How do I access BIOS menu on a Sony Vaio E series laptop so that I can boot from USB?

you have to access the bios from within windows as I am guessing you have a UEFI bios looking at the trouble you are facing. //source acer customer help(should work on yours as well) Press the Windows ( ) key + C, or swipe in from the right edge of the screen to open your Charms. Click Settings. Click Change PC Settings. Click Update and recovery, then select Recovery. To the right beneath Advanced Startup, click Restart now. Once the boot menu appears, select Troubleshoot. In the Troubleshoot menu, select Advanced options. In the Advanced options menu, click UEFI Firmware Settings. Click Restart. The system will restart and enter UEFI (BIOS).

What operating system do you use? I am gonna tell for Windows 8 and 8.1 As far as I know, these days, many laptops don't allow you to enter bios using the f* keys for security reasons. One  way to access the startup settings is by pressing shift while clicking  the Restart / Shutdown button after logging into windows or you can do  at the login screen too. Windows will restart and show some options. Click Troubleshoot -> Advanced Options -> Startup settings Then click Restart. You should be done. Another method to enter bios is through an option in PC Settings. Roll  over your mouse to the right top corner of the desktop screen and you  should see many options. Click Settings and click "Change PC Settings"  at the bottom. Now search for an option called "Advanced  startup". It's under " General" tab in windows 8. And in windows 8.1 ,  it's under "Update and Recovery" tab. Just experminet and find it out.  Click the "Restart Now" under the "Advanced Startup" option. Windows will restart and show some options. Click Troubleshoot -> Advanced Options -> Startup settings Then click Restart. You should be done.

F2 or F9 in Sony Vaio. You can even get to direct boot devices menu from where you can get options of plugged in devices to boot from, ESC key should be the one for that.

Start your laptop with the USB plugged in. At the bottom of the screen it will prompt you to press (DEL or F2 or F9) to enter BIOS. (you should be quick to do this as the time delay between this screen and the next is short) Once you've pressed the key(maybe repeatedly....it's ok to do that) it will come to the BIOS screen. Use the arrow keys and select boot device. Set the primary boot device to USB device, HDD 2nd boot device, optical disk 3rd. Exit BIOS and save settings. Restart the laptop(if it hasn't started on its own).. Ubuntu portable can run/boot from the USB only if you have copied it correctly so, do follow the website instructions.

In Windows 8 and 8.11. Turn on or restart your laptop and then hit the ‘Assist’ button placed on your PC, but the location varies depend on the computer model you have. Therefore, use the documentation in case you are unable to find it on your system. You can also prefer to download a PDF file manually from the Sony official website if you don’t have own copy.2. Once the ‘Assist’ button has been connected, the ‘VAIO Care Rescue Mode’ screen appears. By using the arrow keys, you can choose ‘Start BIOS SetupF2’, and then hit the ‘Enter’ key to choose the option.3. In the BIOS Setup Utility, just use the arrow keys to navigate via the options and the Enter key to choose the modification you want to implement.Hit the Esc key to exit from an option or screen.4. Once the changes are done, hit the ESC key until the ‘Exit’ menu appears. Hit the F10 key to save and exit from the utility.In Windows 7If you are still working on the Windows 7,firstly shut down your device and then restart it. Once the black VAIO logo visualizes; hit the F2 key constantly all around 10 seconds to start the BIOS Setup utility.if you have still any issue or queries regarding the above listed steps, feel free to dial http://contactforhelp.com/sony/number to talk with an expert.

This is for Sony Vaio E-series laptop:AIM : Install a new OS from my pendrive> Press power button> immediately press + hold F2> boot menu appears> use navigation keys (arrow buttons) to go to boot tab> set “external device” boot enable> change boot priority so that External device comes first(to change value use F5and F6 buttons, see botttom of screen for more)> press F10 for “Save and Exit”>it will restart automatically, now go with your OS instllation.

Restart the system. Press f2. Keep on pressing until the BIOS menu appears. If f2 doesn't workctry f8 next time. When you enter BIOS setup go to boot menu. Here you will find boot sequence. In the first priority hard disk is selected. Open that box and select USB. Save it and restart your system plugging the USB. In some systems the boot menu allows you to directly boot from there, that us you don't have to select priority list and then save. You just have to select from the list of devices which are plugged and your PC will boot from thar device.

BIOS settings allow you to run a boot sequence from a floppy drive, a hard drive, a CD-ROM drive or an external device. You may configure the order that your computer searches these physical devices for the boot sequence. The first device in the order list has the first boot priority. For example, to boot from a CD-ROM drive instead of a hard drive, place the CD-ROM drive ahead of the hard drive in priority. You should set pendrive as 1st priority.

This is a generic answer and should work for most computers - # When you boot your laptop, at the bottom of the screen it displays a message - which tells you which key to press to 'go to setup utility' (which is generally either F2 or Delete button) and which key to press to 'go to Boot Manager' (which is usually F12) - press this one. Note: you will only get a few seconds to perform this action. Even if your laptop doesn't display this message, try and press the above mentioned keys one at a time and you will eventually get there! # The boot menu will present you with a numbered list of options to boot from. Use the up-down arrow key to reach *USB* or *Removable Media* menu. (Note: keep the USB stick you want to boot from connected to the USB port) # Now press enter - your laptop should begin booting from your USB drive now.