I'm running Windows 11 on a PC with an MSI motherboard and want to boot Parrot OS from a USB drive. The same USB works on my other computers, but this system doesn't show it in the BIOS boot menu. I tried disabling Secure Boot and also checked the Windows recovery screen that appears after holding Shift while restarting, but the USB is not listed there either. Is there a command or setting that can force the computer to boot from the USB, or do I need to fix something in the BIOS first?
1 Answer
Windows commands can’t force a USB boot when the firmware doesn’t detect the drive. The Windows recovery menu is separate from the motherboard’s boot menu. Restart the PC and enter the MSI BIOS, usually by repeatedly pressing Delete during startup, then check the boot order and the one-time boot menu. The USB should appear there as a UEFI boot device. If it doesn’t, check that the USB was created in a UEFI-compatible format, try another USB port—preferably a rear USB 2.0 port—and temporarily disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot. Since it works on other computers, the issue is most likely a BIOS setting or compatibility problem on this PC.
I was looking at the Windows recovery screen rather than the actual BIOS menu. I’ll check the boot options directly during startup and verify how the Parrot USB was created.