Can’t change boot order/sequence

[regvg]

New laptop HP 17-CP0017NB 17.3" R7-5700U with AMD Ryzen7 & AMD Radeon, Win 10 installed. Have also bootable USB with Linux Mint ready (and working – tested on another pc).

Problem: Can’t change boot order/sequence in BIOS. Tried & checked:

• ESC > F10 > Boot options > Secure boot > Disable

• ESC > F10 > Boot options > Clear all secure boot keys

• ESC > F10 > Boot options > USB Boot Enabled

• ESC > F10 > Boot options > (check if secure= off)

• ESC > F10 > Boot options > USB can be moved upward to 1st choice and selected with Enter, but black pointer remains at “OS hard drive” (=windows)

• ESC > F11 > (HP system restore) > option “USB” can be chosen, but no effect; pc starts up again in OS (=windows), with or without USB inserted

Question: how to confirm and save option “boot USB first”

Tnx for help!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

If all you want to do is to boot from the USB device, you shouldn't have to change the boot order.

ESC > F9> select the USB flash drive you want to boot from.

You may have to enable legacy mode in the BIOS in order to install Linux.

ESC > F10 > Boot options > Secure boot > Disable

[regvg]

Tnx, that worked and finally got the USB (with Linux Mint) going.

Next day, next problem:

- after installing Linux, you get a nice choice boot menu (Linux, Windows,...)

- but if you the choose Windows, and than logout/switch off, the next start the boot choice is gone,

it just starts windows again, Linux inaccessible!

HP17 laptop, Windows10

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to help you with that problem.

I have never dual booted an operating system, and never installed Linux on my PC's.

I recommend you start a new discussion on that issue.

[WesleyVdPlas]

There might be two things going on, I suspect. In order to dual-boot, the computer must boot into Linux's bootloader (called grub2) which allows you to select whether you want to start Linux or Windows. Linux automatically installs this properly for you when you install Linux, but it might be that Windows is interfering with it again while it's running.

The first thing I can imagine is that Windows might be fast-booting, meaning Windows doesn't pass Linux's bootloader at all after it has shut down and has restarted again. If you disable fastboot in Windows, that may resolve the issue. See this link (https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1045548) on how to disable fastboot, let me know if that helps.

Another possible cause might be that Windows might be automatically 'repairing' the boot region by overwriting Linux's bootloader with Windows' bootloader, which doesn't support dual-boot. Windows doesn't like dual-boot too much, so if disabling fastboot doesn't work, I suspect that something like this may play a role. You may be able to find something online about this, in the mean time if I find anything I'll let you know! Maybe this provides a start, but perhaps not, it's the first link I could find: https://askubuntu.com/questions/451484/no-option-to-choose-between-ubuntu-or-windows-at-startup-trie...

[VH2000]

There are 2 Options to install a Linux Distribution on a WIN10 machine. The version with the GRUB2 Bootmanager that starts the Winload.efi and the version with 2 Bootmanagers and 2 partitions. The first option regulary ruins your BCD.

But you find many videos on YouTube about the 2 possibilities. I strongly recommend to install it on a separate disk if you are not experienced with Bootmanagers.

[regvg]

Tnx, Wesley, unfortunately, windows indeed doesn't like dual boot with linux.

However, I have two older laptops (one lenovo + win7 and one hp, bought 2012!) where dual boot works fine,

last year a new desktop and got in trouble with dual boot, got angry and kicked windows out,

seems like there is only one option with newer pc's

[regvg]

Tnx VH2000, see reply to Wesley above,

installing external drive is a nice technical solution, but not very practical on a "moving" laptop,

will have to choose and install simple linux