boot order(Acer Aspire E5)

compiler
compiler Member Posts: 32 Troubleshooter
edited September 2023 in 2019 Archives
I just bought an Acer Aspire E5. I know how to get into the Bios but I am unclear on how to check/change the boot order. Can someone please give me some clear instructions how to do this. Thanks. Mel

Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,865 Trailblazer
    You must set and save a supervisor password. Then re-enter the BIOS menu with the password. Disable secure boot. Then re-arrange to your heart's content. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • compiler
    compiler Member Posts: 32 Troubleshooter
    Jack:
    Thank you for the quick response.
    Right now, when I start my computer, no password is required. This is the way I want it.
    If I set a supervisor password, will this change?
    If not, is the supervisor password only required to do some stuff in the BIOS.
    (I am a novice in using Acer BIOS)

    Mel
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,865 Trailblazer
    The supervisor password is for the BIOS menu only. It's only needed to disable secure boot and rearrange the boot order. This is common to all brands of UEFI bootstrappers, not just ACER. Has nothing to do with starting Windows. But don't forget it or  you won't be able to change settings in the BIOS menu. What are you trying to do? If you're trying to install another OS like Linux, it sometimes isn't necessary to do this depending on the distribution. You can also enable the F12 boot option in the BIOS to boot from another medium like a USB stick if that's what you're trying to do without re-arranging anything in the boot order. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • compiler
    compiler Member Posts: 32 Troubleshooter
    Jack:
    Your last sentence nails what I want to do. I want to create a bootable disk and/or bootable USB drive and boot from it. So, I enabled the boot option. I then pressed the F12 key upon booting up. That took me to boot manager. There were instructions about using up and down arrows to select my boot media, but no choices. Shouldn't it offer USB, disk drive, etc.? Or do I need to have the boot media already in the machine (USB drive or disk)?

    Mel
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,865 Trailblazer
    The USB boot stick must be GPT partitioned, not MBR partitioned. A UEFI bootstrapper won't see an MBR partitioned boot stick. Use Rufus freeware to create a GPT partitioned boot stick with whatever ISO installation or live OS file you want to boot from. Jack E/NJ


    Jack E/NJ

  • compiler
    compiler Member Posts: 32 Troubleshooter
    Jack:

    Again, I'm a novice at this. I have a USB 32 gb flash drive on order. It will be here on Wednesday. It's a Sandisk Cruzer. From past experience, it will be FAT32 formatted and I will convert it to NTFS (much better file handling and necessary for larger files). I plan to just keep it exclusively for when I want to boot from it. I don't think I need to partition it. I assume I'll find a microsoft link to make it bootable and to d/l the latest W10 ISO file. Will that work?

    Mel (trying to keep it simple)


  • compiler
    compiler Member Posts: 32 Troubleshooter
    OK, I did more reading and see why GPT is preferred, unless I want to go into BIOS and switch from UEFI to the older Legacy. 
    Anything really wrong with using the MSFT Media Creation Tool

    Mel
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,865 Trailblazer
    The media creation tool should yield a generic Win10 version installation UEFI boot drive, not an ACER-flavored factory Win10 version. The difference is in device drivers and some system files. Accordingly, some machine devices might not function properly or at all under the generic version.

    Resist the temptation to operate the UEFI bootstrapper in virtual BIOS mode. The primary HDD/SSD won't boot in this mode. And if you try to convert it from GPT to MBR partitioning, everything on it including its hidden ACER recovery partition will be lost.

    Jack E/NJ 

    Jack E/NJ

  • compiler
    compiler Member Posts: 32 Troubleshooter
    Maybe I'm making this too complicated. Windows has a feature where I can "Make a Recovery Disk." I know it will make a bootable USB disk and it will put the system files on it. Not sure if it puts the W10 ISO on it and I assume (hope) it would format it GPT. I'm going to try and find out. Any opinions?

    (Or is this the same as using the Media Creation Tool)
    Mel
  • compiler
    compiler Member Posts: 32 Troubleshooter
    Jack:

    Keep in mind that I do regular images (I really like Macrium Reflect). So, if I can't do the normal boot-up, I would boot from the USB drive and hopefully be able to restore from an image. Otherwise, I would restore via installing Windows, then install Reflect, then restore from my image. That should get everything back, including proper drivers, etc.

    Mel



  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,865 Trailblazer
    The Media Creation Tool is NOT the same as ControlPanel's 'make a recovery disk' , MacriumReflect's imaging or ACER's hidden recovery partition reset.

    The Media Creation Tool installs a clean generic version of Win10 on your machine. ControlPanel's 'make a recovery disk' and MacriumReflect imaging takes a recovery snapshot of your existing Win10 setup and hopefully restores if something goes wrong. The ACER hidden recovery reset installs a clean ACER factory version of Win10 on your machine as it came out of the box when you first bought it.

    Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • compiler
    compiler Member Posts: 32 Troubleshooter
    Jack:
    Thank you for taking the time and effort in responding to me posts!

    Mel