How to Change Boot Order in BIOS

The Start menu appears every time you turn on your computer with two or more Windows operating systems installed. For example, if you have installed Windows 10 and Windows 7 as two separate operating systems, the Start menu will appear, where you can select an operating system that isn't installed by default, or automatically launch the Start menu with the default operating system.

The Start menu is set by default to the most recently installed or updated operating system.

Sometimes, after installing or upgrading an operating system, you may need to change the boot order to install or change the default operating system. If you need to change the default boot order in Windows 10, you can do so without the help of any third-party tools.

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Why change the boot order?

There are several scenarios where you might need to change the boot order, such as when running certain boot-shattering programs and antivirus software, or during operating system installation. You can change the boot order settings using the BIOS setup utility.

Note: The boot order is a BIOS setting , meaning it's independent of the operating system. In other words, regardless of whether Windows 10, Windows 8, any other version of Windows, Linux , or any other PC operating system is installed on the hard drive or other boot device, these instructions for changing the boot order still apply.

How to change boot order in BIOS

Follow these steps to change the boot order in the BIOS . Changing the boot order changes the order in which your devices boot.

Step 1: Turn on or restart your computer.

When you turn on or restart your computer during the POST procedure, it will ask you to press a specific key, usually Del or F2, to access SETUP. Press this key as soon as you see the message.

Step 2: Access the BIOS setup utility

After pressing the appropriate keyboard command from the previous step, enter the BIOS setup utility.

All BIOS programs are slightly different, so yours may look like this or that. Regardless of its appearance, it's a series of menus with many different settings for your computer's hardware.

In this BIOS, the menu options appear horizontally at the top of the screen, the hardware options appear in the center (gray area), and the instructions for navigating the BIOS and making changes appear at the bottom.

Find the opportunity to change the boot order by following the BIOS utility navigation instructions. In the BIOS example above, changes are made in the Boot menu item.

Note: Because each BIOS utility is different, the exact location of the boot order option varies from computer to computer. The menu or setting may be called Boot Options, Boot, Boot Order, etc. The option may also be located in a general menu such as Advanced Options, Advanced BIOS Features, or Other Options.

Step 3: Find the boot order in the BIOS

After pressing the appropriate keyboard command from the previous step, you will be taken to the BIOS setup program. All BIOS utilities are slightly different , so yours may look like this or that. Regardless of its appearance, it is essentially a series of menus containing many different computer hardware settings.

In this BIOS, menu options appear horizontally across the top of the screen, hardware options appear in the center (gray area), and instructions for navigating the BIOS and making changes appear at the bottom.

Follow the instructions in the BIOS utility and look for the option to change the boot order. In the BIOS example above, the changes are made in the boot menu.

Note: Because each BIOS setup utility is different, the details of boot order options vary from computer to computer. A menu option or configuration item is called boot options, boot, boot order, and so on. An option may also be in a general menu such as Advanced Options, Advanced BIOS Features, or Other Options.

Step 4: Modify the boot order

The next step is to make changes to the boot order. As you can see above, we have changed the boot order from the hard drive shown in the previous step to the CD-ROM drive as an example.

The BIOS will now check for a boot disk in the optical drive before attempting to boot from the hard drive, as well as before attempting to boot from removable media such as a floppy disk, flash drive, or network drive. Make any changes to the boot order and then proceed to the next step to save your settings.

Step 5: Save changes to BIOS.

Before the settings take effect, you need to save the changes in the BIOS. To do this, follow the instructions in the BIOS utility to open the Exit or Save and Exit menu. In this example, we choose Exit and save the changes.

Step 6: Commit the changes

Confirm the changes and exit the BIOS. You will probably be asked for confirmation , so select Yes.

Tips: The configuration confirmation message can sometimes be confusing. In some cases, we've seen BIOS change confirmation messages that are so verbose they're often difficult to understand. Read the message carefully to ensure you're actually saving the changes, and don't log out without saving them.

Changes to the boot order and any other changes made in the BIOS will be saved and the computer will restart automatically.

Step 7: Start the computer

Restart your computer with the new boot order. When the computer restarts, the BIOS will attempt to boot from the first device in the specified order. If the first device fails to boot, the computer will attempt to boot from the second device in the boot order, and so on.

Note: In step 4, we used the CD-ROM drive as the first boot device as an example. As shown in the image above, the computer will attempt to boot from the CD-ROM, but will first ask you to confirm.

This only affects some bootable CDs and occurs when Windows or other operating systems are booted from the hard drive. Setting the boot order from media such as CDs, DVDs, or BDs is the most common reason for this change, so I wanted to post this screenshot as an example.

Conclusion

This article is a quick guide on how to access the Windows 10 BIOS and how to change the boot order in Windows 10. Other options are available, but we've covered the quickest and easiest ways to change the boot order in Windows 10 without going through the BIOS. Switch operating systems and explore the world of different operating systems on the same computer.

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