So you need to change the boot order on your Windows machine so that you can boot from USB in order to run an offline virus scanner? Or maybe you need to change the boot sequence so that you can boot from a Windows DVD to run a system repair?
Whatever the reason for changing the boot sequence, the process of accessing the BIOS can vary by computer. The difference will depend on whether you have a legacy BIOS or the newer UEFI BIOS on your computer or both.
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I won’t go into details on the differences between the two types of BIOS, other than how to access them. Once you have gotten into the BIOS on your computer, you’ll then be able to change the boot order.
Access Legacy & UEFI BIOS
So first let’s talk about getting into the BIOS. If you’re not sure if your computer is using Legacy or UEFI BIOS or Legacy + UEFI, which is a third option actually, then you just have to do some trial and error.
Everyone is probably familiar with the legacy BIOS because that’s the one you access by pressing a certain key like DEL, F2, F8, F12, or ESC when your computer first starts up.
The first thing to do is go ahead and restart your computer and then to keep pressing one of the keys on the keyboard continually while the computer is booting up. Usually, you will see a message quickly appear at the bottom telling you which keys to press. Here are two examples from a Dell machine and a custom built machine I have at home:
The motherboard on my custom PC is from MSI, so the boot up process loads a MSI screen with the option to press DEL to run BIOS setup or press F11 to run the boot menu. Note that if you go into the BIOS setup, you’ll also be able to change the boot order from there too. Since changing the boot order is such a common task, they usually have a separate key just for that (F11 in this case).
On my Dell, I get a different set of keys for accessing the BIOS setup (F2) and Boot Options (F12). Now if you don’t see this type of message popup at all when booting up, it could indicate that your BIOS is setup for UEFI only.
UEFI BIOS cannot be accessed by pressing keys on the keyboard. Instead, you have to restart Windows in a special way and then go through some menu options. To restart Windows, click on Start and then Settings (gear icon).
Next click on Update & Security.
Then click on Recovery in the left-hand menu and then click on the Restart now button under Advanced startup. This will restart your computer and load the advanced recovery options screen. Here you want to click on Troubleshoot.
Under the Troubleshoot heading, go ahead and choose Advanced Options.
On this last screen, you should see an option called UEFI Firmware Settings.
If you don’t see this option, that means your computer does not have an UEFI BIOS. You’ll instead have to boot using the legacy method by pressing the keys on startup. Note that if your BIOS is set to UEFI + Legacy BIOS, then you’ll be able to access both BIOS’s.
Change Boot Order
Now that we figured out how to access the BIOS, let’s change the boot order in Windows. If your computer is using legacy BIOS, make sure to press the key for boot options or boot order as that’ll get you right into the boot sequence screen.
For example, on my Dell machine, when I pressed F12 for Boot Options, I got the following screen:
At the top, it tells me my boot mode is set to UEFI + Legacy and then it gives me Legacy Options and UEFI Options. If you don’t have any UEFI hard drives or devices on your computer, you’ll just see Windows Boot Manager. Now I can just pick which device I want to boot from.
On my custom machine, pressing F11 for the boot menu gets me to the following screen:
As mentioned earlier, you can either go directly to the boot options like this or enter setup and then go to the boot section. Sometimes going through setup will give you more options. For example, on my custom PC, I entered BIOS setup, then Settings and then Boot.
As you can see from the list below, there are a whole lot of options. Basically, the BIOS has all the UEFI and legacy boot options listed. So if you have a UEFI hard drive along with a legacy hard drive, you can choose the boot order for all of the devices.
When you are in the BIOS boot order screen, you’ll see instructions for how to change the order. Sometimes you use the up and down arrow keys, sometimes the PgUp and PgDown keys, other times you just select Boot Option #1, like above, and pick which device boots first, etc. The method is dependent on the motherboard manufacturer, so follow the on-screen instructions.
Again, if you don’t have the UEFI Firmware Settings option and you don’t see any Press this key for setup message during startup, then just try restarting and pressing one of the keys mentioned above a couple of times while the PC is booting up. Don’t hold the key down, just keep pressing it. If one key doesn’t get you into the BIOS, then restart again and press a different key. If you have any trouble getting into the BIOS or changing the boot order, post a comment and we’ll try to help. Enjoy!
You might already know that since the first generation of Microsoft Surface Pro (2013) and Surface 3, Microsoft has implemented a new firmware called Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) on those devices. As this new firmware interface allows your Surface boot faster and providing better security improvements.
Starting with Surface Pro 4, Microsoft has created their own Surface UEFI for using with newer devices. This new Surface UEFI is currently used on newer devices including Surface Go, Surface Book, and Surface Studio.
Compared to other Surface models, Surface Go has a slightly new design interface including a different on-screen keyboard. In this article, we will walk you through how to access and configure the Surface Go UEFI settings.
1 How to access Surface Go UEFI settings?
You can enter Surface Go UEFI setup screen only while your Surface is starting up. Here is how you do that:
- Shut down your Surface.
