How to boot Lenovo X1 Carbon 2014 from a USB thumb drive

How can I boot Lenovo X1 Carbon 2014 from a USB thumb drive? It has Windows 8.1. And I have tried

1. Disable Secure Boot in the BIOS setting.
2. Create the bootable USB drive using Windows 7 USB/DVD download too (tool?).
3. Change the boot order to have the USB drive as #1.

http://www.howtogeek.com/175649/what-you-need-to-know-about-using-uefi-instead-of-the-bios/

but when I boot my laptop up, it does not boot from the USB drive. It always goes back to Windows 8.1.

Does anyone know how to get Lenovo X1 Carbon to boot from USB drive?

Solution 1:

Here are some Q&A that might help you:

Did you do a full shutdown?

A hybrid shutdown (similar to hibernation) might prevent you from booting from the USB drive. To perform a full shutdown press Win+X and select the administrative command prompt. Type shutdown /s /t 0 and press Enter.

Did you try to call the boot menu?

There might be a keyboard button (usually F12) that you have to press in order to call up a menu that lets you boot from USB.

Did you use UnetBootIn to create your drive?

If yes, try Rufus instead. If you try to boot a Linux system you can also use Live Linux USB Creator.

Did you try your USB drive in another computer?

There might be something unusual about that one machine's BIOS or USB controllers.

Solution 2:

Here you go! Tested on various Lenovo BIOSs

Steps:

1) Enter the BIOS

2) Go to the Configuration tab (or similar).

3) There should be an option called USB Legacy (or similar). Change the value to Enable.

4) Go to the Boot tab.

5) Change Boot Mode to Legacy Support.

6) Change Boot Priority to Legacy First.

7) Change USB Boot to Enable.

Troubleshooting:

1) Try booting with another USB drive...

2) Try another USB device...

3) Make sure you use GRUB... GRUB IS THE BEST!!

4) Update your BIOS...

5) Try booting onto another computer using the same flash drive to make sure it is working...

6) Go to a Lenovo Support Centre/PC Professional.

Solution 3:

I notice that both USB ports on the Lenovo X1 Carbon 2014 are USB 3. The ISO you are trying to boot might not have the right drivers.

Instead of slipstreaming the USB3 drivers into the boot ISO, I believe that USB3 mode can be temporarily disabled in the BIOS for the boot, but I cannot give exact instructions.

You could also try to update the BIOS, if you are not running the latest. Depending on your model, the BIOS update might be found here, and some more information can be found in this article. Be very careful, as a glitch during the BIOS update can brick the computer.