Industrial Control Computers (IPCs) are among the most important hardware devices in industrial control systems. They boast advantages such as high stability, high reliability, high scalability, and high security, and can operate normally in extreme environments, ensuring the smooth operation of industrial production. For many IPC users, booting from a USB drive is a very common problem. This article will introduce how to boot an IPC from a USB drive and provide some practical tips.
Step 1: Prepare a USB boot drive
We need to prepare a USB bootable drive, which must be bootable and pre-installed with an operating system image. Common USB bootable drives include PE, Win10PE, and LINUX, with PE being the most commonly used. PE stands for Windows Preinstallation Environment, a lightweight operating system based on Windows developed by Microsoft. We can search for relevant software downloads in our browser, choose a suitable PE bootable drive creation tool, and follow the software's instructions to create a bootable USB drive.
Step 2: Configure BIOS
We need to enter the BIOS settings. The BIOS is the Basic Input/Output System in an industrial PC. Its function is to provide some control functions for hardware devices in the initial boot environment and to boot the operating system pre-installed on the hard drive. Before entering the BIOS, we need to restart the computer and press a shortcut key. The shortcut key varies depending on the brand of the industrial PC. A common shortcut key is the FFFDelete key.
After the industrial control computer enters the BIOS setup page, we need to select the "boot sequence" option and place the USB drive as the first boot device and the hard drive as the second. This way, during startup, the computer will first search for the boot program on the USB drive, and then search for the operating system on the hard drive.
Step 3: Set the USB drive boot option
In the BIOS settings, we also need to enter the boot options to check if the USB drive is displayed as the boot device. If it is not displayed, we need to change the BIOS settings. Select the "advanced" option, then the "USB configuration" option, and change it to "Enabled". Save the settings and exit.
At this point, we need to insert the prepared USB boot disk into the USB port of the industrial control computer. When the computer restarts, we can use PE tools to reinstall or repair the system.
Summarize:
By following the steps above, we can easily boot the industrial PC from a USB drive. It's important to note that during the operation, you must strictly follow the prompts to avoid any issues caused by incorrect operation. Since BIOS settings vary slightly between different industrial PCs, you should also carefully refer to the user manual for each specific industrial PC model. Only with proficient operation can you ensure system stability and allow the industrial PC to run stably and efficiently.
