When doing a clean installation of a Windows OS, be it Windows 8, 10, or 11, you need to access the boot menu of your computer. A boot menu hotkey allows you to access the functions in your computer’s BiOS.
Most customers are unable to continue with the installation because they can’t access the boot menu or do not know which boot menu hotkeys to press. In this article, we will show you how to access the Boot Menu and what key to press to access it.
What is a Boot Menu?
A Boot Menu allows a user to select what boot device the computer will load. It shows a list of bootable devices, known as the boot sequence. It is a setting in the BIOS setup that tells the computer what order to look at the available boot devices on a computer. Moreover, the Boot Menu allows a user to load up other operating systems or applications, even if the computer itself already has an operating system on it.
As such, it is useful in installing new a operating system on an already existing Windows machine.
The Boot Menu is a menu accessible when a computer is first starting up. It can contain many different device options to boot, including CD, DVD, flash drive, or hard drives, and a LAN (network). As shown in the image below:
The most commonly used installation media for Windows is a bootable USB/flash drive.
To access the boot menu, follow the steps below:
- Remove all external storage devices
- Plug the bootable USB with the Windows installer
- Reboot your computer
- Repetitively press the corresponding boot menu hotkey before the computer boots (important).
Note: if the computer enters Windows, you need to reboot again
- On the boot menu, select the bootable USB as the primary boot option using the arrow keys (make sure to remember the name of the device)
Refer to this list of computer manufacturers and use the corresponding boot menu hotkeys to access your computer’s boot menu.
| Manufacturer | Boot Menu |
|---|---|
| ACER | ESC, F12, F9 |
| APPLE | OPTION |
| ASROCK | F11 |
| ASUS | F8, ESC |
| COMPAQ | ESC, F9 |
| DELL | F12 |
| EMACHINES | F12 |
| EVGA | F7 |
| GIGABYTE | F12 |
| HP | ESC |
| INTEL | F10 |
| LENOVO | F12, F8, F10 |
| LENOVO -IdeaPad P500 | F12 or Fn+F11 |
| MSI | F11 |
| NEC | F5 |
| PACKARD BELL | F8 |
| SAMSUNG | F12, ESC |
| SONY | F11, F10 |
| TOSHIBA | F12 |
Boot menu hotkeys for different manufacturers
Still not sure which boot menu hotkey to press?
All manufacturers, if not most of them, provide manuals on their websites. You can usually look at the front or side of your computer’s case for the manufacturer’s logo or name. Examples of computer manufacturers are the same as listed above. If you have a Windows machine, you can also check the System information by pressing the Windows button and R. Then type in msinfo32 to see the manufacturer.
Once you have the information, head to the manufacturer’s website and search for its respective manual. You might also need to download the pdf file, let me assure you, it is fairly easy to find the information you need!
If you are looking for a different BiOS setting, here is a very useful article from MakeUseOf.com.
If you are having any issues installing Windows on your computer, you can always reach out to our friendly Customer Support Agents to help you. We provide 24/7 chat and email support.
