Each user will certainly face the need to reinstall operating system to your computer or laptop. Recently, it is more rational to carry out such an installation using a regular flash drive, making it bootable.
This installation is fast and reliable, and creating bootable media is now a breeze. But sometimes the user may encounter one problem that prevents him from carrying out a normal installation of the system - BIOS does not see bootable flash drive .
When connected to computer device it turns out that the flash drive is simply not defined by it, as if it does not exist. Even when entering BIOS (UEFI), the user does not detect the drive in boot menu. Below will be explained why the PC does not see boot drive in the bios, how to fix the situation and make it visible.
Why is the bootable USB flash drive not visible in the BIOS?
The main reason why the bootable flash drive is not visible in the BIOS is the mismatch between the boot modes specified in the BIOS and supported by the drive itself. Why is this happening? Because modern computers have 2 boot modes: Legacy and UEFI. On older devices, there was no such choice. So, only one of these modes is enabled in the device.
If UEFI mode is set, then the drive on which the system image for Legacy mode is recorded will not be displayed in BIOS. Accordingly, it will not work to select it as a boot. In this mode, images for Windows 7 systems are usually written. If Windows is installed, then, as a rule, there are no problems.
What to do so that the BIOS sees a bootable USB flash drive
2 options for solving the problem.
In a situation where the BIOS does not see the bootable flash drive, you can do one of the following 2 actions:
- In BIOS, you need to disable support for the second mode, which will not be used. After entering the BIOS, go to the Boot tab and simply set the mode you need to "Enabled". Sometimes this item is hard to find. For example, it may look like an operating system selection. In this case, the options might be:
- Booting Windows 8 or 10 systems for UEFI mode.
- Booting another system (Other OS) also for Legacy mode.
If you are using a bootable USB flash drive designed only for booting in Legacy mode, you must disable Secure Boot in BIOS. To do this, in the field "Secure Boot" specify a value "disabled". On some laptops and PCs, just select Windows 7 to disable safe boot.
To find out if secure boot is enabled on Windows systems 10 or 8, just press on the keyboard Windows combination+ R, and then enter the expression in the line "msinfo32". After pressing Enter, information about the system installed on your computer will be displayed, where you can find an item that displays the status of your secure boot. 
- Rewrite the data to the USB flash drive again by selecting a different boot mode. This option is only available for new images created recently. If you are burning an image that is a year old or older, it will only support Legacy mode.
If the captured image is supported for both modes, it is not necessary to change the BIOS settings. It is enough to rewrite the image of the system. However, note that for the record Windows images 7 and XP will require mandatory disabling of Secure Boot.
It is very easy to create a bootable USB flash drive in Rufus. Before you start writing data, you will be able to choose for which boot mode the drive will be written. The default (for most cases) is MBR mode for UEFI and Legacy. But you can choose MBR mode with UEFI or GPT mode with UEFI.
Important note! Many users do not understand one important point. In order for the flash drive to be visible in BIOS, it must be bootable. That is, it is not enough just to write an image of some system to a USB drive, and then install the system from it. It is necessary to create a boot drive using one of the special programs.
You might be wondering how to use a USB flash drive to increase RAM computer ().
Using these tips, you can easily install any operating system on your device using a bootable USB flash drive.
As a rule, all modern computers are equipped with special DVD drives that can easily read any discs. Including they are equipped with new laptops, whose manufacturers tend to keep up with the times.
However, sometimes there are situations when it is simply necessary to resort to the help of a tool such as the BIOS. Many novice users do not understand what it is, so it will be interesting for them to know that the BIOS is the component without which the computer is simply impossible to work. In other words, when the device is turned on, some module must check for the presence of all the necessary files and drivers to start the operating system. This is exactly what the BIOS does. In addition, a component such as the BIOS checks the general condition of the components in the system unit, which must be in perfect working order at the time the computer is started. If something is broken in them, the BIOS will report this and will not be able to turn on the computer. That is why you should know which ones are used in the BIOS.
It should be noted that some users have a lot of problems with this component. And as a rule, they arise precisely when reinstalling the operating system. The whole system is built on English language, and often it is not even clear how to prioritize loading. What can we say about some complex technical aspects.
What if the BIOS does not see the flash drive?
One of the most common problems is that very often the BIOS does not see the flash drive. In other words, there was
a certain bootable media was created, from which, for example, it was planned later. And now, when this media is in the appropriate slot, the BIOS does not see the USB flash drive.
Why is this happening? There can be many reasons, ranging from the illiteracy of users to technical malfunctions, due to which the BIOS does not see the USB flash drive. But still, often the component does not see the flash drive due to the fact that the user did something wrong. Therefore, if the device does not see the flash drive, you must first check whether the information is written to it correctly. Indeed, it often happens that the user simply does not have enough knowledge in order to correctly form a bootable USB flash drive. In this case, the BIOS, respectively, does not see the flash drive. So, if the component does not see the flash drive, it is best to overwrite the bootable flash drive.
Is the bootable flash drive written correctly?
The occurrence of such a problem depends on whether the user correctly recorded the bootable flash drive when the computer does not see the flash drive. In order to properly form a bootable USB flash drive, you must follow certain instructions.
How to create a bootable flash drive? In order to properly create a bootable USB flash drive, you must:
- prepare an appropriate image;
- download a special program to your computer;
- insert the USB flash drive into the appropriate port;
- press the button provided for this to start the process;
- make some settings;
- confirm the operation.
