If you are trying to change your PC’s boot drive to load the operating system from a USB drive, you will have to enter the BIOS. Within the BIOS, there are also other menus from where we can review the computer’s internal settings and carry out advanced procedures.
What is BIOS exactly?
The name corresponds to the abbreviations of “Basic Input / Output System.” It is the most basic software of the computer, which controls the motherboard and all its components such as the internal clock, the processor, the RAM, the hard disk, and others components.
We could say that it is the prelude to the operating system, the one that manages the entire infrastructure and is responsible for loading the corresponding operating system at all times.
How to access the BIOS of any PC
As you can imagine, BIOS is a very delicate section. It is designed in a way that accessing it is not so easy. The most common way to access the PC BIOS is to press a specific key on the keyboard as soon as you turn on the computer, along with the first images of the loading screen.
And what is that key? Well, the answer will depend on your PC’s manufacturer. However, it is usually the F2, Delete, ESC, F8, F9, or F10 keys in most cases.
BIOS access keys by manufacturer
Next, we go through the standard access keys to the BIOS classified by a manufacturer. The key may vary depending on the PC’s age.
- Acer: F2 or Del
- ASUS: F2 for PCs, F2 or Del for motherboards
- ASRock: F2 or Del
- Dell: F2 or F12
- ECS: Del
- HP: F10
- Gigabyte / Aorus: F2 or Del
- Lenovo (desktop): F1
- MSI: Delete
- Lenovo (laptops): F2 or Fn + F2
- Lenovo (ThinkPads): Enter then F1.
- Microsoft Surface: Press and hold the volume up button while turning on the device.
- Origin PC: F2
- Samsung: F2
- Toshiba: F2
- Zotac: Delete
Alternative method: from the Windows 10 settings menu
If your PC loads so fast that you don’t have time to press any key, you will be interested to know that you can also access the BIOS from the Windows 10 settings menu (in case you use this operating system, of course).
- Go to ” Start -> Settings. “
- Go to ” Update and security. “
- In the menu on the left select ” Recovery ” and then ” Restart now ” (advanced startup).
The computer will then restart and enter a menu with several options:
- Select ” Troubleshoot .”
- Click on ” Advanced Options. “
- Finally, click on ” UEFI Firmware Settings “.
- Finally, click on “Restart.”
After doing this, the PC will restart again and will automatically enter the BIOS of the computer.
Command to enter BIOS from Linux
If your PC uses a modern Linux distribution such as Ubuntu, you can enter the BIOS simply by opening a terminal window and launching the following command:
sudo systemctl reboot –firmware
Finally, be careful with any changes that you can make in the BIOS since the effects are not always positive, especially when you are not 100% sure of the modifications you are applying.
