ACER Aspire 5 A515-45-R42F: I can't figure out how to enable boot from usb.

piazzolla

I bought an ACER Aspire 5 A515-45-R42F notebook with UEFI bios and Windows 11. I can't figure out how to enable boot from usb.

Thank you

PS: I should know soon to make use of the right of withdrawal.

billsey

With the F12 Boot Menu enabled you will see all boot devices that have signed UEFI boot environments when using F12 at boot time. If you have a reason to boot from an unsigned image you have to also disable Secure Boot from the BIOS menu.

billsey

There is no reason to switch to legacy unless you are trying to install an OS that's older that something like a dozen years ago. Most current machines don't even support it. Also, you have to change your drive from the normal GPT to MBR in order to do a legacy boot, and that limits both partition size (2TB maximum) and file size (4GB maximum).

billsey

The EFI boot file has to be registered with Microsoft in order for it to be signed, and the Secure Boot option on the BIOS doesn'tw allow booting from an unsigned file. That makes it so viruses and rootkits can't install themselves instead of a valid file. Some OS releases don't have their files signed, and those have to be installed with secure boot disabled. Once they are up and running you can usually add their file to the list of allowed images and then you can turn secure boot back on. It wasn't much of an issues a few years ago, but there are now EFI viruses in the wild, though uncommon, so it's best to leave it on.

wascas

Enable F12 Boot menu in the BIOS.

https://community.acer.com/en/kb/articles/563-why-cant-i-get-the-f12-boot-menu-to-work-on-my-notebook-or-netbook

billsey

With the F12 Boot Menu enabled you will see all boot devices that have signed UEFI boot environments when using F12 at boot time. If you have a reason to boot from an unsigned image you have to also disable Secure Boot from the BIOS menu.

piazzolla

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1160903#Comment_1160903

Thanks for the answer that was helpful to me. But can't you change BIOS from UEFI to LEGACY as explained in this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IagJSpmhOvc&t=36s

Many thanks

billsey

There is no reason to switch to legacy unless you are trying to install an OS that's older that something like a dozen years ago. Most current machines don't even support it. Also, you have to change your drive from the normal GPT to MBR in order to do a legacy boot, and that limits both partition size (2TB maximum) and file size (4GB maximum).

piazzolla

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1160903#Comment_1160903

What do you mean by unsigned image? How do I see an unsigned image? I see for example that certain live distributions of linux won't boot, while with the legacy bios, they do.

billsey

The EFI boot file has to be registered with Microsoft in order for it to be signed, and the Secure Boot option on the BIOS doesn'tw allow booting from an unsigned file. That makes it so viruses and rootkits can't install themselves instead of a valid file. Some OS releases don't have their files signed, and those have to be installed with secure boot disabled. Once they are up and running you can usually add their file to the list of allowed images and then you can turn secure boot back on. It wasn't much of an issues a few years ago, but there are now EFI viruses in the wild, though uncommon, so it's best to leave it on.