- Press and hold the Volume Up button on your Surface, then press and release the Power button.
- When you see the Surface logo screen appear, release the Volume Up button. The UEFI settings menu will appear in a few seconds.
After you have made any changes to the UEFI settings, you can save or delete those changes by:
Save changes and restart your Surface
By default, every change you made will automatically be saved. When you restart your Surface, all settings will take effect. To do so.
- In UEFI settings menu, select Exit.
- Click Restart Now.
- It will save all the settings you have changes and restart your Surface.
Restart your Surface without saving your changes
You also have the option to discard all changes as well by using your Surface Type Cover or external keyboard. To do so.
- On the keyboard press the ESC key.
- Now you have 2 options:
- Yes – Delete your changes and restart your Surface.
- No – turn back to the UEFI settings.
2 How to check your Surface Go device Information via UEFI settings?
The first displayed page when you enter UEFI settings is PC information page. On the page, you can find out more information about your device identities such as Model, System UUID (Universally Unique Identifier), Serial Number, and Asset Tag. Moreover, it also displays all important system other components version that you might need for troubleshooting.
- Enter Surface UEFI settings as the instructions above.
- In UEFI settings menu, select PC Information and you will see the following information:
3 How to Change System Boot Order on Surface Go?
To change the alternate system boot order on your Surface Go:
- Enter Surface UEFI settings as the instructions above.
- In Surface UEFI menu, go to Boot Configuration pageas below:
On the “Configure boot device order” page, you can:
- Rearrange boot order by clicking the up/down arrow button on any boot option available on the list.
4 How to Manage Device Components on Surface Go UEFI Settings?
How To Access Bios Settings Without Restarting Password
Surface Go allows you to disable some of your surface device components and features to meet your specific security requirements. You can enable or disable those components by:
- Enter Surface UEFI settings as the instructions above.
- In UEFI settings menu, select Security and you will see the following options:
- On our Surface Go with System UEFI version 1.0.0.3, there are following device options:
- Docking USB Port – enable/disable the ability to use USB ports on the connected dock.
- Front Camera – enable/disable the front-facing camera.
- Rear Camera – enable/disable main rear camera.
- IR Camera – enable/disable the Infrared camera used for Windows Hello feature.
- On-board Audio – enable/disable internal audio or speakers.
- SDcard – enable/disable microSD slot.
- Wi-Fi & Bluetooth– enable/disable both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
- Bluetooth – enable/disable the internal Bluetooth only.
- Type Cover port – enable/disable the Surface Go type cover.
Display Bios Settings Without Reboot
5 How to change your Surface Go Date and Time via Surface UEFI?
The new Surface UEFI now allows you to set your Surface Go’s date and time right on UEFI settings page. To check or set date and time for your Surface Go:
- Enter Surface UEFI settings as the instructions above.
- In Surface UEFI menu, go to Date and Time pageas below:
- To set a new time, click Set Time.
- To set a new date, click Set Date.
- Press Enter to apply changes.
6 How to Protect UEFI settings with a password on Surface Go?
You can prevent others from changing your UEFI settings by setting an Administrator Password in UEFI settings. To do that:
- Enter Surface UEFI settings as the instructions above.
- In UEFI settings menu, select Security.
- Under UEFI password, click [Clean] button to create a UEFI password.
- You will need to enter a password in the box with your keyboard or the on-screen keyboard with the following criteria:
- Minimum Length: 6 characters
- Maximum Length: 128 characters
- May contain a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters.
- In case that you have already set the password before and you want to remove it, simply leave the password box as blank.
Note If you enter the administrator password incorrectly three times, you’ll be locked out of the UEFI. Restart your Surface to enter the password again.
Important If you set a password for the UEFI, record it in a safe place. If you forget the password, you won’t be able to access the UEFI settings. You can only reset the administrator password from within the UEFI.
7 What is the Trusted Platform Module (TPM)?
The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is a technology that provides a major advancement over BIOS in hardware-based security features. It is a specialized chip that stores RSA encryption keys specific to each Surface device for hardware authentication.
The TPM technology is a requirement of BitLocker disk encryption. The TPM helps you to encrypt/decrypt the entire disk without required your complex long passphrases. It means that the encryption key and decryption key are stored within the TPM chip. So your encrypted disks can’t be accessed on other devices.
8 What is Secure Boot Control?
The Secure Boot is a technology which blocks the loading of uncertified bootloaders and drives. It helps to prevent your Surface being loaded with unauthorized operating systems and malicious software applications.
If you desire to install other operating systems like Ubuntu, or other Linux distributions, you may need to disable this feature in the UEFI settings above.
Other Surface’s UEFI Settings
We have also covered this topic for other Surface PCs as well, to learn more about other Surface’s UEFI settings check the link below:
More Surface Go Resources
Make sure to check out our tips and tricks for Microsoft Surface Go here: