Windows 10: Laptop not booting from USB

Hello.I just found an old laptop in my closet, a Sony Vaio VGN-TZ31VN. 2GB RAM, 32-bit Windows 7 Professional. It's extremely slow, and I just wanted to reinstall Windows or install another lightweight OS for old laptops \, such as Linux Mint, by creating a bootable USB Flash with the OS. However, the USB flash doesn't boot. I've tried to go into BIOS and change the priority such that the USB Flash is the first, followed by the internal HDD which has the Win7 installed. It doesn't seem to detect the USB and boots Windows from the HDD, even though the USB Flash is the first. I removed the int

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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

 

No boot from USB

As Kyhi mentioned, If you're booting from a USB drive, it doesn't matter what you have on your laptop drive.
How are you pointing to boot from the USB drive, by BIOS priority or by boot menu during POST?
Follow these steps to open the Startup menu when the computer is powered off.

1. Turn on the computer.
2. Immediately press the Escape key repeatedly, about once every second, until the Startup Menu opens.
3. Select the EFI USB drive

PS.: You can only boot as UEFI if the OS is 64 bits. Is your Linux on the USB drive 64 bits version?
Is the USB drive formatted as Fat32?

 

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?