Changing the Boot Order in BIOS on Your Computer

If you're reading this you most likely own a computer. Or you have a generous friend who loaned you theirs so you could read this post or you're reading this at the library. You may even be somewhat knowledgeable about computers and you'd like to learn more about them. You may even be interested in learning how to change the boot order on your computer. Don't laugh, it's not very difficult once you've learned a few basic steps, which I'll describe in the next few paragraphs. First, you need to restart (reboot) your machine. Or if your machine is switched off, press the power button to start it. Pay close attention while this is going on, because you will see a message on screen telling you to press a specific function key to go to the BIOS menu. This message is only displayed for a few seconds, so watch closely for it.

On my machine, pressing F2 brings up the BIOS Setup menu. Your machine may use a different function key to do this, like F9 or F10. When you press the specific function key, the screen displays the Setup Menu. You may have to press it two or three times before it displays. Sometimes this is what I have to do to get the Setup menu to display. You will see five options (Main, Advanced, Security, Power and Boot), plus Exit. Using the right arrow key on your keyboard, scroll over to the right until Boot is selected. My Boot Menu screen lists the following options:

Boot Menu Type (Normal)
Boot Device Priority (CD/DVD-ROM Drive, Floppy Drive, Hard Disk Drive, Ethernet)
Hard Drive Order
CD/DVD-ROM Drive Order
Removable Drive Order
Boot to Optical Devices (Enable/Disable)
Boot to Network (Enable/Disable)
USB Boot (Enable/Disable)
ZIP Emulation Type (Floppy/Hard Disk) - sets emulation type for ZIP drives
Boot USB Devices First - (Enable/Disable)
USB Mass Storage Emulation Type (Auto, All Removable, All Fixed Disc, Size)

Your machine may or may not have all of the same options my machine has. The machine I used for this example is approximately three years old, so some of the options may have changed. I checked the BIOS Setup Menu on two other machines in my house. My HP Netbook had a very limited boot menu and the other desktop computer in my house had a Boot Menu with just a few boot options. You definitely should see a Boot Device Priority option (or something quite similar) when you see the Boot Menu screen on your machine.

Now let's get started. Select Boot Device Priority using the up or down arrow key, depending on what option you have selected in the menu. A pop up menu displays, listing your choices. They are as follows: CD/DVD-ROM Drive, Floppy Drive, Hard Disk Drive, and Ethernet. Currently, your machine boots first from the CD/DVD-ROM drive and you want to change it so that it boots directly from the hard drive. Using the down arrow on your keyboard, scroll down until Hard Disk Drive is selected.  Press the + key (by first pressing the SHIFT key, then the + key) to move that option up to the top of the list. Press the F10 function key to save this option and then press the ESC key to exit the menu. Now when your computer boots up, it will boot up directly from the hard drive.

You can change the boot order in other ways by examining and changing the other options listed in your machine's Boot Menu. Remember if you make a mistake at any time, pressing the ESC key will take you back to the previous window or get you completely out of the BIOS menu. Use this menu to change any boot option you wish to. You can try various boot options and see which one works best for you. If nothing else, trying out these various boot options will teach you more about the computer you own.