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Boot Menu Keys by Manufacturer

The one-time boot menu and BIOS/UEFI setup keys for Dell, HP, Lenovo, ASUS, Acer, MSI, Surface, and more — plus the universal fallback when no key works.

You built the USB — now the machine has to actually boot from it. Press the boot menu key while the machine powers on (tap it repeatedly; timing is tight on fast machines). The boot menu is a one-time choice and doesn’t change any settings, which makes it safer than editing the boot order in BIOS.

Boot menu and setup keys

  • Dell — Boot menu: F12 · BIOS setup: F2
  • HP — Boot menu: F9 (or Esc for the startup menu) · BIOS setup: F10
  • Lenovo — Boot menu: F12 · BIOS setup: F1 or F2 (many models also have a tiny Novo pinhole button that opens a boot menu)
  • ASUS — Boot menu: F8 · BIOS setup: F2 or Del
  • Acer — Boot menu: F12 · BIOS setup: F2 (on some models the F12 menu must first be enabled inside BIOS)
  • MSI — Boot menu: F11 · BIOS setup: Del
  • Gigabyte — Boot menu: F12 · BIOS setup: Del
  • Toshiba/Dynabook — Boot menu: F12 · BIOS setup: F2
  • Samsung — Boot menu: Esc or F10 · BIOS setup: F2
  • Microsoft Surface — Hold Volume Down while pressing and releasing Power to boot from USB; hold Volume Up instead for UEFI setup

Fast boot eats keystrokes

Modern machines with fast boot enabled can blow past the key window in under a second. If mashing the key does nothing, use the universal method below — it works on every Windows machine.

The universal method (no keys required)

From inside Windows, you can reboot directly into the firmware boot options:

1

Shift + Restart

Hold Shift while clicking Restart in the Start menu. The machine reboots into the recovery menu.

2

Pick your boot device

Choose Use a device and select your USB drive, or go to Troubleshoot → Advanced options → UEFI Firmware Settings to enter BIOS setup.

Or from PowerShell / a script
# Reboot straight into the firmware setup screen (UEFI systems)
shutdown /r /fw /t 0


# Reboot into the recovery menu (choose "Use a device" from there)
shutdown /r /o /t 0

Boot menu vs. boot order

The boot menu boots your USB once and leaves settings untouched — ideal for installs. Changing the BIOS boot order makes USB boot the default every time, which is usually not what you want on a deployed machine.

Next step

USB in hand and boot menu working? Build the drive and answer file if you haven’t: the ISO Builder Guide covers the USB, and the Answer File Generator makes the install hands-free.

Tools used in this guide

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Quick Start Guide

Deploy Windows in 3 simple steps. No complexity, just results — for both Windows 11 workstations and Windows Server VMs.

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Answer File Generator

Create customized autounattend.xml files for automated Windows 11 installations. Configure privacy, remove bloatware, and customize the interface.

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Step-by-Step Deployment

Complete Windows 11 deployment wizard. Combines answer files with post-installation scripts in a guided workflow.