We're deploying Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 5, 6, and 7 laptops, and our developers need to use Linux-based operating systems. Ubuntu on Intel models appears to be supported, but on AMD models we have been unable to boot Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Rocky Linux, or other distributions. The laptops do not show the USB drives as bootable devices at all, rather than displaying an error. Secure Boot and Fast Boot are disabled, third-party CAs are enabled, and the BIOS is up to date. We tried Ventoy, Rufus, and Etcher, using both GPT and MBR layouts. The same USB drives boot normally on older Dell and Asus systems. Lenovo support suggested that only Windows and certain Ubuntu configurations are officially supported. Has anyone experienced this on recent E14 models, and is there a firmware setting or workaround that allows other Linux distributions to boot?
4 Answers
Ventoy can have compatibility problems with UEFI firmware, even when Secure Boot is off. Try a plain installer written directly from the distribution’s ISO rather than Ventoy. If the firmware still refuses to list it, create a USB with the standard EFI fallback loader at EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI. You can also use a UEFI shell to inspect the drive and create a boot entry manually, which helps determine whether the firmware is rejecting the media or merely failing to discover its loader.
This does not sound like a general Lenovo restriction. Several people have installed different operating systems on Lenovo hardware without issue. Double-check that Secure Boot and Fast Boot are truly disabled, reset the firmware to defaults, and verify that the system is using UEFI boot with a properly created GPT installer. If available, also check the storage-controller setting; some Lenovo models expose AHCI instead of the default RAID configuration, although that option may not exist on these E14 generations.
Secure Boot and Fast Boot are already disabled, and I tried both GPT and MBR media with multiple writing tools. The AHCI setting does not appear to be available on these machines.
Official compatibility lists are not the same as a hard firmware whitelist. They usually identify configurations Lenovo has tested and supports, not every operating system the hardware can boot. AMD64 Linux should run on AMD and Intel x86-64 processors alike. If Ubuntu is listed for one configuration but no USB appears on another, compare the exact machine type, firmware settings, and any enterprise provisioning or reused-device policies. A corporate firmware configuration could also prevent booting external media even when Secure Boot looks disabled.
That is why this is confusing. The media boots on other laptops, but these Lenovo systems do not recognize it at all. I’m checking whether there is a model-specific firmware policy rather than a Linux compatibility problem.
Make sure the exact model and firmware version are being checked, because support can vary between E14 generations and CPU variants. Reset the UEFI configuration, confirm that the boot mode is UEFI rather than legacy compatibility mode, and look for an option such as OS Optimized Defaults. On some Lenovo systems, that setting can restore vendor-specific boot behavior after a reboot. Also verify that the ISO images and USB media are valid by testing multiple freshly created drives.
The systems are E14 Gen 5, 6, and 7, and the BIOS is current. There is no error message—the USB devices simply never appear as boot options. A ThinkBook 14 Gen 4 recognizes both drives immediately with Secure Boot disabled.
That UEFI-shell approach is worth trying. I had not tested it yet because the requested distribution was not Arch, but the issue seems to occur before the operating system itself starts.