How to stop BIOS/UEFI from checking all usb external drives for an OS at boot?

I recently replaced an older Dell desktop running Windows 10 with a newer one (an OptiPlex 5060) running Windows 11. I also have multiple HDs attached to a hub and then to the computer via USB-3. If I have the hub unplugged, according to Task Manager, the last BIOS time at boot is 7.8-8.3 seconds. If I have the hub with the HDs plugged in the last BIOS time is 20-22 seconds. With the old desktop I was able to disable checking external drives for an OS during boot, but so far I have been unable to do that with the same procedure in BIOs. Even with the USB setting disabled, the last BIOS time is still 20-22 seconds with the hub plugged in. I'm open to suggestions or ideas. Version 23H2, Build 22631.3527 TIA

20 sec is okay. It is not like you are getting a prize every time you get an 8 sec boot up time. As long as you know the reason why it is slower, that's all that matters. Don't stress yourself out with fast boot up time. That's my suggestion.

@CharlieDog

I also have multiple HDs attached to a hub and then to the computer via USB-3

Perhaps just replace your hub with one that has individual switch on/off for each socket. Quite cheap.

I just switch individual external drives on or off as needed. With all 3 of these drives set at off during boot, the boot time is as quick as is possible with my current PC.

CharlieDog said:

so far I have been unable to do that with the same procedure

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Hi.
I had a look at the BIOS manual for you PC. There doesn’t appear to be any option that wouldn’t affect the USB devices post boot.

Are you able to change the boot sequence order to:
OS (whatever)
None
None

Not sure what good it would do.

Manuals and Documents​

Manuals, documents, and other information for your product are included in this section.
Dell OptiPlex 5060 Tower Setup and specifications guide
Publish date: 28 AUG 2023
View PDF / View Page

CharlieDog said:

Even with the USB setting disabled, the last BIOS time is still 20-22 seconds with the hub plugged in.

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Which USB setting? The boot sequence, as antspants mentioned above, or the one under System Information | USB Configuration |
Enable USB Boot Support?

As was noted, I wouldn't get too hung up on boot times, unless ypu are doing some sort of testing that requires frequent rebooting.

My primary desktop system takes somewhere around 60 seconds to boot. It's a good, fast machine once booted, it just takes a while to get there.

As an alternative, for those times where you don't absolutely need a complete reboot, you might want to experiment with sleep and hibernation. You should be able to get much faster startup times, especially with sleep.

You could also make sure that you have Windows fast startup enabled. I'm not a fan of fast startup myself, but it might be worth testing in your case.

pseymour said:

Which USB setting? The boot sequence, as antspants mentioned above, or the one under System Information | USB Configuration |
Enable USB Boot Support?

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I believe, any BIOS adjustment that might help ignore the attached HUB/Externals until post boot.

antspants said:

I believe, any BIOS adjustment that might help ignore the attached HUB/Externals until post boot.

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Huh?

pseymour said:

Huh?

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Yes.
The op wants to speed up boot and the apparent issue is the reading of the attached hub/externals that is causing the problem. When the hub is detached, the boot is faster. The op is wondering if there is a way for the PC to boot without detecting the hub (less unplugging it) It’s all in the first post young man

Yes I understood the original question, which is why I asked for clarification on which “USB setting” they changed. What I did not understand was your nonsensical reply
to what I said.

pseymour said:

Yes I understood the original question, which is why I asked for clarification on which “USB setting” they changed. What I did not understand was your nonsensical reply
to what I said.

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It was in English. Not to worry, carry on young fella.

On my Dell laptop (system 1), I replaced the optical drive with a 1 TB SATA SSD yesterday. Boot time is about 10 seconds slower. Prior, there was never a disk in the old optical drive, but now that there is an SSD, it likely powers on the SSD, which could by why the boot time is slightly slower. Don't have much use for a DVD drive, so now I have 1TB more storage in my laptop. The system boots from the original NVMe drive.

Thanks for all the replies. Just to clarify, after accessing the BIOS/UEFI, I went to Settings, then System Configuration, then USB Configuration, then unchecked the box that says Enable USB Boot Support. IIRC that worked with my 'old Dell desktop running W10, that computer would boot the same Last BIOS Time with or without the hub with the external hard drives attached. Unchecking that box on my new computer running W11 doesn't make any improvement in the boot times with the hub attached.

Regarding boot sequence, is there any way to verify what it is either in the BIOS/UEFI or third party software? TIA

CharlieDog said:

Regarding boot sequence, is there any way to verify what it is either in the BIOS/UEFI or third party software?

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Here is the BIOS setup pdf, you just need o find where it’s located in the BIOS?

BIOS manual “Table 19”
It doesn’t specifically say where in the BIOS it is but it shouldn’t be that hard to find.

On my system the BIOS "Fast Boot" setting boots up with minimal devices (mouse, keyboard), though yours doesn't explicitly say that, it might be worth a try. But I expect you have already tried that or have it on. Other than that I see no setting to do this.

PerpetualCycle said:

On my system the BIOS "Fast Boot" setting boots up with minimal devices (mouse, keyboard), though yours doesn't explicitly say that, it might be worth a try. But I expect you have already tried that or have it on. Other than that I see no setting to do this.

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The PDF is the vaguest BIOS manual I have ever seen.

antspants said:

The PDF is the vaguest BIOS manual I have ever seen.

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It's Dell. Asus is also not great.

CharlieDog said:

Regarding boot sequence, is there any way to verify what it is either in the BIOS/UEFI or third party software? TIA

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When you boot to the BIOS, you will find it in the “General” section called “Boot Sequence” but to be honest, it looks primitive.
There doesn’t seem to be a way to set a boot order, just a single drive boot option.
(I wouldn’t be changing anything)

As you will see here in this most professional video.

If setting the boot sequence in the Bios to the drive with the Windows boot loader as the first drive to access then I don't think there is anything you can do. If I'm remembering correctly the only time the Bios will search for other drives is if it can't find the boot loader on the first drive in the drive list.

Winuser said:

If I'm remembering correctly the only time the Bios will search for other drives is if it can't find the boot loader on the first drive in the drive list.

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This is true. I am not with it this week. I should delete my original suggestion.