Troube-shooting when Dell Inspiron laptop’s one-time boot menu doesn’t show your USB pendrive or SD card

If your Dell Inspiron laptop’s one-time boot menu doesn’t show your USB pendrive or SD card, here are some steps to troubleshoot:

🛠️ Check Boot Menu and BIOS Settings

1. Use the correct boot key:
   • For most Dell laptops, press F12 immediately after powering on to access the one-time boot menu.
2. Ensure USB is bootable:
   • Use tools like Rufus or BalenaEtcher to create a bootable USB.
   • Make sure the ISO file is properly written and the USB is formatted correctly (usually FAT32 or NTFS).
3. Enable legacy boot or disable secure boot:
   • Enter BIOS setup (usually F2 at startup).
   • Go to Boot Configuration:
     • Disable Secure Boot
     • Enable Legacy Boot (if available)
     • Set USB boot as enabled
4. Check boot order:
   • In BIOS, ensure USB and SD card are listed in the boot priority.
5. Try different ports:
   • Use a different USB port (preferably USB 2.0 if available).
   • Avoid using USB hubs or adapters.
6. Test the media:
   • Try booting from the USB or SD card on another computer to confirm it’s working.

If none of these work, it might be a BIOS issue or hardware limitation. You could also try updating your BIOS from Dell’s support site.

Do you know which operating system you’re trying to boot from the USB? That might help narrow down the issue.