# HP Pavilion AND bios boot devices (USB)



## dahliorse (Dec 21, 2006)

Does anyone know if it is possible to change the bios boot preferences to a USB device in a HP Pavilion desktop pc? (Bios 3.14)

At first glance there appears to be no option to change the preferences to boot from a USB device; but since I'm a novice and my computer is totally new and up to date, surely it's possible to boot from a USB device, is it?!

The bios only has the option to boot from a cd/dvd drive or a hard drive. There are other options but they are disabled, such as a floppy drive. 

I'd be really grateful for any help. 

If you are curious: I want to turn my external hard drive into a live usb drive for a linux os.

yours,

dahliorse


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

If the option isn't there now then you may be out of luck. Have you checked to see if there are BIOS updates? How old and what model is the HP?


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## dahliorse (Dec 21, 2006)

I have downloaded an update but I have not installed it yet. Concerned that the update might not work and mess everything up. 

The present bios does have a number of disabled options, so I'm kind of hopeful. Also I read somewhere, wish I'd bookmarked the page, that changing the boot priority to a floppy drive will boot via USB if there is no floppy drive. 

Was hopeful that this was really the case.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Just look through all the settings, on many new systems you need to add Removable to the boot order and then in a separate Removable boot device menu you can choose what removable boot devices to boot from.


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## Zimm511 (Aug 5, 2008)

I found my USB drive in the boot order's Hard Drive menu. Could be that I have a different BIOS though, or an older one. (I have a Pavilion a520.)


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## tech1982 (Aug 5, 2008)

hey wat hp pavilion u got?
if u wanna boot from usb cd drive just set to cd boot as 1st priority
if u wanna boot from usb hdd select hdd as a 2nd priority


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