XPS 8700 Secure Boot - entering UEFI

Question

I received my XPS 8700 three weeks ago. It has Windows 8 with Secure Boot enabled. I've amassed a collection of USB flash drives with numerous backup, recovery and diagnostic environments. They can only boot in legacy mode. So for the first two weeks, I was always following what I like to call 'the dance of the seven hoops' - from the Windows 8 Charm Bar > Change PC Settings > General > Restart Now > Troubleshoot  > Advanced Options > UEFI Firmware Settings > Restart. Then when the Dell logo appeared, tapping F2 or F12 would get me into the UEFI menu. But last week, with nothing better to do than to cause trouble, I tried something different. When running Windows 8, in Secure Boot mode, I simply did a straight and direct shutdown. When I repowered the 8700 and the Dell logo appeared, I began tapping the F12 key. Next thing I knew, there was the menu that let me enter and  change the UEFI settings. Not having any other computers with the secure boot feature, I don't know if this is common or simply how Dell choose to do things. And it still works the same after upgrading the UEFI from A00 to A01. If this approach is okay with Dell, then perhaps other 8700 owners can benefit.

DELL-Amogh G · Accepted Answer

Hi WarmPuppy,

Tapping at Dell logo takes you to ‘One-time Boot Menu’. You may go ahead and change the boot settings directly by tapping at Dell logo. There is no need to change the setting from inside the operating system. You may also boot from recovery media in UEFI mode. However, you may have to make a few changes in system BIOS. To boot from recovery media disk, you may follow the steps below:

Insert bootable DVD.
Power on the system and tap at Dell logo to enter setup
Go to the Boot tab
Go to ‘Add Boot Option’
Type the Boot option name as DVD.
Please ensure the option with ‘CD’ in the end is selected in the next line.
Go to ‘File name’ and hit .
Choose ‘Boot’ listed under ‘Directories’ and choose ‘BOOTX64.EFI’as ‘Files’ and hit enter.
Press to ‘Save Changes and Exit’

Now restart the system and tap to get ‘One-time Boot Menu’ and the device you added should be listed under UEFI mode and you should be able to ‘Boot’ from the disk.

Please feel free to reply for any further questions. I will be glad to assist you.

WarmPuppy · Answer

Thank you for the additional information. By the way, the XPS 8700 Owners Manual pdf mentions pressing F2/F12 when the message appears - but for all the times I have rebooted or powered up mine, I have never seen that message. I know in the 'old days' - traditional Dell BIOS configuration would let one enable/disable the F2/F12 prompt at power on, but I don't see that feature in the UEFI settings. Not a big deal - I just wonder why I've never seen it. (Could be I'm just slow. I am not about to admit when I got my first Dell machine).

DELL-Amogh G · Answer

Hi WarmPuppy, Thank you for the response. I hope you find the information useful. Please feel free to reply for any further assistance. I will be glad to help.

Boismassif · Answer

I wish to boot from a Bootable rescue CD drive on my Dell XPS8700 (Bios A10).

Pressing the key at the Dell startup Screen does open the Bios setup. However there is no `Add Boot Option` in the Boot tab. There are however 5 Boot mode, none of whic refer to the CD drive.

Does anyone have a solution.

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XPS 8700 Secure Boot - entering UEFI

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