Boot From USB On Acer Aspire 3

Question

I got an Acer Aspire 3 laptop and want to boot a different OS than Windows 10 from USB.

I have gone into the BIOS and went to change the boot order so it checks the USB first, but no option exists for that. Then I pressed F12 during initial boot phase, and got a boot menu, but the only option it displays is for Windows 10.

How do I get it to recognize and use the USB for this purpose?

Solution

Your new laptop almost surely uses UEFI as firmware and is configured to use Secure Boot.

It is possible to boot from a USB drive while Secure Boot is enabled, but the USB drive must use a FAT32 partition, the system must attempt to boot from it in UEFI mode (which it always will if Secure Boot is enabled), and it must contain a bootloader that is actually trusted by Secure Boot. On the Windows side, Win8 and newer use trusted bootloaders, and so do newer versions of Ubuntu, but I don't know about your operating system.

You should be using a boot USB that was created as above. If it not, you should disable Secure Boot in the BIOS. In addition, if the USB is not configured for UEFI, you should enable Legacy Mode in the BIOS.

For best results, and especially if you intend to setup dual boot, all the boot media should support UEFI boot with Secure Boot. Otherwise you will need to switch BIOS settings back and forth when booting the different operating systems.

Comments

[BoffinBrain]

How have you set up the USB memory stick? If you don't see it as a boot option, it may not be done correctly. Is the bootable memory stick set up to do a UEFI boot or legacy BIOS?

[John]

Did you turn off Secure Boot?

[dirdi]

Were you able to boot from this stick on another PC?

[oldfred]

How did you create USB flash drive? Often best to use gpt & UEFI settings if available. Or install tool that creates hybrid DVD/flash drive installer. Acer Aspire E15 will not dual boot, many details Trust settings in step 35 askubuntu.com/questions/627416/…