Boot U59 from LG external USB CDROM

mcaslan

I have tried all recommendations to boot my Beelink U59 from an external CD Rom drive.  My goal is to install a legacy OS called Windows Home Server (WHS) that ships on CD Rom.  WHat are the correct Bios settings to boot from external USB CDRom.  I have tried boot order - setting CD ROm or USB to 1st.  I have disabled UEFI or whatever its cxalled under security.  Nothing works and U59 eventually boots to Win 11.

mauried

Ive used an LG CD rom drive on U59 and it does work although its a bit slow to start.
Try this.
With the U59 turned on plug the USB cable from the CD into the U59.
Insert the CD into the drive.
Turn the U59 off, and then turn it on again.
Tap the F7 key when you see the Beelink appear on the screen.
This opens the boot order Menu.
You should see an additional entry in the boot order list which is the CD rom drive.
Select the CD rom drive as the bootable item.
Turn the U59 off and then turn it on again.
If you look at the light on the front of the CD it flash a few times, and shortly after on the screen you will see a message to hit any key to boot from the CD rom.
Note that this message doesnt appear for very long so you need to tap a key when it appears.
If you dont Windows will simply boot as of normal.
The screen will remain blank for a while and then you will see a rotating circle on the screen which means the CD is being read.
For some reason this seems to be quite slow, it took a few minutes for me before the rotating circle appeared.
Good luck.

mauried

I slightly got the above instructions wrong. Its been a while since Ive done this,
Plug the CD drive into the Beelink.
Turn on the Beelink and let it boot into Windows.
Insert the CD into the CD Drive.
Either restart or shutdown the Beelink and then restart it.
Press F7 a few times when the Beelink logo appears, this enters the boot menu.
Look for an entry which starts with HL -DT and then some numbers, this is the CD drive. its normally under the Windows boot manager. This may be differant for you.)
Select the entry and then hit enter.
Note that this entry will not appear if the CD in the CD drive is not bootable.
Wait until a message press any key to boot from CD appears on the screen and then press enter.
Wait a while until the Beelink boots from the CD, it can be slow.