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Set BIOS to Boot from
CD/DVD Drive
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| When you've been
around computers for a long time and gone through
many installations or reinstallations of Windows,
some procedures you simply take for granted,
assuming everyone knows how they are performed. You
never give it a thought when you need to set a
computer to boot from the CD/DVD drive or how to
actually get the CD/DVD drive tray open to insert a
DVD when the system isn't already powered on. For
those who aren't familiar with the steps involved,
here's a generic guide to the procedures. |
| Often times an
operating system installation guide starts off with
something like drop the DVD in the drive, fire up
the computer and off you go. If you think about it,
that's really pretty inaccurate, because unless you
power on the computer first and press the button on
the DVD drive, the drive tray is closed. Yeah, you
could poke a straightened paperclip into that little
hole on the front of the DVD drive to force it open
enough to manually pull out the tray, but honestly
it's more trouble than it's worth. Just power on the
system, open the tray and drop in the DVD, then
power the system off again by pressing down and
holding the power for about five seconds. It won't
hurt a thing and then you can press the power button
again to start the system with the CD/DVD in the
tray. |
| The second stumbling
block that comes up frequently is setting the system
so it boots from the CD/DVD drive. To boot from the
DVD you have to set the CD-ROM drive to a higher
priority than the hard drive in the BIOS. How you
gain access to the BIOS varies by system, but the
F2, F10, Esc, and Delete keys are often used methods
to gain entry to the BIOS Setup Utility. Watch the
splash screen that appears when the system is first
started as it often states how to access the BIOS
setup screens. |
| The screen capture
below shows a simplified but typical BIOS screen
including the keys used to change the boot order of
the drives. In this case the CD drive already holds
the highest boot priority, but you could use the <+>
and <-> keys to rearrange the order by selecting the
drive to be ranked differently and then moving it up
or down in the list. Once the drives are ordered
correctly the F10 key will save the changes and exit
from the BIOS setup utility. |
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| With the CD/DVD drive
allocated the highest priority in the boot order,
and assuming you have a bootable CD/DVD in the drive
when the system is first powered on, you'll see a
message similar to the one shown in the screen
capture below. Just like the message says, press any
key and the system will boot from the inserted CD or
DVD. It's an old joke that never seems to go away,
but when it says press 'any' key, it really does
mean 'any' of the hundred or so keys on the standard
keyboard. Yes Virginia, there is no key called 'any'
unless somebody has played a practical joke on you
by re-lettering one of the keys. |
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| The majority of users
that do go into the BIOS and set the CD/DVD drive to
highest priority just leave it that way when they
are done. That's fine as it won't cause any trouble,
but what it will do is slow down the boot process
each time you boot the system since it will search
for a bootable CD/DVD even if none is present. To
avoid the slowdown, go back and reorder the drives
with the hard drive where the operating system is
installed ranked highest. |
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- Important Information -
The Elder Geek sites contain many articles and suggestions for
modifying the Windows operating system. I've tried these
tweaks and tips on many systems. Sometimes they work,
sometimes not. The point is, ensure you have a current,
tested backup of all system and data files and understand
how to restore the system in case something goes very wrong.
You can still yell at me, but I assume no responsibility for
your actions and use of the information and disclaim any
legal responsibility for any consequences of such actions. |
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