How to Change BIOS Settings on a Computer with Windows 8.1 Installed

How to get into the BIOS Setup on a system with Windows 8.1


How to Change BIOS Settings on a Computer with Windows 8.1 Installed

If you are an experienced computer user, accustomed to being able to access the BIOS Setup screen by quickly hitting the ESC, DEL, F10 or F2 key (or whatever, depending on the BIOS) when the system boots, you will find that you are no longer able to do that on a computer that comes preinstalled with Windows 8.1. This is because Windows 8.1's boot manager is given control of the system immediately when it starts up.

The good news though is that the BIOS setup screen can still be accessed. You just have to get Windows 8.1 to reboot to the BIOS.

How to Boot to the BIOS Setup Screen on Windows 8.1

  1. Click the start button to get the Start Screen.

  2. Type "settings" (without the quotes). "PC Settings" will appear in the Search results in the right column. Click it.

  3. A new screen, with the title "PC settings", will appear. Click the line "Update and recovery" in the left column.

  4. The "Update and recovery" screen will appear. Click "Recovery" in the left column.

  5. Click the "Restart now" in the "Advanced startup" section of the right column.

  6. A new screen, with the title "Choose an option", will appear.

  7. Click "Troubleshoot".

  8. Click "Advanced options".

  9. The screen changes to one with the title "Advanced options". Click "UEFI Firmware Settings".

  10. In the "UEFI Firmware Settings" screen that appears, click the "Restart" button.

  11. The system will reboot to the BIOS, where you can configure your system as needed. From this point onwards, what is displayed and what you need to do will vary from computer to computer. That is, the procedure to take from here on depends on what your computer manufacturer has put into your system. On one system where I tested this on, I needed to hit the F10 key to enter the actual BIOS setup. You may have to do different things.

This reboot to the BIOS is a one-time thing. That is, the next time you boot, you will be returned to Windows. You can of course, use this same procedure to access the BIOS Setup screen any time you want.

Copyright © 2015 by Christopher Heng. All rights reserved. Get more "How To" guides and tutorials from https://www.howtohaven.com/.

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