0

How can configure my System76 Gazelle laptop to boot from a USB drive?

enter image description here

I've restarted and tried F2 and F7 but I can't seem to figure out a way to see my USB drive.

My USB drive is plugged on and turned on. And it has a Windows 10 ISO on it. My goal is to install Windows 10 Pro on my Gazelle laptop (or perhaps dual boot Ubuntu / Windows but I'll save that for another question).

Below are photos from my Setup Utility that I see when I F2 (or F7 and choose setup).

enter image description here

enter image description here

enter image description here

enter image description here

enter image description here

And this is what I see when I F7 after restart: enter image description here

Update I now see the bootable USB drive (my original issue was that the drive was NOT bootable). I created it with Etcher. Now when I select that drive, brief flash and then the same menu is displayed with the same choices.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9VU8pHkvzBP7ZEyf8

Update #2
My second attempt at making a bootable USB was using WoeUsb. That produced a bootable USB that worked. enter image description here

JC5577
  • 189

1 Answers1

1

Putting an ISO on a USB stick will not make the USB stick bootable. That's your first problem.

You'll need to make a USB installer disk, and there are several ways to do so. An answer on this question recommends Rufus. Microsoft makes a tool to take your Windows ISO and make a bootable drive.

After you make a bootable USB stick, then you may need to worry about SecureBoot. HowToGeek has an article walking you through booting USB with SecureBoot enabled.

From the article:

New Windows PCs come with UEFI firmware and Secure Boot enabled. Secure Boot prevents operating systems from booting unless they’re signed by a key loaded into UEFI — out of the box, only Microsoft-signed software can boot.

Microsoft mandates that PC vendors allow users to disable Secure Boot, so you can disable Secure Boot or add your own custom key to get around this limitation. Secure Boot can’t be disabled on ARM devices running Windows RT.

How Secure Boot Works

RELATED: How Secure Boot Works on Windows 8 and 10, and What It Means for Linux

PCs that come with Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 include UEFI firmware instead of the traditional BIOS. By default, the machine’s UEFI firmware will only boot boot loaders signed by a key embedded in the UEFI firmware. This feature is known as “Secure Boot” or “Trusted Boot.” On traditional PCs without this security feature, a rootkit could install itself and become the boot loader. The computer’s BIOS would then load the rootkit at boot time, which would boot and load Windows, hiding itself from the operating system and embedding itself at a deep level.

Secure Boot blocks this — the computer will only boot trusted software, so malicious boot loaders won’t be able to infect the system.

On an Intel x86 PC (not ARM PCs), you have control over Secure Boot. You can choose to disable it or even add your own signing key. Organizations could use their own keys to ensure only approved Linux operating systems could boot, for example.

Options for Installing Linux

You have several options for installing Linux on a PC with Secure Boot:

Choose a Linux Distribution That Supports Secure Boot: Modern versions of Ubuntu — starting with Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS and 12.10 — will boot and install normally on most PCs with Secure Boot enabled. This is because Ubuntu’s first-stage EFI boot loader is signed by Microsoft. However, a Ubuntu developer notes that Ubuntu’s boot loader isn’t signed with a key that’s required by Microsoft’s certification process, but simply a key Microsoft says is “recommended.” This means that Ubuntu may not boot on all UEFI PCs. Users may have to disable Secure Boot to to use Ubuntu on some PCs. Disable Secure Boot: Secure Boot can be disabled, which will exchange its security benefits for the ability to have your PC boot anything, just as older PCs with the traditional BIOS do. This is also necessary if you want to install an older version of Windows that wasn’t developed with Secure Boot in mind, such as Windows 7. Add a Signing Key to the UEFI Firmware: Some Linux distributions may sign their boot loaders with their own key, which you can add to your UEFI firmware. This doesn’t seem to be a common at the moment.

You should check to see which process your Linux distribution of choice recommends. If you need to boot an older Linux distribution that doesn’t provide any information about this, you’ll just need to disable Secure Boot.

You should be able to install current versions of Ubuntu — either the LTS release or the latest release — without any trouble on most new PCs. See the last section for instructions on booting from a removable device.