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How do I boot up Ubuntu from USB boot drive on Windows 8?

in flag

I am using an old Dell laptop with Windows 8.1, and I have a USB boot drive with Ubuntu ready to go. I tried to change my BIOS boot settings to use the USB, but I cannot seem to get it to work. For some reason the BIOS is trying to use a specific file from the USB, and won't use the entire drive. It is an empty drive aside from the Ubuntu ISO files. How do I add the USB as a boot option?

Nmath avatar
ng flag
Did you flash the ISO to the USB? If you just put the ISO on a flash drive, that's not going to work. In that case I suggest that you use balenaEtcher to flash the ISO. As far as setting boot priority in your BIOS, it is not consistent between manufacturers or even different motherboards from the same manufacturer. You'll need to consult the documentation of your motherboard for this step. But first let's make sure that you actually have viable bootable installation media.
SaleemKhair avatar
cn flag
Please can you clarify more details, such as: -What method did you use to flash the USB drive?, -What format type is it formated as? VFAT? FAT32?NTFS?...
cc flag
Consider upgrading to Windows 10 too. Windows 8.1 reached the end of Mainstream Support on January 9, 2018, and will reach end of Extended Support on January 10, 2023.
C.S.Cameron avatar
cn flag
For best results making a bootable Ubuntu drive in Windows use Rufus: https://rufus.ie/en_US/ or Etcher: https://www.balena.io/etcher/.
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