Windows 10: HP Laptop Refuses to Boot to USB

I have wasted the best part of a day searching for a solution. My ancient mother has a new HP laptop, thin as a rail and with no DVD drive; Windows 10. If it has a model name, I cannot find it. She has set it up herself and now has no idea what her password is; neither she nor I can get past the password screen. I have a known-good Sandisk flash-drive that has a bootable Linux-based password eliminating program. I have used this USB stick countless times to clear passwords and it has always worked --- until now. By pressing F10 on Startup, I get BIOS Setup Utility; in this screen, I made sure USB boot was enabled, disabled Secure Boot, and moved USB/Flash Drive to the top of the boot order. There is no option to enable Legacy Boot anywhere that I can find; no mention of it at all. Pressing Esc on Startup gets a list "Start Menu"; choosing F9 there gets Boot Manager/Boot Option Menu where I have two choices, default OS UEFI boot and Boot from EFI File. Choosing "Boot from EFI File" takes me to "File Explorer" with two options; the top option "No Volume Label -- etc. etc. USB etc. etc."; the second option "System -- etc. etc. SATA etc. etc." Choosing the top option "No Volume Label" takes me to four choices: <Sandisk Secure Access> <InternetAdapterDriver> <Z__This May Be USB Password Cracker> (That is exactly what it says) <SystemVolumeInformation> Regardless of which option I select, it takes me to two choices: <.> <..> Selecting the first option does absolutely nothing. Selecting the second option simply returns me to the four choices. Other that "Enter", my only other option is to press "ESC"; pressing "ESC" at any point returns me to the Boot Option Menu with the default O/S highlighted. I have tried my best to not omit anything that I am seeing; try and try and try again and it always just boots back to the password screen. I will repeat, the USB stick that I am using has worked numerous times on other laptops and has always obliterated all passwords and allowed access to otherwise useless machines. It may be a regional thing, but there are countless laptops among my friends and relatives that have forgotten passwords; I always set them up to boot straight into the desktop with no passwords at all; it saves a lot of grief later. Thanks for reading and all help is appreciated. Can anyone please tell me what I am missing ? I am about ready to lay this thing under the rear tandems and run the truck back and forth over it a few times.

:)

 

USB boot for bios update

Did the first step. It already doesn't work. Note the capacities and drive letters M:/N: The HP utility is about to format my raid-1 volume containing my 2 750gb drives. It thinks it's the usb stick. I can not select any other drives in the HP utility. My 512mb usb stick is U:.

Any other suggestions?

 

HP Laptop Refuses to Boot to USB

I have wasted the best part of a day searching for a solution.
My ancient mother has a new HP laptop, thin as a rail and with no DVD drive; Windows 10.
If it has a model name, I cannot find it.
She has set it up herself and now has no idea what her password is; neither she nor I can get past the password screen.

I have a known-good Sandisk flash-drive that has a bootable Linux-based password eliminating program.
I have used this USB stick countless times to clear passwords and it has always worked --- until now.

By pressing F10 on Startup, I get BIOS Setup Utility; in this screen, I made sure USB boot was enabled, disabled Secure Boot, and moved USB/Flash Drive to the top of the boot order.

There is no option to enable Legacy Boot anywhere that I can find; no mention of it at all.

Pressing Esc on Startup gets a list "Start Menu"; choosing F9 there gets Boot Manager/Boot Option Menu where I have two choices, default OS UEFI boot and Boot from EFI File.

Choosing "Boot from EFI File" takes me to "File Explorer" with two options; the top option "No Volume Label -- etc. etc. USB etc. etc."; the second option "System -- etc. etc. SATA etc. etc."

Choosing the top option "No Volume Label" takes me to four choices:

<Sandisk Secure Access>
<InternetAdapterDriver>
<Z__This May Be USB Password Cracker> (That is exactly what it says)
<SystemVolumeInformation>

Regardless of which option I select, it takes me to two choices:

<.>
<..>

Selecting the first option does absolutely nothing.
Selecting the second option simply returns me to the four choices.

Other that "Enter", my only other option is to press "ESC"; pressing "ESC" at any point returns me to the Boot Option Menu with the default O/S highlighted.

I have tried my best to not omit anything that I am seeing; try and try and try again and it always just boots back to the password screen.

I will repeat, the USB stick that I am using has worked numerous times on other laptops and has always obliterated all passwords and allowed access to otherwise useless machines.
It may be a regional thing, but there are countless laptops among my friends and relatives that have forgotten passwords; I always set them up to boot straight into the desktop with no passwords at all; it saves a lot of grief later.

Thanks for reading and all help is appreciated.

Can anyone please tell me what I am missing ?

I am about ready to lay this thing under the rear tandems and run the truck back and forth over it a few times.

 

Boot Surface Laptop to USB - no Volume button

Hello Jimmy,

This doesn't list the "Surface Laptop", but you might give it a try to see.

*Arrow Boot Microsoft Surface from a USB device

Otherwise, you should be able to use OPTION ONE below to boot from the USB from advanced startup.

*Arrow Boot from USB Drive on Windows 10 PC Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials