Wlll reversing boot order in Win 8.1 provide a measure of safety when attempting dual-boot install of Ubuntu 14.04?

Question

I am brand new here please notify me if I am not properly styling my question, thanks. I am ready to install dual boot Ubuntu 14.04 from LiveUSB but I am appalled by how many people have problems despite following various tutorials to the letter. I am narrowing down my questions and proposals for creating a bomb-proof protocol for my own self and hope that other peopole will benefit. SO here goes this set of concerns with the somewhat conflicting procedures recommended by the various tutorials:

I don't think any of the tutorials recommend it, but I notice that one user has stated that he did in fact arrange his Windows x.x boot order to have boot from flashdrive first.

The standard factory order is that the computer first boots from the Hardrive, then DVD/CDROM and only then USB. (Not to confuse things but there is also a boot from network option nwhich I will ignore.)

The question is whether this can be reversed so that if after the dual boot install my machine will not boot I might have better luck getting it to boot from USB. I don't boot from USB now without first booting Windows and authorizing the USB boot so it seems that this idea still might not work but could be worth trying.

I have read so many horror stories that I am poised to hit the INSTALL button on my Live USB version of Ubuntu - all partitioned up and ready to roll, data backups - but if after the dual boot install I am unable to boot my computer or boot to Linux, would I find the following safety precaution worthwhile:

Reversing the normal boot order in Windows 8.1 so that instead of Hardrive/CDROM/USB the boot order is USB/DVD.CDROM/Hardrive. The theory is that by having the Live USB session available might be a life saver and that this procedure may be more readily available if I change the boot order.

Would there be any harm in enabling the USB boot as first priority in this way> I understand that there is a security problem, but once my dual boot installation is up and running OK then I could revert to the default boot order. It seems to make sense to do this, as in order to boot from USB I have been going through Recovery Options/Advanced/BootfromDevice each time. StrayDog

Answer 1

My laptop is set to boot from USB then HDD. Apart from security concerns, there's no difference that it makes during startup unless you have a bootable USB already plugged in, in which case you'd have to prevent yourself from "hitting any key" to boot into the USB if you want to boot into the HDD instead.

For me it is worthwhile since I tend to boot from my USB quite often. But for you, since you're only going to use it once, indeed there is no harm in doing so, but why not just change the boot order when you actually need it? As long as you can enter the BIOS/UEFI at startup then it'd only save you a few presses of the keyboard.

Also just a tip, if you're planning on installing Windows and in the rare case you get stuck at any stage (as in my case I got stuck at Finalizing Your Settings at the very end when installing Windows 8.1, just doing a simple reboot will still lock you out of the BIOS/UEFI, or at least that's what happened for me (and a few other users I found on the Internet). I had to disconnect the power supply while the laptop was on then reboot to be able to access the BIOS, losing all the progress I made. :(