Self-assembly of a PC. Turning on the computer for the first time without an OS

You've probably noticed that now in many articles on fixing various errors in Windows or restoring it, it is almost always recommended to use a bootable USB flash drive with operating system installation files or from a LiveCD. And only then they remember using the installation CD.

In principle, this is not surprising, since today DVD drives have already faded into the background, and CD / DVD discs naturally followed. For example, when assembling a new computer, few people additionally buy and install a DVD drive, by the way, in many PCs that are sold already assembled, the drive is also not installed. Well, I generally keep quiet about modern laptops or netbooks, there in most models the drive disappeared for a long time.

Just in this manual, several examples of how to set boot from a USB flash drive in different versions of BIOS will be considered. In this article you can find examples both for the earliest BIOS versions and for some modern UEFI versions from various manufacturers.

The procedure for installing a boot from a USB flash drive in BIOS

Installing a boot from a USB flash drive in different versions of BIOS may differ slightly, but in principle, the algorithm itself is the same for everyone.

We write down or with;
We connect the prepared usb drive to the computer. If you are going to install Windows, I recommend that you connect the drive to USB 2.0, that is, to the ports that are colored black (blue is USB3.0). Since sometimes the system may refuse to start the installation due to the lack of drivers for USB3.0 to which the device was connected;
We turn on or restart the computer and enter the BIOS using the keys " Del" or " F2". If none of these keys work, the options that you can find here by;
In BIOS, open the "Boot" section where, in the list of boot devices, move the USB flash drive to the first place;
Pressing the "F10" key and saving the changed parameters, we try to boot from the device we connected;

In general terms, it looks something like this. Well, now let's go through each BIOS version specifically.

Booting from a USB stick to Pheonix AwardBIOS

AwardBIOS is a pretty old version of BIOS, and today it is very rare to come across, but it does happen sometimes.

So, having entered the BIOS, we need to go to the "" tab.

Initially, the first position will be the hard drive, or if you have several of them, then all hard drives will be displayed first and only then the connected usb device. Here you need to use the key " + »Move the USB stick to the very first line.

Then we return to the previous menu using the key “ Esc"And in the parameter" Firs Boot Device"Select the value" USB-HDD". (By the way, in some versions of this BIOS, such a line may be absent, so you can try to select either USB-FDD or USB-CDROM).

Well, in the parameter " SecondBootDevice "We expose" Harddisk».

Pressing F10, save the settings, restart the computer.

Booting from a USB stick in yet another version of Pheonix AwardBIOS

Also, there are several more versions of Pheonix AwardBIOS, in which the very principle of installing a boot from a USB flash drive is similar, but the menu itself is slightly different.

We'll start by checking if the USB controller is directly enabled:

Installing boot from usb flash drive:

By the way, I want to draw your attention to the fact that in this version of BIOS there may be several more options for installing a boot from a USB flash drive, for example:

In some cases, it is enough just in the "Boot" section as the first device from which the computer will boot, select "USB-HDD".
Sometimes a USB flash drive can be found not in the settings of hard drives, but in the “Removable Drives” subsection;

How to set boot from usb-drive in AMI BIOS

AMIBIOS is another version of BIOS, which is often found on not the most recent mat. boards. In general, if after getting into the BIOS, its appearance will be the same as in the screenshot below, then to install the USB flash drive as a boot device, you need to follow these steps:

In this BIOS version, also, the flash drive can be found not only in " Removable Drives", But also in" ", so be careful.

We expose the boot from the flash drive in the UEFI BIOS Gigabyte

Now, let's move on to more modern types of BIOS, which can be found on later models of motherboards from various manufacturers.

Well, right now we'll start with the UEFI BIOS on a Gigabyte motherboard.

So, going into BIOS using the same keys "Delete", "F2" or "Esc", go to the tab " BIOS Features". Here you can see that boot from a flash drive will initially only be available in UEFI mode.

Well, since this option will not work for most, because the regular Legacy mode is more priority, we need to change the ego. To do this, go to the line “ Hard Drive BBS Priorities ".

V " Boot Option # 1"We expose instead of the hard disk, a bootable USB flash drive, respectively in" Boot Option # 2”, The HDD must be installed.

After that, in the previous menu, you can select a USB flash drive as a boot device, but without a UEFI prefix.

There is another boot option, which, as it seems to me, is much easier to use, but its trick is that it serves for a one-time boot from a usb drive, that is, the next time you reboot, you will again have to select boot from it in the same way.

In order to use it, you need to move to the tab " Save & Exit"And in" Boot override»Select the device you need to boot your computer.

The beauty of this option is that it does not require any additional changes in the BIOS settings, and later you simply don’t have to bother returning the boot settings to their original position. By the way, this option is very similar to the same Boot menu, although in this case we will have to go directly to the BIOS.

Boot from USB stick on ASUS motherboards

In the BIOS on motherboards from ASUS, there are also several options for starting a computer from a bootable USB flash drive with Windows.

The principle is the same on more modern motherboards. Below I will show an example on the same ASUS.

After entering BIOS, on the initial screen, we again need to move the priority device to the very top with the help of the mouse. Up because this menu moved here to the right side and became vertical.

You can also use the boot menu, as I showed in the previous example.

Going to " AdvancedMode ( F7)"And going to the" Boot", You can change the boot priority manually in the" Boot Option Priorities ».

Or just select the device you want to start downloading from it in the section " Boot override", Which is all in the same" Boot "tab.

Booting from a USB flash drive in a BIOS on an MSI motherboard

With regards to the motherboard in MSI, here we can set the boot from the flash drive in two ways.

In general, I hope that you will find the option that suits you, and that you will be able to install the boot from the USB flash drive in your BIOS without any problems.

How to set boot from a USB flash drive in old and modern BIOS versions

Nowadays, manufacturers of laptops, nettops, all-in-ones and stationary PCs increasingly began to produce them as part of systems that do not have an optical drive. This is not surprising, because the digital industry has practically supplanted the distribution of various content on optical drives.

Due to the fact that the computer does not have an optical drive, users began to have difficulties installing the operating system on it. Often, when installing the OS via a DVD drive, the user did not make any settings in the BIOS, since the first boot device in it is the DVD-ROM by default. The only option for systems that do not have a DVD-ROM is to install from a USB stick.

To install an OS from a flash drive or a portable USB HDD, you need set options for bootable USB devices in BIOS... In order for our readers to be able to boot themselves from a USB drive, we have prepared a material in which we describe the process of setting up a BIOS for booting from a USB flash drive for various systems using examples.

Let's prepare our USB drive

First of all, to boot a USB flash drive using BIOS, you need to make it bootable. For example, let's take a licensed disk with Windows 7 OS and make an iso image from it. The image can be made using DAEMON Tools or Alcohol 120% programs. Also, the original image of the disc with the license seven can be downloaded from the official website of Microsoft, with the license key.

Having received the image file, let's proceed to the second step. This step involves creating a bootable USB stick using the utility Rufus... This utility was chosen for a reason. A distinctive feature of the utility Rufus is that it can write bootable USB flash drives, both for a regular BIOS and for UEFI BIOS... Download the utility Rufus from its official page and immediately launch it, since it does not require installation.

In the program window that opens, you can see that in the first combo box “ Devices"A 16 GB flash drive is displayed. After selecting a USB device, you need to specify the program Rufus path to the iso image of Windows 7. To do this, press the button with the laser disk icon and select the image. After that, press the Start button and wait for the completion of the creation of our bootable USB drive.

In the same way, bootable USB drives are created for Windows 8, 10 and XP, as well as for other operating systems. It is especially convenient to create with Rufus bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP. This is due to the fact that most of the ways to create a bootable flash drive with Windows XP are very difficult for the average PC user. WITH Rufus By contrast, Windows XP drives are quick and easy to create.

After the bootable USB flash drive is created, you can start installing or reinstalling the seven using it. Therefore, in the next example, we will describe the process of loading a USB flash drive we created on a computer with a UEFI BIOS.

