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- HP Community
- Notebooks
- Notebook Boot and Lockup
- Legacy support not shown in BIOS

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08-29-2020 09:41 AM
Hi, I currently have an HP notebook with windows 10 installed. I want to boot a USB with Linux mint installed. For this I had to boot it with legacy. I went to the boot options and it did not have the legacy support option. I have disabled the secure boot as well. I looked up done video tutorials and all of them had the legacy support.
Also note that my notebook didn’t come with windows pre-installed. I installed it using the media creation tool.
08-29-2020 03:46 PM
Secure boot is a UEFI option that forces the PC to boot from the internal drive. With that enabled, you would not be able boot from external media, whether that was Windows or Linux. Disabling that is one step in allowing you to boot from external media.
Some modern PCs also have a feature to Disable booting from portable media -- but if that is turned on, you would again NOT be able to boot from external media -- Windows or Linux.
The other distinction is Mode -- UEFI or Legacy. UEFI forces GPT formatting and requires media that can boot using that mode. Since you were able to install Wiun10, the media you made for it most likely supports UEFI mode.
Legacy allows for MBR formatting but If the UEFI settings don't show a way to disable that and enable Legacy mode then you have no way to install Linux.
Also, if your goal is dual booting, then with Windows already installed in UEFI mode, you would NOT be able to install Linux because if you did change to Legacy mode, Windows would then no longer boot.
Since HP does not provide Linux support, with problems related to installing that, you need to check with the support forum for the Linux distro you want to install.
I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor represent, HP
08-30-2020 10:13 AM
Thanks for the reply. I haven't checked on the portable medium yet. Even if that is the case, then there should be a legacy support option grayed out right? This was the case with all the video tutorials.
I will check and reply regarding the Boot from portable media.
Note that I was able to boot the live USB of the same. The problem is only with the one in which I did the complete installation. So that might mean the Portable medium should be enabled.
Thanks again.
08-30-2020 11:15 AM
As to your first question, no. The Disable portable boot and Secure boot are totally different options.
I recently setup a refurbished HP EliteDesk and it had BOTH BIOS/UEFI options and I had to disable BOTH in order to boot from USB stick, which I needed to do to repartition the drive.
I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor represent, HP
08-31-2020 02:13 PM
So would the live USB work even if the portable boot option is disabled? Because that worked. Problem is only for the one with the full installation. Also I have mentioned this problem to the Linux Mint forums and am waiting for a reply from them as well.
Thanks.