Editing Booting (section)

=== Boot devices ===
{{Anchor|Boot device|Quick boot}}
{{See also|System partition and boot partition}}
[[File:Windows To Go USB Drive.png|thumb|[[Windows To Go]] bootable flash drive, a [[Live USB]] example|link=Windows To Go]]

The boot device is the storage device from which the operating system is loaded. A modern PC's UEFI or BIOS firmware supports booting from various devices, typically a local [[solid-state drive]] or [[hard disk drive]] via the [[GUID Partition Table|GPT]] or [[Master Boot Record]] (MBR) on such a drive or disk, an [[optical disc drive]] (using [[El Torito (CD-ROM standard)|El Torito]]), a [[USB]] [[mass storage]] device ([[USB flash drive]], [[memory card reader]], USB hard disk drive, USB optical disc drive, USB solid-state drive, etc.), or a network interface card (using [[Preboot Execution Environment|PXE]]). Older, less common BIOS-bootable devices include [[boot floppy|floppy disk drives]], [[Zip drive]]s, and [[LS-120]] drives.

Typically, the system firmware (UEFI or BIOS) will allow the user to configure a ''boot order''. If the boot order is set to "first, the DVD drive; second, the hard disk drive", then the firmware will try to boot from the DVD drive, and if this fails (e.g. because there is no DVD in the drive), it will try to boot from the local hard disk drive.

For example, on a PC with [[Windows]] installed on the hard drive, the user could set the boot order to the one given above, and then insert a [[Linux]] [[Live CD]] in order to try out [[Linux]] without having to install an operating system onto the hard drive. This is an example of [[dual booting]], in which the user chooses which operating system to start after the computer has performed its [[power-on self-test]] (POST). In this example of dual booting, the user chooses by inserting or removing the DVD from the computer, but it is more common to choose which operating system to boot by selecting from a [[boot manager]] menu on the selected device, by using the computer keyboard to select from a BIOS or UEFI boot menu, or both; the boot menu is typically entered by pressing {{key press|F8}} or {{key press|F12}} keys during the POST; the BIOS setup is typically entered by pressing {{key press|F2}} or {{key press|DEL}} keys during the POST.<ref>{{Cite web |title=List of PC brands with their corresponding hot-keys |url=https://www.disk-image.com/faq-bootmenu.htm |access-date=2020-09-26 |website=www.disk-image.com |archive-date=2020-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111195541/http://www.disk-image.com/faq-bootmenu.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=How to Enter the BIOS on Any PC: Access Keys by Manufacturer {{!}} Tom's Hardware |url=https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bios-keys-to-access-your-firmware,5732.html |access-date=2020-09-26 |website=www.tomshardware.com |archive-date=2023-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230220131717/https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bios-keys-to-access-your-firmware,5732.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Several devices are available that enable the user to ''quick-boot'' into what is usually a variant of Linux for various simple tasks such as Internet access; examples are [[Splashtop OS|Splashtop]] and [[Latitude ON]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.linuxgizmos.com/montavista-linux-drives-dells-quick-boot-feature/ |title=MontaVista Linux drives Dell's quick-boot feature |author-first=Eric |author-last=Brown |work=The LinuxDevices Archive |date=2008-10-02 |publisher=linuxdevices.com |access-date=20 November 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=splashtop_voodoo&num=1 |title=SplashTop Linux On HP, Dell Notebooks? |author-first=Michael |author-last=Larabel |author-link=Michael Larabel |date=2008-06-14 |publisher=[[Phoronix]] |access-date=20 November 2010 |archive-date=2016-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005104151/https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=splashtop_voodoo&num=1 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InUpF5Uetfc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211113/InUpF5Uetfc |archive-date=2021-11-13 |url-status=live |title=Voodoo Envy's Instant-On IOS (powered by Splashtop) |date=16 July 2008 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=20 November 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref>