm trying to install a fresh windows 10. I can not boot from USB drive. I tried using the front and back usb ports. I tried putting the usb drive as FIRST boot. I have used RUFUS to format the usb into BIOS and UEFI. It still doesn't work.
 
With Secure Boot turned off, have you tried to press F12 when the BIOS screen is displayed and then select the USB drive as the boot device?

If that doesn't work, to eliminate Rufus as the problem, try creating the USB boot media using the Windows 10 Media Creation tool. Use the 2nd installation option instructions on the webpage (i.e. the "Create installation media to install Windows 10 on a different computer" instructions) . This will allow you to create a boot media that you can use to install Windows 10.
 
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Steltek said:
With Secure Boot turned off, have you tried to press F12 when the BIOS screen is displayed and then select the USB drive as the boot device?

If that doesn't work, to eliminate Rufus as the problem, try creating the USB boot media using the Windows 10 Media Creation tool. Use the 2nd installation option instructions on the webpage (i.e. the "Create installation media to install Windows 10 on a different computer" instructions) . This will allow you to create a boot media that you can use to install Windows 10.
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I tried your way, both the F12 and using Media Creation Tool. But the screen freezes when it boots into the usb drive. I had to reboot. What is going on?
 
Possibly some hardware issue going on. What issues were you having in Windows to make you want to reinstall? Start by checking HDD or running memtest if so.
 
Shmee said:
Possibly some hardware issue going on. What issues were you having in Windows to make you want to reinstall? Start by checking HDD or running memtest if so.
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There were some corrupted programs. So I want to reinstall a fresh windows os. Do you know any way to get it to boot?
 
I was going to post, that sometimes Windows boot seems to "hang" if it can't properly detect / enumerate SATA or IDE devices. (I think that the spec. for the timeout is 30 second.)

If your HDD went belly-up, that could be a symptom.
 
VirtualLarry said:
I was going to post, that sometimes Windows boot seems to "hang" if it can't properly detect / enumerate SATA or IDE devices. (I think that the spec. for the timeout is 30 second.)

If your HDD went belly-up, that could be a symptom.
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Do you know any ways to boot from a USB drive
 
You need to run some hardware diagnostics first as something appears to be wrong with that machine. While the 7010 is known to sometimes have issues with Rufus-created USB drives (Rufus is a great tool, use it all the time, but it also has a long list of exceptions on the website that the author will not address), I've never seen one that didn't work with USB drives created using the MS Media Creation Tool. I'd say start with running the onboard diagnostics that should be available from the BIOS to check the hard drive, then run the memory diagnostic as well.

It also has a DVD drive, doesn't it? If so, try to burn a Windows DVD and boot from that.
 
Steltek said:
You need to run some hardware diagnostics first as something appears to be wrong with that machine. While the 7010 is known to sometimes have issues with Rufus-created USB drives (Rufus is a great tool, use it all the time, but it also has a long list of exceptions on the website that the author will not address), I've never seen one that didn't work with USB drives created using the MS Media Creation Tool. I'd say start with running the onboard diagnostics that should be available from the BIOS to check the hard drive, then run the memory diagnostic as well.

It also has a DVD drive, doesn't it? If so, try to burn a Windows DVD and boot from that.
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In the near future, I want to use macrium to clone the image, how will I do that if it won't boot from usb?
 
retab12332 said:
In the near future, I want to use macrium to clone the image, how will I do that if it won't boot from usb?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about that yet. You need to figure out WHY this is happening instead of worrying about things you can't do yet.

Okay, lets back up a step here. Probably a stupid question, but have you tried using a different USB drive in the event the first one is defective? Flash drives, no matter where you get them or who makes them, are all cheaply made crap subject to failing at the drop of a hat.

If you have tried a different USB drive and it still won't work, DO THE DIAGNOSTICS!

A bad memory module or a failing hard drive can cause these types of problems. So could a failing power supply or even a hardware fault on the motherboard (i.e. not providing sufficient voltage to the USB ports).

Try to check the things you can easily check first. If you find something you can fix, like a bad memory module or a failing hard drive, you fix it and the problem may go away.

If the diagnostics don't show anything, it could be a motherboard fault. In that case, if you want to take a chance, you can purchase a cheapo USB3.0 PCIe card off Amazon or eBay to see if you can use that to boot and/or image the computer.
 
On the HO SFF I bought ~3 years ago I had to also enable Legacy Support in order to boot from USB. Is there an option for Legacy Support?
 
There are four different BIOS screens that need to be accessed on the 7010 related to booting from USB.

The first screen needs to be accessed to set the boot order to move USB drives to the top of the boot order list. The next is the page with the option to disable Secure Boot, followed by another page (usually the next screen) to click the checkbox to enable loading legacy ROMs. After that, there is a totally separate screen in the BIOS just for USB port configuration. On that screen, there is an option you have to select in order to enable booting from USB media.
 
Steltek said:
There are four different BIOS screens that need to be accessed on the 7010 related to booting from USB.

The first screen needs to be accessed to set the boot order to move USB drives to the top of the boot order list. The next is the page with the option to disable Secure Boot, followed by another page (usually the next screen) to click the checkbox to enable loading legacy ROMs. After that, there is a totally separate screen in the BIOS just for USB port configuration. On that screen, there is an option you have to select in order to enable booting from USB media.
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I just tried it, the screen freezes. it just has lots of lines. I also used the windows 10 media creation tool to prepare the usb drive.
 
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