Booting from a USB drive on a computer with UEFI BIOS

In computers with UEFI BIOS support, you can use Windows, both with support for the new BIOS, and without it. For example, let's take a computer that does not have an optical drive and is assembled on the basis of a motherboard. MSI A58M-E33 with the support UEFI BIOS... Now we need to put the USB flash drive created earlier into this computer. For fast boot from a specific drive in motherboards running UEFI BIOS, there is a special Boot Menu... This menu allows you to select a specific drive without loading the main BIOS menu. On different computers Boot Menu can be called via F12 and F11 . In our case, on the MSI A58M-E33 motherboard Boot Menu called via the F11 key.

From this menu you can see the item " UEFI: KingstonDataTraveler 2.0PMAM" and " KingstonDataTraveler 2.0PMAM". If we select the first item, then the Windows 7 operating system will be installed with support UEFI BIOS, and if the second, then with the support of the usual BIOS. After selecting the first or second item, the installation files will start downloading.

Note, if we created a bootable USB drive using the Microsoft Windows proprietary USB / DVD Download Tool, then we would not be able to install an OS that supports UEFI BIOS, since it creates a bootable USB flash drive that does not have UEFI support.

Moving on. Now let's try to configure booting from USB devices from the BIOS of the MSI A58M-E33 motherboard. To do this, at the start of the computer, press the Del key. This will load the motherboard BIOS.

In the main BIOS window, go to the tab “ Settings”, After which the settings menu will open. In this menu, we need to select the item "". After selecting it, the download settings will open.

In these settings, you can see that the first boot device is the hard drive.

After completing these steps, our bootable USB flash drive will be loaded first at system startup. In the same way, you can install and run a flash drive on most PCs running Phoenix BIOS.

Configuring booting from a USB drive on an old AMIBIOS computer

Consider launching a flash drive on a PC running AMI BIOS. developed by the American company American Megatrends Incorporated, hence the abbreviation in its name AMI. This BIOS is known to many PC users because of the startup logo at system startup.

Turn on the computer and go to the settings using the Del key. In the BIOS window, we need to go to the settings item "".

After the actions taken, settings will open that allow you to set the priority of drives at system startup, including flash drives.

In the same way, you can install and run a flash drive on most computers running AMIBIOS.

Problems when solving the assigned task on AMIBIOS and Phoenix BIOS

Users of very ancient laptops and desktops may have trouble starting a bootable USB device.

This problem is due to the fact that on very old computers running AMIBIOS and Phoenix BIOS, there is no support for starting USB devices at system startup. Therefore, the only boot device in this case will be the optical drive.

Another nuance in solving our problem may be different versions of AMIBIOS and Phoenix BIOS, which differ from those discussed above. The main difference may be the interface and the different location of the settings. In this case, you should not be upset, since the developers do not hide the boot configuration settings far and they can always be found and configured by analogy with the examples described above.

Setting up booting from a USB drive to a mini PC

New mini PC Compute Stick from Intel quickly gained popularity among users, as it is a computer with Windows OS on board, which is only several times larger than a regular flash drive in size. Due to its dimensions, it lacks most of the interfaces like stationary PCs and laptops. For example, there is no RJ45 interface and no interface for DisplayPort digital monitors.

Since Intel Compute Stick comes with a preinstalled Windows 8 or 10 operating system, then most users have no problems installing the OS on it. But what about the situation when the OS has suffered as a result of viruses or deletion of system files.

In this situation, a bootable USB drive will help and Boot Menu BIOS. For example, let's take an analog of Intel Compute Stick called Meegopad T02. To reinstall Windows on this computer, you need to download the OS image from the official website of the Meegopad T02 manufacturer www.x86pad.com. After downloading and creating a bootable USB stick, put it into the Meegopad T02. Then turn on the Meegopad T02, having previously booted into Boot Menu BIOS using the F10 key.

V Boot Menu you can select a USB flash drive and install Windows using it. To permanently load the flash drive at system startup, you can open the BIOS, and configure the boot priority of different USB drives in it.

