Solved problem with BIOS showing no USB so can't restore

hi,


i need to be able to boot from a USB flash drive.


i'm trying to do it on an Asus transformer mini laptop come tablet windows 8.1


the BIOS is like nothing i've seen before(please see attached photos) the USB drive option is not visible,there is no way to place it at the top of the boot order list. the only device under the boot tab under boot option priorities is boot option #1 [windows boot manager] no sign of anything to do with USB


i phoned tech support of the vendor and he told me to disable secure boot and then boot, it came to a screen that required a long key from Microsoft to unlock bitlocker to get into Windows, i noticed at the bottom left of the screen an option to skip and this lead to one page then another that had an option to boot a UEFI USB device. when selected the flash drives lights came on but the USB never booted,the tech guy said that Windows wasn't able to boot from this USB


The USB is an emergency boot flash drive that i created with Macrium Reflex free, i wanted to make sure it worked.


i'm thinking now that because the Asus is basically a tablet , that maybe i won't be able to use a USB flash this way.


if anybody has got any ideas so that i can create a system image with all my personal data and settings so that if disaster strikes i can restore it back to working order quickly. i basically want to be able to do what i used to in Windows backup/restore where i made a system image to an external hard drive then booted a windows start up disk to select the relevant system image off the external HDD and quickly restore the computer to working order,i'm beginning to think that i wont be able to do this

looking at the photos i think that the answer might be in the second "flash" screen but i'm not sure if this page refers to flash drives or something else,

i have 2 more photos of the BIOS but don't think them important they wouldn't fit on this post.

sorry about the quality of the photos,hope you can make out what you need.


TIA


thanks for any help


ken

kkennyb said:

The USB is an emergency boot flash drive that i created with Macrium Reflex free, i wanted to make sure it worked.

Click to expand...

If your PC boots in UEFI mode then you must format your rescue media using the FAT32 file system.

How to create UEFI Boot Mode (and Secure Boot) compatible rescue media on a USB flash drive.







http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/53296-usb-drive-boot-within-windows-8-a.html

2. Connect a bootable USB drive to the USB port on your PC.

3. While in Windows 8 or 8.1, boot to Advanced startup using either option 1, 2, or 3 in the tutorial below.

:ar: How to Boot to Advanced Startup Options in Windows 8 and 8.1​

4. After the computer restarts, click/tap on the Use a device option. (see screenshot below)

​

Click to expand...

ganet,

many thanks for your time!


i can't find anywhere in BIOS UEFI , but in the flash part EFI.so i don't know if it's a UEFI, you can probably tell from the photos that it is, but these recue disks i've created exactly as you've said don't work.


i tried all the steps even using a new USB flash incase the one i was using was faulty.


after following your steps,and after tapping "use a device" the USB flash still does not boot-windows just loads ,when i try to safely eject the USB rescue using open devices and printers there is no USB there to safely eject,the USB flash doesn't even show in windows explorer either, i've tried this many times,when i pull it out and put back in the USB is recognized and readable.


please advise

Have you tried a bootable Windows 8.1 Recovery USB flash drive or Windows 8.1 USB flash drive?

Or does this link help you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSmNfKGtfCM

thanks very much ganet,problem solved.on an old HQ flash drive i created the windows 8 recovery-it worked ! in the BIOS in the boot section appeared option#2 UEFI general USB boot,i put this to the top of the list and the USB stick booted!this got me thinking what the tech guy said that windows must not be able to boot from this particular USB flash.here lies the problem, i purchased a set of 8 USB flash drives, pairs of the same colour,the reason being i wanted to have 2 rescue media for my and my kids computers 2 for each computer,the idea being one being a backup in case one broke.ironically this precaution seems to have backfired. the only colour coded USB flash drives i could find were off ebay,normally i only purchase HQ media to limit failure but i thought having 2 rescue USB's for each computer there wouldn't be an issue.i formatted the disks as you said and in other respects they work perfectly i wonder why they won't boot on the asus yet work perfectly well in other respects and boot on other computers ?anyway problem solved,thanks ever so much for your assistance.regards,ken.