USB Boot to Linux - No Legacy Boot in BIOS

Ccwakefi · March 2022

Hello!

As part of my work, I do some booting into USB-stored operating systems as convenient testbenches that can be handed off from device to device. I bought a ConceptD 7 Ezel and like it, but I have noticed the BIOS has no support for Legacy Boot, which means I cannot boot from USB with it. This is pretty maddening, because most devices out there seem to support it. Is there any hope or mechanism by which I can get booting from USB going on this device? Or hope that Acer will update their BIOS to include a legacy boot option?

I am really baffled that Acer left that out. I never even thought to investigate the BIOS before buying (and I don't even know how I would have), but it would have been a deal breaker for me had I known it wasn't possible on this device...

JackE · March 2022

The F12 USB boot option must be enabled in the BIOS Main tab. Preferrably SATA mode should be AHCI, not Intel RST or VMD mode. Any hidden options in any BIOS tab will be revealed by pressing Ctrl+S.

The USB Linux boot iso or img stick must be GPT partition scheme FAT32 format using Rufus freeware. Sometimes secure boot must be disabled by first setting and saving a BIOS Supervisor password but not always required for polished installers like Mint.

To boot to the Linux GPT stick, turn the machine on and immediately start tapping the F12 key. A menu should appear to allow you to boot from Linux installation stick.

trifon1 · December 2022

@JackE there isn't any on my Swift3. It's a total disaster. Combined with TPS (I know, intentions was good, but performance was as always)

Part of BIOS lays (or depends) on small partition of NVME drive. Oh! Thank you for that! Than this drive will fall you can't replace it for the new one. No, sir! And w/o legacy boot you can't get an intact image of your disk! (Sure there is several walkarounds, disassembling, copying with UIDs etc, etc.) So data protection is questionable at least.

With new disk user can't get even UEFI

And yes, no one linux distro is good enough to boot from usb. Thanks again.

JackE · December 2022

trifon1

This thread is old and applies to a different machine. Thus for better attention on your model, please start your own new thread by clicking on the red ask a question button in the upper right hand side of this page.