How to boot Acer Aspire Switch 10 from external media?
The secret to getting Windows 10 on this device is to boot with an OTG USB adapter. USB from the keyboard doesn't work. I pulled my hair out for quite a while before I tried an OTG micro USB adapter directly in the tablet and not standard USB in the keyboard port. Still need to use RUFUS to create a GPT patirion scheme for UEFI computer, formatted for FAT32 along with a 32-bit version of Windows 10.
- Go to BIOS settings with F2
- Add the
.efifile to the trusted UEFI files by selecting it and naming the option to whatever you want. - Enable F12 boot menu.
- Exit saving changes.
- Tap F12 until you get boot menu.
- You will see your boot option there.
Please look for the spots I mentioned. I only jumped true and gave pointers, and yes it works for the Aspire Switch 10 E too.
UEFI is a more secure replacement for BIOS; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface. It is so secure that it prevents booting from media with an incorrect 'signature', but can be adjusted to turn off security features so that you can boot from legacy media.
If you wish to use the legacy boot media you have, see Acer's directions for that at http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/27045/~/changing-bios-mode-from-uefi-to-legacy. There's more information at http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1875018/change-uefi-legacy-bios.html and http://www.howtogeek.com/175234/how-to-use-an-antivirus-boot-disc-or-usb-drive-to-ensure-your-computer-is-clean/.
However, you can generate UEFI-compatible media with some utilities, such as Macrium Reflect Free, http://support.macrium.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5133, and Kaspersky Lab advertises the "World’s First Anti-Malware Product for UEFI",http://www.kaspersky.com/about/news/product/2013/kaspersky-lab-presents-worlds-first-anti-valware-product-for-uefi.
Please let me know if this resolves the issue.
I managed to boot the Windows 10 USB image by pressing F2 repeatedly while the BIOS screen appears and set the boot device to the USB device.