I'm an intern system engineer and need to securely wipe a Lenovo ThinkPad P14s Gen 6. We normally use a bootable wiping USB, and that same drive works on every other device we've tested. This laptop refuses to boot from it and instead restarts. Windows 10 and Windows 11 installation USBs behave the same way, including when I try to enter repair mode.
I've already disabled Secure Boot, reset Windows, run DISM and SFC, updated the BIOS, compared BIOS settings with working laptops, tested the motherboard and RAM, changed the boot priority, and manually selected the USB through the F12 boot menu. Is there another BIOS setting or built-in Lenovo tool I should check?
4 Answers
Check the F12 boot menu for Lenovo’s built-in ThinkShield Secure Wipe option, usually under an Apps or utility section. If it’s available, that may be the intended way to erase the internal drive without relying on the external wiping image.
Verify that the USB was created for UEFI boot rather than Legacy or CSM. Newer ThinkPads may be configured for UEFI-only boot, so a drive that works on older computers can still fail here. Since Windows installers also reboot, recreating one of them with a modern UEFI/GPT layout would be a useful test.
If every external installer causes a reboot, look at the storage controller setting rather than the Windows files. Some Lenovo systems use Intel RST or VMD, and switching to AHCI temporarily can allow an installer or wiping environment to start. Also, the DISM and SFC repairs would not normally affect this problem because the failure occurs before the installed operating system loads.
I suspected the OS repairs probably weren’t relevant, but I had already been troubleshooting it for several days and was trying everything available. I’ll check the storage mode and the built-in wipe options next.
Try resetting the TPM from the BIOS as well as disabling Secure Boot, then test the USB again. Some Lenovo security settings can interfere with external boot media.
That makes sense. I’ll recreate or verify the installer in UEFI mode when I’m back at the office and compare the firmware settings again.