I am trying to run a Linux system from my y500 Lenovo ideapad but I can not access the boot menu or bios at all. This is because I have a broken screen and am using an external display to make use of this machine. From what I have read it seems that I cannot mount a new OS while currently running a separate one. I would like to do a full Linux installation and not use a virtual machine as I have a strong dislike of windows in all capacity and anyways I want to enjoy the benefits of completely open source system architecture. Is this possible while having no way to view my bios menu? Is there a way to setup the boot order from inside windows and then have a bootable usb automatically loaded? Will the installation menu be visible on my display at that point?
2 Answers
I cannot think of a method of changing BIOS settings without accessing it. However, to install it without changing boot device, what you can do is use a different PC for just the barebone installation, and then move it over to the laptop once installed and do the rest from there.
Alternatively, you can:
- use unetbootin, Universal USB installer, or something similar to create an install "USB" except you do it on a harddrive
- Connect the harddrive on which you want to install on as a secondary drive somehow (perhaps via a USB harddrive dock)
- Install on second drive
- Once done installing, move the disk around to how you want it
if it fails to boot properly, boot with a rescue image or live CD, and run grub-install so that you get the bootloader set up properly with the correct device names.
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I don't know whether this is such a good idea. Because with the Universal USB installer you can only get 4GB of persistent storage (Casper R/W storage). And " boot with a rescue image or live CD " will not work either because he cannot change the boot order.– whsCommented Apr 19, 2015 at 3:29
If I were in this situation, I'd try to find screenshots and function button mapping for my BIOS. If your boot selection menu is (semi)static then you could trial and error until the installation screen came up (I'm sure you'd have to edit a config file somewhere to change the default screen output during installation). Barring that; setup an unattended installation script, setup a network boot server, and deploy the operating sytem using PXE. Then you only need to know what the network boot function key is on your POST screen.
