Boot From Usb on an Old Pc Without Modding the BIOS

I spend most of my spare time testing new linux based distros so I have already burnt a huge stack of Live CDs which also cost a lot of money. While having them in DVD format was good enough for my needs, most of them where scratched and useless so I started researching for a new way to test my beloved distros among different computers.

Then I found that I could write my iso files in a usb flash drive and boot from that key. While most of new pc models were capable of booting off a usb drive, some old pc models (on which I usually test ultra-lightweight Linux distrubutions such as "Puppy Linux") cannot boot from usb keys.

However, there is a way to bypass this awful motherboard restriction and boot from usb flash drives without modding the B.I.O.S.(!!!!do not try this method unless you really know what you are doing!!!!).

In this instructable, will bypass this restriction using a linux based bootmanager. This bootmanager can be written on a disk or on a floppy disk.

Step 1: Things You Will Need

---------->PloP Boot Manager image Download the zip file here----->http://download.plop.at/files/bootmngr/plpbt-5.0.14.zip
---------->Usb drive
---------->iso image
---------->Blank CD
---------->iso burning software (cd burner xp,magic iso......)

Step 2: First Burn the Boot Manager Image in a Blank Cd

Use your favorite iso burning software to burn the boot manager iso to a blank cd
The iso is located at the root of the zip file and it is named plpbt.iso

Step 3: Then Create a Bootable Usb Drive

Now you have to create a bootable usb drive. If you have one skip this step.

Step 4: How to Use PLOP Bootmanager

First of all boot from the media that contains the bootmanager. This is done by pressing the key that is defined by the motherboard manufacturer to lead to the setup menu.
While this key is different for every machine, the most common ones are the DELETE, the F2 and the F2.

After you have succesfully entered the BIOS setup, head to the boot section and put the media that the bootmanager is installed in first boot priority.

Finally save your changes and reboot with the media connected to the target pc

Step 5: Choose the Usb Option From the Menu

Then a menu will appear on the upper left of your screen that has some options(cd,usb....)
Before selecting an option you have to plug in your usb flash drive.Then choose the usb option. You are ready to go.

Comments

[Luvuyo1]

Hi which one do i choose from the list of the plpbt or i just burn the whole folder to disc?

[rupy2009]

thanks a lot. lately i received a bunch of prehistoric hardware that had no boot from usb option but now i just load the cd and there i can see the usb option... :)

[Kathleen AD]

Many Thanks, Worked perfect on an old IBM ThinkPad R51. I am currently running Zorin 12 from an external HDD on it. Love to monkey around with old hardware to see what it will do. Thanks again, your tutorial was very easy to follow.

[FelisC]

This saved my ass in a big way, and it will definitely do so more than once in the future. The only disk I will ever need - thank you!

[AlbertoS88]

In order to work, in the BIOS, I had to disable Legacy USB Storage.

[TomC357]

That fixed it for me also. Seems when I hut the keyboard to select an item the laptop would freeze. All set now. Thanks

[TomC357]

I have an older Compaq Presario 2100 and the screen freezes when the select menu comes up. Any ideas?

[steve.archer.12]

Great simple tutorial!

However, I am attempting this resolution on a Sony Vaio VGN-FS920 laptop circa 2008 or so that has no USB boot option in BIOS. I have defined boot order to CD ROM first, followed by NETWORK and HDD last, but when the device boots up and I hear the CD ROM working, eventually it just boots into the my normal GRUB loader (this system has Ubuntu and XP). When I bring up the CD in Ubuntu, it shows it as an ISO, so I don't see where that could be an issue. These old computers (I have two) have been my all-time favorites and they work just fine running both Ubuntu 13.10 and Fedora 20 native, but I always yearn for more and would like to try other systems via USB. Any suggestions?

[robertlugg]

(yeah I know this is an old post). The issue is that you "wrote" the .iso file to the disk. Instead you have to "burn" it. Do that using a program like ImgBurn.

[YogenderV]

Simply super...though I have not tried in physical but tried in VM...working super fine...

thank you for the tutorial.

[GeraldE1]

wow that worked great...thanks

[tibosuys]

thx mate you realy helpt me out here thanks for the great instructable ;)

[AdamBredenberg]

Okay, I have a fun problem: you can't get floppy disks in Africa, and my computer doesn't have a CD drive, and can't boot from USB via bios. So I need to use a pxe boot, I think. What's the best way to supply PloP via pxe server?

[MaximG8]

Probably a TFTP Server?

[MaximG8]

This may help
http://www.ultimatedeployment.org/index.html

[allshouldknow]

In case someone would find it helpful: I would install Plop and have a USB connected, but my keyboard and mouse were both USB. I kept skipping the USB and will boot straight to HDD. In this case, disconnect all USB peripherals except the USB stick and revert to non-USB peripherals. Then it will boot straight up to USB stick.

[SiddharthB2]

Can i remove the PloP CD now and boot directly from USB?

[arv_christos]

I'm sure installing the boot manager on the hard drive would be a great idea. However, my initial purpose was to just show a way to boot from usb. I didn't have in mind adding the steps that have to do with MBR editing and so on. Thank you for your interest though

[GnuO]

Great idea but why not install the boot manager on the hard drive. I guess this lets you use it in different machines but there is also a net boot option which would allow that.

[marcusm1]

your awesome man!