BIOS & Startup Key Reference
Quick reference for BIOS, Boot Menus, and Recovery shortcuts.
Author: David Catino
Common PC BIOS & Boot Keys
| Manufacturer | BIOS / Setup | Boot Menu / Recovery |
| Dell (Modern) | F2 | F12 |
| Dell (Legacy/Desktops) | Ctrl + Alt + Enter | F12 |
| Dell (Old Laptops) | Fn + F1 or Fn + Esc | -- |
| HP | F10 (or Esc for menu) | F9 |
| Lenovo (IdeaPad) | F2 or Fn + F2 | F12 or Novo Button |
| Toshiba | F2 | F12 (Hold 0 for HDD Recovery) |
Apple Mac Startup Shortcuts (Intel)
| Function | Shortcut | |
| Boot Manager | Option (⌥) | |
| Recovery | Command (⌘) + R | |
| Start from bootable media (USB/CD) | C | |
| Apple Hardware Test (AHT) | D | |
| Reset NVRAM / PRAM | Option + Command + P + R | |
| Eject Removable Media | Eject, F12, or Mouse Button | |
| NetBoot (Network Server) | N | |
| Target Disk Mode | T | |
| Safe Boot Mode | Shift | |
| Verbose Mode | Command + V | |
| Single-User Mode | Command + S | |