Re: [OT] Booting from USB
On Fri, 26 Aug 2011 11:26:16 +0100
Darac Marjal <mailinglist@darac.org.uk> wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 07:03:17PM +0100, Joe wrote:
>> >
> > I have one computer with every boot device disabled in BIOS except
> > the primary hard drive, but if I leave a USB storage device
> > connected to it, even a camera, it will attempt to boot from it,
> > and will *not* fall back to the hard drive if it doesn't find a
> > bootloader. It's a plug pull and three-finger salute job.
>
> I might be wrong here, but I think that's a problem with the boot
> sector on the camera. I think that BIOSes assume that any storage
> device has a boot sector and, upon finding a disk connected to the
> system, will start executing the code at the start of that disk. For
> most 'data' disks, that will just be the equivalent of "PRINT "Insert
> boot disk and press any key"."
>
It's not a big deal, and only causes confusion when my wife leaves her
MP3 player charging and later boots the computer.
But the point is that the BIOS has been explicitly instructed to boot
from the internal hard drive before any add-in bootable devices, and
removable devices and media are specifically excluded from the boot
sequence. I might be relying on that configuration (with password
protection, of course) to prevent someone maliciously booting a
business computer with an alien OS.
--
Joe
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