Question about a weird Lenovo ThinkPad T14 that wouldn't boot from USB

I mean, I had this client's laptop in the shop last week and it took me like 4 hours to figure out why the bootable USB just wouldn't show up. Turns out the BIOS had a hidden 'USB legacy support' setting that was turned off, and it was buried under three different menus. Has anyone else run into this on newer Lenovo business models?

3 comments

3 Comments

andrew_rivera1mo ago

That "hidden setting" thing sounds like a one-off problem. Most people just need to tap F12 at startup and pick their USB drive. I've fixed a bunch of these and it's usually just secure boot being on, not some secret menu. Spending four hours on it seems like overkill when the fix is often right on the main boot screen.

the_anthony1mo ago

Andrew's right that secure boot is the usual suspect, but Lenovo really does bury some weird options. On some of their newer BIOS versions, you have to go into "Security" then "Virtualization" just to find the USB controller setting. It's not a one-off, it's just bad menu design from them. The F12 menu won't even list the drive if that deeper setting is wrong.

barbara_baker571mo agoMost Upvoted

Check the secure boot settings too?