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[–]CompleteDoubterII[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

When I try to disable Secure Boot, I get a warning saying that my operating system may not be able to boot or may require a reinstall with this disabled. Will Windows 10 be unable to boot without it enabled? My research into Secure Boot simply says it disables booting of external hardware, and doesn't actually answer the question. My computer is a Dell one, so I doubt that warning is there for no reason. I cannot risk losing Windows 10 yet, as if I do, I will have no operating system I am able to boot on my computer, meaning I will probably lose the computer.

So, can Windows 10 boot with Secure Boot disabled?

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

I think you'll be fine. Tons of guides for how to disable it, and most or all dual booters have it disabled.

[–]CompleteDoubterII[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

I just realised something: I downloaded the Linux Mint ISO in a rage. It failed the integrity check, but it's more likely to have Memtest86 on it.

  1. Will it be safe to boot into Memtest86 on that Linux Mint ISO?
  2. Will Memtest86's results be accurate?

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Yes and Yes.

[–]CompleteDoubterII[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Welp, disabled secure boot and enabled legacy boot. I tried both Qubes and Linux Mint but neither worked. When I tried to boot an alternate OS, I got presented with several options, 3 of which are important: under 'Legacy Devices', I could boot from the USB, or from the 'UEFI' I could boot Qubes or Linux Mint.

Booting Linux Mint:

   choosing USB under 'Legacy Devices' when the USB with the Linux Mint ISO was plugged in: I got the message 'No operating system exists on this device.' I have the Linux Mint x64 Cinnamon ISO on there.

    choosing Linux Mint under 'UEFI': I got the message 'Selected boot device failed. Press any key to reboot the system.'

Booting Qubes:

    choosing USB under 'Legacy Options' when the USB with the Qubes ISO was in there (and to be fair, this was one that I changed from a .iso.crdownload file to a .iso file [I tried to download it from a Chromium based browser after getting .part from Pale Moon, and got .crdownload (which also signifies only part was downloaded)]): I got the message 'Selected boot device failed. Press any key to reboot the system.'

    choosing Qubes under 'UEFI': I get the message 'Selected boot device failed. Press any key to reboot the system.'

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

So all of these boot attempts were from USB? How did you write the iso to USB? You have to use a special tool to make bootable USB.

Also would be good to test your USB booting on another PC first.

[–]CompleteDoubterII[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I saved the ISO into the USB.

Using the instructions here (https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-USB-Bootable) for Windows (method 1), I made the USBs with both ISOs bootable. When I tried booting from either, I got the message: 'An operating system wasn't found. Try disconnecting any devices that don't contain an operating system.' Even though only the USB was connected, and it did have the ISO of an operating system. Please help. (I'll be on vacation for a week, so don't expect any replies in the next week.)

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I would try a different guide... And test your USB on a known good PC. I think you have hardware issues like bad RAM.