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July 23rd, 2026 21:07
Tower Plus EBT2250, cannot find boot from USB option
I have a quite new XPS system, running Windows 11. It won't boot from a USB thumb drive plugged into the USB ports. I have USB Boot support enabled, Front and Back ports enabled, in the BIOS. But there is no option for USB boot showing in the Bios boot options, just Windows Boot Manager and a few other things, including a couple of entries for NICs. Any thoughts? Is this some kind of "legacy boot enable" issue?
(Rant: Dell tech support actually tried to tell me that they cannot work on this problem because I have installed an 8TB HDD as a 2nd drive in the system. This drive is new, working fine, no diagnostics flagged in long EPA. This is just insane.)
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redxps630
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July 23rd, 2026 23:55
If you don’t see usb boot option in a new Dell XPS it is most likely because your usb is not prepared properly to be UEFI bootable, or the boot file on it does not pass XPS secure boot check. To test XPS usb boot, download official Microsoft Windows media creation tool to make a bootable USB for Windows 10/11.
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redxps630
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July 24th, 2026 14:04
I made a custom Win 11 usb installation media using official Win 11 dvd.iso in RUFUS. It got rejected on certain Dell desktop because secure boot determines the bootable media is tampered with and untrusted.
Re: . I am just really trying to sanitize some old HDD's before disposal; that's the real "need".
you need a old pc that can boot in legacy mode to boot from dban usb. Btw the most recent dban I dL from official site has bug. I found an older version that works.
old pc is more handy to do old “nuke” job. I doubt a faster cpu makes difference in speed of nuke. It will still take many hours to nuke hdd. Just get an old pc and leave it nuke and forget it then it will be done when you return
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ejn63
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July 23rd, 2026 23:32
It would help to know the specific XPS model -- if it's an XPS (you've posted to the Inspiron laptop forum).
If it's a new system, it won't have the ability to boot a non-UEFI compliant flash drive. What's on the drive and how was it prepared?
With the drive connected, press F12 a few times at powerup. You should see a boot menu that includes the drive you are looking to boot from. If you do not, the drive is not UEFI-compliant and you'll need to prepare a boot drive that is. Nothing from the last few years has the ability to boot in legacy mode any longer.
If you require further information, provide the full model number (XPS 15 9550, etc.) and the OS that's on the drive and how you prepared it.
dlandsman
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July 24th, 2026 03:58
@ejn63
Thx for comment. I am working on a Dell Tower Plus, EBT 2250. Running Windows 11. I suspect it is what you (and redxps630) say. I tried two thumb drives: 1) A version of Linux I created a few years ago and used; and 2) DBAN - a drive eraser. I am just really trying to sanitize some old HDD's before disposal; that's the real "need". I could buy a Windows utility, but I figured I'd use DBAN.
Both of my thumb drives are old MBR iso images and I used them in Legacy mode on my older Dell windows system. My old system was vintage 2016 or something like that and the motherboard finally failed. I could not have run Windows 11 on it anyway. The system I am working with now is vintage Nov-2025.
So, I guess I need to either get a Windows-based HDD erase app, or find a bootable tool that creates a UEFI bootable image.
ejn63
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July 24th, 2026 10:59
Rufus can make a UEFI bootable drive -- but you will also need a version of Linux that supports UEFI (many do but not all of them, and you stand the best chance of success with a current version, not one that's a few years old).
dlandsman
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July 24th, 2026 22:25
I went ahead and purchased KillDisk Pro. It runs on Windows and also claims to be able create UEFI bootable thumb drives. I have a bunch of old drives to clean, so I invested in a license (under $100). Thx all. Case closed, I believe. dave
dlandsman
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July 24th, 2026 22:28
@ejn63 Thx. I have many links to Linux maintainers, so if I need that, I'll go there. The real disappointing there here is that new machines will no longer boot from a non-UEFI boot image. I guess that's "progress". Still, I don't like it and it feels like the HW is not my own. :)