Laptop not starting USB Drive onboot

Windows 10 and UEFI BIOS are set not to allow booting from USB by default. You can disable Secure Boot and try again.

I find it easier and more reliable to keep USB devices removed and only plug in when necessary.

if you want to boot from USB drive, you can follow these instructions...

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00364979

try changing the drive letter, and see if that makes it happy....

http://www.howtogeek.com/96298/assign-a-static-drive-letter-to-a-usb-drive-in-windows-7/

I don't mean booting from the drive. I learned about UEFI BIOS's a couple of weeks back and they're a pain in the neck, but that's a different story.

I log into Windows and the USB drive doesn't spin up. I keep my customer data on this and my working documents so I use it all the time. It's on a USB drive as I often need to move between computers.

When I open "My PC" in Windows after the computer has booted, this drive is not shown until I unplug it andplug it back in. I just want it accessible as soon as I log in.

Hi,

Attached to the machine on boot up via USB are:

USB Headphones
USB Hard drive docking station
USB Flash Drive
USB Mouse
USB Keyboard
USB Label Printer
USB External hard dive

The latop has 3 USB3 sockets. The USB Hard drive is connected to one. The onenext to it is the USB Keyboard. The 3rd is the connection to the USB extension bank, which connects all the other devices.

The hard drive and keyboard are in the pair of sockets on the one side so they must share the interface.

The USB flash drive shows up perfectly after logging into Windows. The label printer alsohas a 4gb flash drive built in which contains the software to run it and that shows up. All other devices work perfectly after a boot, excep this hard disk which requires unplugging and plugging back in after logging into Windows.

I'll try another hard drive on the next reboot. I've got a few I can test with.

Also try updating BIOS. I have seen BIOS not capable of ignoring USB drive causing this.

BIOS was updated this morning. The problem has been like this since Igot the laptop backin May.

What if you switched the drive to a non usb 3 port on boot up ... does it recognize it after a restart ?

All ports on this laptop are usb3

It is most likely not a speed issue but rather a BIOS issue.

I'm not implying a speed issue, just USB 3 acts weird on boot up then older USB as far as power.  I'm going to agree with everyone else on the bios issue however, one last thing you can try is updating the firmware on the passport.

I'll see if there is a new firmware for the drive. The laptop is less than a year old and the BIOD was updated this morning.

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/wdsmartwareupdate/firmware.asp?id=wdfMyPassport&os=WIN

Seems the firmware was the lastest version. I'll try a different drive to see if it still does it.

when you don't see the drive - i suppose it has no drive letter
open disk management, and assign one - does it show up then?
you can Always assign a fixed drive letter (take one at the end of alphabet)
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html

Have you tried plugging it into the USB extension bank and booting with it from there?

I haven't with this disk. The reason I put it directly in the computer was so that it had it's own dedicated USB slot rather than sharing with the other devices attached. I may give that a go.

what about my post Lee?

It isn't even spinning up when I log in so the drive manager doesn't see it. It has been assigned a drive letter already.

It sounds like a bad drive.

look in device manager - no errors there?

No. The drive is working just fine.

can you test if it behaves the same with another pc ?
that should tell us where the problem comes from

I just found this site and been reading your questions and solutions. Some pretty smart people/techs here! Lee, you state that the drive works fine but is not available after system boot till it is unplugged and plugged back in. I'm wondering Lee, are the drivers installed correctly? By this I mean, the UPnP service does not start until it is called upon by a USB device being plugged in or used. Some manufactures will modify there drivers while other do not. A portable USB drive, like your describing is, just that - portable. You might check your services and see if there are options to start the service during the OS start-up. The UPnP service is a manual startup. Try changing it to automatic, or check to see if manufacture has a service for the drive that runs after drive is "plugged in", change that to automatic. UPnP is pretty good these days, but sometimes on new hardware the manufacture doesn't always see "all possible install configs". I'm in the older group of responders, I come from the mid-range system area and helped shuffle in the "personal Computers" lol,

well if it does not spin when booted - it still can be a drive failure, even if it works later ok.
but it can be also a driver  problem
when i asked "look in device manager - no errors there? " i meant when the drive is not seen

Strange. After a bunch of updates after the awful "anniversary" edition upgrade for Win10 Pro, plus a load of updates from HP and th BIOS update I did, and then reinstalling the USB device drivers, the drive appears to spin up on boot. I have no idea which one of these sorted it but something did. I don't think it was the BIOS per se as I had already updated that just before asking the question and it still did it. It could be partly related to that and the other updates. Who knows? But thanks.