Poll of the Day > If a desktop tower has no optical drive

(+) Yeah! (+)

can you use an external USB optical drive to run a reboot disc (or any CD that needs to be running while the computer starting)? or are optical drives only good for running CDs when a user is logged in?

In what context would you need or want a bootable USB?
But yes, a USB optical drive could be bootable, but you may have to go messing around the BIOS to get to the work.

Anisoptera posted...

can you use an external USB optical drive to run a reboot disc (or any CD that needs to be running while the computer starting)? or are optical drives only good for running CDs when a user is logged in?

You can do it, I had to do it for an old laptop once, you just have to make sure the BIOS settings will allow it to boot from a USB device.

Questionmarktarius posted...

In what context would you need or want a bootable USB?
But yes, a USB optical drive could be bootable, but you may have to go messing around the BIOS to get to the work.

For when dealing with a computer problem when system restore and malware bytes won't work.

USB are bios active, (after all, your kb+m probably run off it) so USB drives are accessible for boot.
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okay. Thank you.

Anisoptera posted...

Questionmarktarius posted...

In what context would you need or want a bootable USB?
But yes, a USB optical drive could be bootable, but you may have to go messing around the BIOS to get to the work.

For when dealing with a computer problem when system restore and malware bytes won't work.

Go ahead and make a reinstall media doodad, for just in case: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10