Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device or insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key error message appears on the screen while Windows users are trying to boot their computer. Do you experience this too? You must be wondering what it means. This means that your computer cannot find the boot device on your hard drive or fails to recognize the boot device.
There are several reasons why your computer fails to recognize the boot device.
- Cable damaged that leads the BIOS cannot detect the drive.
- The boot disk is changed due to unknown reason.
- The boot disk is damaged physically.
- The Windows system in the boot disk is corrupted.
It is possible that there are more reasons that cause this error to happen. If you are suffering because of this error on your computer, you might need to take a look at the 4 methods that we will discuss in this topic. The methods will try to fix reboot and select proper boot device error on Windows 10/8/7.
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4 Methods to Fix “Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device” Error Windows 10/8/7
Method 1 Check If BIOS Detects The Boot Drive
When you are trying to boot Windows, and it asks you to insert boot device and press any key, you need to check if BIOS detects the installation media.
What you can do next, is to reboot your PC and press F2, Del, Esc or any key repeatedly in order to enter BIOS. Each manufacture has different key to enter BIOS. Check on the internet if you are not sure about the correct key. After that, go to the Main tab or another tab to make sure if all devices are detected.
If your drive to boot the Windows doesn’t show up, you can restart your computer and check the hard disk cable, or try to reconnect it. You can also change the cable with another one, or connect it to different slot.
However, if you see an error message, “Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key” while installing Windows to your computer, you should try reconnect the installation media.
After that, you should be able to install Windows properly.
ALSO CHECK: Operating System Not Found Error – How to Fix it?
Method 2: Check Boot Order in BIOS
The second method to fix “Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device” Error that you can try is to check the boot order in BIOS.
Basically, you can check the boot order in BIOS under the Boot, Advanced BIOS Features or Startup section.
Make sure that the drive contained the Windows system is set as the first boot device. If it’s not, then you can set it. Use the arrow buttons on the keyboard to help you change the boot order.
Finally, save the changes by pressing F10 and quit from BIOS. Try to boot Windows or install Windows.
Method 3: Set BIOS to Best Defaults
The third method you should try is to set BIOS to its best defaults settings. Why? The best defaults setting in BIOS is basically optimized for performance without risking stability. Many users have tried and proved that this method can fix “Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device” Error in Windows.
Please Note: the names of this feature may vary depending on the types of motherboards. It could be Get Default Values, Load Optimized Defaults, Load Optimal Defaults, etc.
If all the methods above failed, it could be that the Windows boot files system has corrupted. The only thing you can do is re-install Windows OS.
READ ALSO: How to Install Windows 10 and Get A Windows 10 License
Method 4: Fix Windows Boot Files
The fourth method to fix “Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device” Error in Windows is repairing Windows boot files. Before you proceed this method, you should prepare the Windows installation media or USB bootable disk.
- Plug in or insert the Windows installation media and boot from it.
- Go to the following screen and choose Repair your computer to enter the Windows Recovery Environment.
- Open Command Prompt and insert the following commands. Press Enter after each command.
For Legacy BIOS users:
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- Bootrec /fixmbr
- Bootrec /fixboot
- Bootrec /rebuildBCD
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For UEFI users: bcdboot C:\windows
When the process has completed, you can quit from Command Prompt and restart your computer.
Conclusion
Those were the methods to fix “Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device” Error in Windows. If after following all the methods above the error still shows up on your screen, you need to install a fresh copy of Windows system. We suggest you to back up all data in your hard drive before installing Windows OS to prevent lost data. We also recommend you to format the hard disk during the installation process.
If you happen to have any questions or suggestions, feel free to contact us. Thank you for reading, Folks!