Want to boot a USB with an OS or an installer but it is blocked by secure boot or something like that and you can't turn it off?
Maybe you're missing the BIOS password - like on a computer you got from a friend, or a school/work computer - but you still want to run another OS or whatever on it.

Well here are some (some meaning 2 cause I can't think of any more) tricks that might help you:

 - Remove the hard drive

That's right. Of course it may not work, but it has for me in some ocasions.

First plug in the USB. Then open your computer, find the hard drive, plug it out and turn on your pc.
Make sure to remove the right thing. You can look up the details on the piece of hardware's label on the internet to check.
Remember to plug the drive in again once you have booted up. If you're trying to install something on it, or access it in any way it obviously has to be plugged in

 - Use an OS that boots on RAM

If you just want to run another OS (maybe you have Windows, but want to use linux as well), TinyCore or Tails can be a solution, as they run on RAM, and, for me at least, seem to bypass secure boot and stuff.
There are some downsides to this, as there is no persistence (unless you configure it), but in some cases it can be more of an advantage (anonymity, security and stuff, or depending on what you use it for).

This post is only based on my experience, so it may not be 100% accurate.

From experience any device with secure boot setup (at least properly implemented) won't boot a untrusted USB even if the hard drive is removed also most of the time if you have physical access you can remove the BIOS password by opening the PC up and removing the CMOS battery for a few seconds to reset the BIOS to defaults.

(September 16, 2022, 01:58 PM)DataDumper Wrote: From experience any device with secure boot setup (at least properly implemented) won't boot a untrusted USB even if the hard drive is removed also most of the time if you have physical access you can remove the BIOS password by opening the PC up and removing the CMOS battery for a few seconds to reset the BIOS to defaults.

True, or though the default settings can have a password. These were just some different ways that have worked for me.

(September 16, 2022, 05:01 PM)d2k Wrote:

(September 16, 2022, 01:58 PM)DataDumper Wrote: From experience any device with secure boot setup (at least properly implemented) won't boot a untrusted USB even if the hard drive is removed also most of the time if you have physical access you can remove the BIOS password by opening the PC up and removing the CMOS battery for a few seconds to reset the BIOS to defaults.

True, or though the default settings can have a password. These were just some different ways that have worked for me.

I agree with you. But if everything is encrypted in veracrypt, for example?

(September 17, 2022, 03:27 PM)NFUO2 Wrote:

(September 16, 2022, 05:01 PM)d2k Wrote:

(September 16, 2022, 01:58 PM)DataDumper Wrote: From experience any device with secure boot setup (at least properly implemented) won't boot a untrusted USB even if the hard drive is removed also most of the time if you have physical access you can remove the BIOS password by opening the PC up and removing the CMOS battery for a few seconds to reset the BIOS to defaults.

True, or though the default settings can have a password. These were just some different ways that have worked for me.

I agree with you. But if everything is encrypted in veracrypt, for example?

I guess you could try some kind of hook after the disk has been decrypted, but i don't really know much about this kind of thing

set it in bios that the soltuin