Summing up

After reading the above examples, an ordinary PC user can easily set the priority of bootable flash drives in systems with different BIOS versions. Having learned how to put the USB flash drive first at boot, you will understand how quickly and conveniently you can install various operating systems on your PC.

We hope our article will help you boot from a USB flash drive and install the operating system, as well as help you install it on computers that do not have an optical drive.

Memory try it

Tired of tinkering with memory settings? Our engineers, with the assistance of the world's best overclockers, have created the largest database of overclocking memory profiles for the most popular chips. Just set the CAS latency and memory frequency, and we'll do the rest. Overclocking memory has never been easier.

Draggable boot order

Want to boot from another device? Thanks to Click BIOS 4, you can see not only the established boot order from devices, but also change it with the mouse, by dragging and dropping the names of boot devices in the list. Conveniently controlled by icons at the top of the BIOS screen.

GO2BIOS button

Didn't have time to press DEL to enter BIOS settings? Just press the GO2BIOS button before you turn on or reboot the system and the next time you start, you will automatically enter the BIOS settings.

Multi-BIOS II

Did something go wrong while updating the BIOS? Do not worry! With Multi BIOS II technology, you have a second BIOS chip that you can use to restore the contents of the main BIOS chip.

Ceasefire lite

Don't waste time opening the case and removing unused graphics cards. Use Ceasefire Lite via Click BIOS 4. This menu allows you to disable unused PCIe slots.

Slow Mode

Solve the cold start problem with Slow Mode. Slow Mode lowers the CPU multiplier to 8x. When using the CPU vCore Adaptive Mode, the Slow Mode function will significantly lower the vCore voltage to 0.8 ~ 0.9V. This function will help to avoid the problem of "cold start" in extreme freezing temperatures during overclocking.

My Favorites

Want to have quick access to the most important settings? The My favorite section allows you to organize easy access to your favorite, most frequently used settings. You can organize the required settings into five groups.

Advanced memory settings

Adjust memory parameters such as CAS latency and TRAS. In this section you can change the memory settings of the second and even the third level.

View complete information about the processor, such as stepping, current frequency, voltage and number of threads. CPU-INFO is a handy tool for checking processor parameters and settings during overclocking. Make sure the processor is running with the correct parameters before you run the benchmark or game.

Last known best setting

Failed to boot after overclocking? Do not worry! Thanks to the Last Known Best Setting feature, the system will revert to the previous BIOS settings before you had time to change them. This will save you tons of time.

Change Settings Info

When exiting the BIOS, check which settings you changed. Clicking BIOS 4 has a Change Settings Info function, which shows which of the settings were changed before exiting the BIOS. Thus, you can always check what changes in the settings were actually made before rebooting the system.

Quick XMP Button

Don't want to tweak the memory timings yourself? With easy one-button access to XMP in Click BIOS 4, you can be sure that the correct memory timings are set for optimal performance and stability.

Quick nav

Switch quickly between different sections of BIOS settings using the keyboard Up / Down / Left / Right keys. A simple navigation bar will always help you determine which BIOS section you are in.

Simple / advanced mode

Want to see only important Click BIOS 4 settings? Use the simple mode of the settings display to view the most important settings without unnecessary detail. Use advanced mode and access all overclocking settings.

Quick preview system status

Using the tab on the right side of the BIOS settings, you can monitor in real time the most important voltage values, for example, such as the voltage of the CPU Core.

The functionality and interface of the BIOS get at least some serious changes quite rarely, so there is no need to update it regularly. However, if you have assembled a modern computer, but an outdated version is installed on the MSI motherboard, then it is recommended to think about updating it. The information below is only valid for MSI motherboards.

Depending on how you decided to update, you will have to download either a special utility for Windows, or the files of the firmware itself.

If you decide to update from the utility built into the BIOS or from the DOS line, then you will need an archive with the installation files. In the case of the utility that runs under Windows, you may not need to download the installation files in advance, since the utility has the ability to download everything you need from MSI servers (depending on the type of installation chosen).

It is recommended to use the standard methods for installing BIOS updates - built-in utilities or the DOS line. Updating through the operating system interface is dangerous because in the event of a bug, there is a risk of interrupting the process, which can lead to serious consequences up to the failure of the PC.