It is worth understanding in more detail with each point:
Some important bios features
By the way, there are some unfavorable factors that contribute to the fact that the BIOS does not see the flash drive. So, if the BIOS does not see the media, you should make sure that all the necessary files have been copied to it. Oddly enough, but such a trick often does not work, which is why the BIOS does not recognize the disk. That is why, if the BIOS does not see the bootable USB flash drive, you need to turn Special attention to this factor. If you check and eliminate this kind of reason, then this can help to cope with such a problem when the BIOS does not see the bootable USB flash drive.
In order to avoid a problem in which the BIOS does not see the device, you must use special programs to make the recording competent and of high quality. If the BIOS does not see the disk, you should consider which utility should be preferred so that each item written to the USB flash drive is readable. In other words, you should decide which program is suitable for a particular operating system in order to avoid a problem in which the BIOS does not see the device. It should also be noted that if the BIOS does not see the desired element, you can use the option that was given above. It suits perfectly any Windows and at the same time provides a high-quality result. So with this utility, you can forget about such a problem when the BIOS does not see the required device.
It is also necessary to pay attention to the fact that not all programs that are recommended by certain manufacturers fix the problem in which the BIOS does not see the element. So, many effective and curious utilities that large manufacturers can boast of cope with the “BIOS does not see the device” problem much worse than the above option.
It is impossible not to mention that the BIOS itself must be correctly configured in order for the boot to be successful. In particular, the BIOS must support such an option as booting from USB, and also be able to prioritize when performing this action. Naturally, for this purpose, some of the settings will have to be done manually. For example, you will have to choose the option from which the process itself should proceed. As practice shows, there is nothing particularly complicated here, so even a beginner can cope with such an action. The most important thing is to spend a little time studying the system itself and understanding how it works. It is impossible to give clear recommendations on this matter, because this menu is different for everyone, as it depends on the type of motherboard.
Why does the computer not see the flash drive? My friends ask me at the end of the working day and put the system unit in front of me, to my remark that the computer is not new, I hear the answer: they recently bought it, everything worked for the previous owner, but for some reason they don’t and they put a camera in front of me that needs to be connected , a flash drive, and in addition they show the printer in the corner, I was very tired, but I need to solve the issue, the USB specifications, compatibility, the USB controller in the BIOS were spinning in my head, with which I decided to start.
Why does the computer not see the flash drive?
If you connect the device to a USB port system block, it should automatically detect to be available in the My Computer window, but this does not happen and the device is not detected.
Let's start with the BIOS, and how to get into it? In most cases, you need to often press the F2 or Delete keys in the very initial phase of booting the computer, or read the instructions for your motherboard, or you can read our article
We went into the BIOS, we have it from Award, then go to the tab Advanced and move to point Integrated Peripherals, press Enter
and see that our USB Controller included
but he specs USB 1.1, so what, our devices should work with it.
Here I had the idea to reinstall the operating system, but first I decided to look inside the system unit and saw a USB 1.1 hub connected to a 9-pin connector on the motherboard, this hub output to back panel the system unit has four USB standard connectors, there are only two on the motherboard itself USB port 1.1 and you may not even notice them.
- Note: The fact is that hubs USB 1.1 cannot be used to connect devices USB 2.0. Of course, the old owner knew about this and tried to connect all devices directly to USB ports on the motherboard, but my friends don't.
Let's connect our devices directly to the USB ports on the motherboard.
After turning on the computer, we saw an operating system message that a faster USB 2.0 specification device was connected to the port.
Flash drive I saw each other quickly, but I had to download a driver package for the Hewlett-Packard camera on the official website, and only after installing them did it start working. By the way, I tried to connect the camera to the system unit with motherboard supporting the USB 2.0 interface, also to no avail. The hardware installation wizard did not resolve the issue either.
As for samsung printer, all labels with numbers and names were erased, drivers had to be searched for by the device code, we have a good article about this. When the drivers were found, our printer worked great.
Let me give you another example why computer Maybe can't see flash drive, you might find it useful.
I have a laptop at work, connected to it Canon scanner CanoScan LiDE which is powered directly from the USB port. The manufacturer claims that it is economical in terms of electricity, which is good, but as soon as I connect two more devices to my laptop, for example, a USB interface keyboard, and then a USB flash drive, the laptop stops seeing the scanner or does not see the USB flash drive point-blank, why?
This means that there is a shortage of power for these devices, sometimes the overall level of energy consumption connected to USB connectors is approaching the limit of its capabilities.
Power USB controller on your computer can be found in device manager Properties- tab Nutrition, it is equal to 500 mA for USB 2.0 and 900 mA for version 3.0, and printers and scanners require much more power to power.
As a rule, such problems are detected when trying to boot from a specific Flash drive. If your computing device does not see the USB flash drive in BIOS, then most likely you have not made the necessary changes to the basic system of the 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, whether USB memory is determined in the operating system itself. If not, then the 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 the USB hardware controller is disabled.
- Save and restart your computer.
Great if USB Flash Drive was determined and the PC went into boot mode from a USB flash drive. Otherwise, skip 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, while 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 in solving problem situations related to any kind of malfunction of 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 computing machines"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 .
- After you have downloaded "Plop boot manager» - burn it to a CD.
- Set the BIOS to boot from the optical drive.
- Further, after the “Plop” workspace of the utility is displayed on the screen, insert the USB drive into the appropriate slot (preferably the main one, which is located behind the PC system unit).
- 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 of the 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!
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, there will be little sense from your efforts, 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 recorded on 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. On many motherboards hybrid mode is supported, which allows you to boot from both UEFI drives and Legacy. 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 precisely 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. Eg, 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 only supports one of the boot types, you will either need to switch the BIOS to Legacy / UEFI or reset. 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 trying to install Windows from a Legacy drive to a UEFI system, you may also need to disable 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 an image to a disc in the same Media Creation Tool, only select a DVD disc, not USB, as the target drive.
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