Can't boot from USB no matter what

[Imnice777]

So I've been at this for a little bit now with no luck so far. I am attempting to dual boot Linux OS (thinking of a couple different versions), however I can't even get my SP4 to boot from multiple different USB devices. My flash drive gets registered by multiple PCs with no issues and I have my .ISO file on there. I did use Rufus to set up the flash drive to become bootable. I also disabled bitlocker and SecureBoot as I have read all different tips for how to do this. I set USB device as the primary device to boot form and my Surface still boots to Windows. I disabled Windows boot entirely and it still booted to Windows. I swipe left on USB device and it takes me right back to BIOS settings. I tried holding volume down and pressing power to boot directly to USB and I still boot directly to Windows 10. Running out of ideas. I've seen plenty have this same issue but have not seen a fix that works for me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[anon(5327127)]

Format it as Fat32

 

[Imnice777]

I tried that, didn't work.

 

[Imnice777]

Just another update, still no luck. I've formatted to Fat32 manually as well as had Rufus format and neither option worked. If anyone can give me another idea it would be greatly appreciated but as of now I think I tried everything I know of. The flash drive works on my other PC.

 

[digitaldd]

I believe it has to be UEFI formatted GPT fat32 partition that is bootable, main partition can be a max of 32GB. And if the SP4 is like some of the tablets i have worked on you may need to disable secure boot in the BIOS of the device to do the OS install (and re-enable it after the install is done). I know rufus is supposed to make that easier for you but I haven't used it I prefer ImageUSB

 

[Imnice777]

I believe it has to be UEFI formatted GPT fat32 partition that is bootable, main partition can be a max of 32GB. And if the SP4 is like some of the tablets i have worked on you may need to disable secure boot in the BIOS of the device to do the OS install (and re-enable it after the install is done). I know rufus is supposed to make that easier for you but I haven't used it I prefer ImageUSB

Thank you for the advice, I'll try ImageUSB. This is pretty odd since I've tried so many of these methods. I do have secure boot disabled and I even tried manually partitioning the flash drive through cmd. prompt. I'll try that program but overall running out of ideas.

 

[Imnice777]

I have attached some pictures of my settings. I tried multiple flash drives, the latest being a new out of box USB 3.0 flash drive. I'm pretty much out of ideas really...any help is appreciated. The drives were formatted to FAT32, secureboot is off, etc... Can anyone suggest any other ideas?

 

[MOBBAK]

Is there any update? Did it work for you?

For me, I was able to boot from USB and I found way to be able to use attached typed cover, audio and physical button.

Let me know if you need any help.

 

[Imnice777]

Thank you for the follow up. Unfortunately, I am still unable to boot from the USB. I have now tried several flash drives and imaging methods including ImageUSB. I even tried different .iso files for 2 different forms of Linux and no new result.

 

[Imnice777]

Another update for anyone who might have more advice. I decided just to test things out and run my USB recovery media for Windows from boot and see if that works and it works immediately. Not sure if the system is rejecting it because it's not Windows or what, but I've tried several different versions of Linux OS as well as different methods of imaging the OS to the drive. This makes me think it has to be somehow related to the OS/how it's put on the drive, but I'm not certain.

 

[Dewg]

Here are some instructions for the Surface Pro 4 and Debian. Might help you with your distro: https://github.com/jimdigriz/debian-mssp4

 

[anon(5327127)]

Very, very odd. Only yesterday did I clean install Windows. Used diskpart to create the media, made it active, formatted fat32 etc. Disabled Secure boot and straight into installing windows from the USB.

Also did the same on a Surface Book.

 

[Imnice777]

Very, very odd. Only yesterday did I clean install Windows. Used diskpart to create the media, made it active, formatted fat32 etc. Disabled Secure boot and straight into installing windows from the USB.

Also did the same on a Surface Book.

I do not have the issue booting for a Windows recovery media. The only issue is when I'm attempting to boot a different OS, in this case Linux. The Surface seems like it tries to boot form it, then gives up and boots directly to Windows 10 for some reason.

 

[Sir Shade]

Thought I would add to the string. I am having the exact same problem. I got hit with a virus and i would like to scan the computer outside of windows. No go. I have also tried everything. Nothing.
Recovery drive works but nothing else does.
It's a surface pro 4 with M3 core. Anyone have any luck?