Stage 1: Preparatory

If you decide to use standard methods, then you need to make the appropriate preparation. First, you will need to find out information about the BIOS version, its developer and the model of your motherboard. All this is necessary so that you can download the correct BIOS version for your PC and make a backup copy of the existing one.

To do this, you can use both built-in Windows tools and third-party software. In this case, the second option will be more convenient, therefore, further step-by-step instructions are considered using the AIDA64 program as an example. It has a user-friendly interface in Russian and a large set of functions, but at the same time it is paid (although there is a demo period). The instruction looks like this:

Now download all BIOS update files from MSI official website using this guide:

To perform the installation using the standard method, you need to prepare a USB stick or CD / DVD in advance. Format the media to the file system FAT32 and transfer the BIOS installation files from the downloaded archive there. Make sure that there are elements with extensions among the files BIO and ROM... Without them, the update will be impossible.

Stage 2: Flashing

At this stage, we will consider the standard flashing method using the utility built into the BIOS. This method is good because it is suitable for all devices from MSI and does not require any additional work other than those discussed above. Immediately after you have dropped all the files on the USB flash drive, you can proceed directly to the update:

Method 2: Update from Windows

If you are not a very experienced PC user, you can try updating through a special utility for Windows. This method is only suitable for desktop users with MSI motherboards. If you have a laptop, it is strongly recommended that you refrain from this method, as it may cause it to malfunction. It is noteworthy that the utility is also suitable for creating a bootable USB flash drive for updating via the DOS line. However, the software is only suitable for updating via the Internet.

The instructions for working with the MSI Live Update utility are as follows:

Method 3: Via a DOS line

This method is somewhat confusing, since it involves creating a special bootable USB flash drive for DOS and working in this interface. It is strongly discouraged for inexperienced users to update using this method.

To create a flash drive with an update, you will need the MSI Live Update utility from the previous method. In this case, the program itself will download all the necessary files from the official servers. Further actions are as follows:

Now you have to work in the DOS interface. To enter there and do everything right, it is recommended to use this step-by-step instruction:

Updating the BIOS on MSI PCs / Laptops is not that difficult, and there are a variety of ways you can choose the one that works best for you.

At the end of our series of articles on updating BIOS, we will tell you how to update MSI BIOS, because motherboards from them have their own characteristics!

BIOS update in a device equipped with MSI motherboard is generally done as follows:

the specific model of your motherboard is installed;
checks for updated versions of the system you are interested in;
install them directly.

If you know the exact model of your hardware and the version of the system to reinstall, then all that remains is to find out on your motherboard from the MSI brand. The firmware you need can be downloaded both to the computer itself and to a portable device.

How to update BIOS from MSI brand using a USB flash drive?

You can launch the version of the I / O software update you are interested in directly from the desktop.

For the convenience of this operation, you can use the special Click BIOS II interface, suitable for working with devices from the Taiwanese manufacturer we are considering. In the "Utilities" section you will find a suitable M-Flash program for installing from a USB flash drive, which will help you update the I / O software.

This specialized utility will prompt you to use the "Update Bios" option. With its help, the required update file is selected from the flash drive, previously downloaded from the manufacturer's official website, and then it is installed in automatic mode. It is recommended that you restart your computer before continuing to work with your computer.

MSI live update 6 is located in the same section. This is a special utility with which you can find out the version of your motherboard using the "System Information" section.

Also, this program will help you check in real time for the latest updates for your device, either manually or automatically. When choosing the first option, you will need to put a tick in front of the second item "MB Bios" before starting the scan.

Understanding motherboard models and utilities from a Taiwanese manufacturer

It is worth remembering that under the abbreviation denoting equipment, the BIOS update for which we are trying to install, hides the name of a company specializing in the production of motherboards.

It sounds like Micro-Star International. Thus, we are not talking about any specific version of the motherboard, but rather about their whole family. For example, you may have MSI z270 a pro or MSI h110m pro vd on your computer.

You can find out your motherboard model in order to subsequently update the I / O system in various ways, including: