Phenquestions
Anyone who has ever installed a version of Windows operating system from CD or DVD will be familiar with the “Press any key to boot from CD/DVD” message that appears while booting from CD or DVD. When the Press any key to boot from DVD message appears, we need to press a key to boot from the DVD and begin copying files.
The message prevents the computer from automatically booting from DVD (if there is a bootable DVD) when the computer restarts after copying all required installation files. Although, recent versions of Windows handle this much better and automatically start the setup, it's still good to have the message.
As many of you have observed, bootable USB prepared using the native Command Prompt or with the help of the official Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool doesn't show Press any key to boot from USB message, and instead it automatically boots when the PC is configured to boot from USB drive.
Although this is not an issue for most users out there, users who always keep bootable USB drive connected to their PCs might want to add “Press any key to boot from the USB” message to the bootable USB to avoid automatically booting from the same. As you know, if the user doesn't press a key, the PC will automatically boot from the HDD or SSD.
Add Press any key to boot from USB…
Those of you who would like to see “Press any key to boot from USB” message will be happy to know that the message can be added by using the popular Rufus utility instead of the official Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool or Command Prompt method.
As you likely know, Rufus is the best utility out there to create bootable USB drives and is updated often. It can prepare bootable USBs for both traditional PCs with BIOS and modern PCs that support UEFI.
The “Press any key to boot from USB” message is automatically added when Rufus is used to prepare bootable USB of Windows. Rufus does this by installing an MBR. While using Rufus, click the Down arrow key next to Format Options and then make sure that the option Use Rufus MBR with BIOS ID: Default is checked.
To disable Press any key to boot from USB
And if you would like to use Rufus to prepare a bootable USB of Windows without the message, you can do so by unchecking the option labelled Use Rufus MBR with BIOS ID. This option is not visible with default settings but you can view this advanced option by clicking the small down arrow button right next to Format Options.
Good luck!
