Connect the boot media

Boot media are usually CDs / DVDs, USB sticks or external hard drives. Boot media can be used, among other things, to start your computer with a new operating system to troubleshoot your current operating system or to make changes to the computer's firmware.  When you buy a new computer, you may get boot media for your operating system, so you can use it for troubleshooting. You can either use one-time boot media, or you can change the settings of your computer so that it always boots from the boot media. This article assumes that you already have boot media in the form of a CD, a USB stick or an external hard disk.

Using Boot Media on Windows

1. Turn on your computer and put the boot media in the appropriate drive. Boot media is usually CDs, but alternatively you may have to connect a USB stick or an external hard disk, which you want to use as a boot medium, and switch it on.

2. Reboot your computer.

3. When the computer restarts, press F2, F10, F12, or Delete to enter the BIOS menu of your computer. In the BIOS menu you can change the settings of your computer. BIOS is a software that is separate from the operating system software of the computer. 

On your computer's boot screen, you may see a message that tells you what you need to press to enter the BIOS menu. On HP computers, for example, the key that you must press to enter the BIOS Setup screen is F10.

4. Use the arrow keys in the BIOS menu high and down to go to the boot menu. The boot submenu looks like this.

5. After you find the boot submenu, press ENTER to select it.

6. From the Boot Device screen, use the arrow buttons to select what your computer should use for booting. Choose the device that fits your boot media, depending on whether it is a CD / DVD, a USB stick, or an external hard drive.

7. Follow the instructions on the screen to save and exit the BIOS menu. For example, on HP computers, pressing F10 will save your new settings and exit the BIOS menu.

8. Reboot your computer (if necessary). If you leave the BIOS menu, you may need to restart your computer to boot from your boot media.

9. If you want to reset your boot settings, go to the BIOS menu and follow the instructions on the screen to reset the BIOS to its default settings. For example, on HP computers, pressing the F9 key on the BIOS menu restores the settings to their default values.