To access the boot options on your Dell Latitude 5400, including booting from a specific device or accessing system utilities, you will use the one-time boot menu.
Accessing the One-Time Boot Menu
The simplest way to control how your Dell Latitude 5400 starts up for a single boot session is by using the one-time boot menu. Follow these steps:
- Turn on or restart your Dell Latitude 5400.
- As soon as the Dell logo appears on the screen, begin pressing the
key repeatedly. - Continue pressing
until the one-time boot menu loads.
Understanding the Boot Menu
This one-time boot menu provides you with a temporary list of options for starting your system.
- Boot Device List: The main part of the menu displays a list of the valid bootable devices currently detected by your system. This could include your hard drive, SSD, a connected USB drive, a DVD drive (if applicable), or network boot options.
- System Utilities: In addition to boot devices, the menu also includes options for running system Diagnostics and accessing the BIOS Setup (sometimes called System Setup).
- Dynamic Options: The specific devices listed on this boot menu are dynamic and depend entirely on which bootable devices are physically connected to or installed in your Dell Latitude 5400 at that moment.
By selecting a device from this menu, you instruct your laptop to attempt to boot from that specific source for the current startup session only. The system will revert to its standard boot order on the next restart unless you access the boot menu again.
