How to force a Linux device to boot from USB when the GPU is dead and you can't do it from the BIOS

Published on 2024-12-28, 219 words, 1 minutes to read

tl;dr: use efibootmgr

Let's say you have a Kingston DataTraveler with a Linux ISO on it and want to boot from it, but your GPU is broken or something and you can't view output. Here's what you do:

List the potential boot targets with sudo efibootmgr:

$ sudo efibootmgr
BootCurrent: 0005
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0005,0000,0006
Boot0000* Linux Boot Manager HD(3,GPT,d540ada8-f3df-4783-b774-01f46cb8246f,0x800,0xff800)/File(\EFI\systemd\systemd-bootx64.efi)
Boot0005* UEFI OS HD(3,GPT,d540ada8-f3df-4783-b774-01f46cb8246f,0x800,0xff800)/File(\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI)0000424f
Boot0006* UEFI: KingstonDataTraveler 3.0, Partition 2 PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x8,0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x3)/USB(2,0)/USB(0,0)/HD(2,GPT,39313032-3630-4130-b232-303133343532,0x150,0x1680)0000424f

The Kingston DataTraveler is Boot0006, so tell efibootmgr to mark 0006 as the next boot target:

$ sudo efibootmgr --bootnext 0006
BootNext: 0006
BootCurrent: 0005
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0005,0000,0006
Boot0000* Linux Boot Manager HD(3,GPT,d540ada8-f3df-4783-b774-01f46cb8246f,0x800,0xff800)/File(\EFI\systemd\systemd-bootx64.efi)
Boot0005* UEFI OS HD(3,GPT,d540ada8-f3df-4783-b774-01f46cb8246f,0x800,0xff800)/File(\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI)0000424f
Boot0006* UEFI: KingstonDataTraveler 3.0, Partition 2 PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x8,0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x3)/USB(2,0)/USB(0,0)/HD(2,GPT,39313032-3630-4130-b232-303133343532,0x150,0x1680)0000424f

Then reboot. You will boot off of the USB drive.

Facts and circumstances may have changed since publication. Please contact me before jumping to conclusions if something seems wrong or unclear.

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