Can't Access BIOS Setup with F2 Key for Intel® NUC

Documentation

Troubleshooting

000005847

03/11/2021

What are you seeing?

BIOS Setup doesn't open when you press the F2 key during boot.

How to fix it.

See the table below for the most common causes that BIOS Setup won't open and how to fix it.

Cause How to fix it
You are using Bluetooth keyboard To access the BIOS and/or Power button menu, you must connect a USB keyboard to your Intel® NUC.
Fast Boot is enabled Fast Boot in BIOS reduces computer boot time. With Fast Boot enabled:
  • You can't press F2 to enter BIOS Setup.
  • USB mice and keyboards are unavailable until after the operating system loads.

Disable Fast Boot from the power button menu. Access the power button menu with this sequence:

  1. Make sure the system is off, and not in Hibernate or Sleep mode.
  2. Press the power button and hold it down for three seconds and release it.  The power button menu should display.
    Tip: If the system boots to the OS after trying this procedure then you didn't hold the button quite long enough. If the system simply reamins off after trying this procedure, then you held the button too long (longer than 4 seconds).
  3. Press F3 to disable Fast Boot.
See more information about Fast Boot:
Using Fast Boot in Intel® Visual BIOS

F2 key pressed at the wrong time

If the F2 prompt doesn't appear on the screen, you might not know when you should press the F2 key. The F2 prompt can be missing during boot for the following reasons:

  • POST Function Hotkeys are disabled
  • Secure Boot is enabled

You can check these settings by accessing BIOS Setup using the power button menu method:

  1. Make sure the system is off, and not in Hibernate or Sleep mode.
  2. Press the power button and hold it down for three seconds and release it.  The power button menu should display.
    Tip: If the system boots to the OS after trying this procedure then you didn't hold the button quite long enough. If the system simply shuts down after trying this procedure, then you held the button too long (longer than 4 seconds).
  3. Press F2 to enter BIOS Setup.
BIOS Setting Where to check in NUCs with Visual BIOS Where to check in NUCs with Aptio V BIOS
Display F2 to Enter Setup
  1. Go to Advanced > Boot > Boot Configuration.
  2. In the Boot Display Config pane:
    1. Enable POST Function Hotkeys Displayed
    2. Enable Display F2 to Enter Setup.
  3. Press F10 to save and exit BIOS.
  1. Go to Boot > Boot Display Configuration.
    1. Enable POST Function Hotkeys Displayed
    2. Enable Display F2 to Enter Setup.
  2. Press F10 to save and exit BIOS.
Secure Boot
  1. Go to Advanced > Boot > Secure Boot
  2. Disable Secure Boot.
  3. Press F10 to save and exit BIOS
  1. Go to Boot > Secure Boot menu.
  2. Disable Secure Boot.
  3. Press F10 to save and exit BIOS
Connect the keyboard to a different USB port If your keyboard is connected to a front panel USB port, try connecting it to a back panel port instead.
HDMI resolution on monitor isn't supported

If you're using an HDMI monitor or HDTV that doesn't support a resolution of 1024x768, you might not be able to access the Intel® Visual BIOS setup when pressing the F2 key.

Learn how to update the Intel NUC to the latest BIOS version or recover BIOS on your Intel NUC
 
Intel® NUC is connected to a USB monitor USB monitors don't support access to BIOS Setup. This type of monitor only begins to display during the operating system boot, and after its drivers load. Power-on features such as boot logo, boot menu, and BIOS Setup aren't visible.

To access BIOS Setup with the F2 key, temporarily connect the Intel® NUC to a monitor that supports HDMI, DisplayPort, or VGA connections.