How to install OS on a Thinkpad X23 with no Ultrabay? \ VOGONS

How to install OS on a Thinkpad X23 with no Ultrabay?

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First post, by harddrivespin

Posted on 2025-12-06, 01:42

harddrivespin Offline

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Hi,

I bought a Thinkpad X23 and the BIOS (from June 2003) seems to have no support for USB boot as it does not boot off USB 2.0 sticks.

I know there is an optical drive in the Ultrabay, but how do I install an OS without the Ultrabay? Is a USB optical drive bootable on an X23? It is in the right era, I think, since I installed operating systems all the time on an HP laptop from 2005 with a USB optical drive, but I don't own an external drive so I've never tried. There isn't much user discussion online about the X23.

Reply 1 of 5, by dr_st

Posted on 2025-12-06, 09:07

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According to the ThinkWiki Supported Boot Devices page, the X2x can boot from USB CDs. They may even be able to boot from USB HDDs, according to one footnote, but only if boot from the internal HDD is disabled in the BIOS.

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Reply 2 of 5, by harddrivespin

Posted on 2025-12-06, 22:37

harddrivespin Offline

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Does the optical drive need to be USB 1.1 in order to boot? I've heard that the old bios is very picky about USB 1.1 vs. 2.0 and the compatibility that one normally finds on the OS level isn't present in the bios.

I'm also considering CF card instead of installing from CD, which is probably a good idea in the long run regardless.

Reply 3 of 5, by Takino-42

Posted on 2025-12-18, 11:38

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USB 2.0 should work I guess, my USB 2.0 pen drives worked on t21 just fine (under Windows). I'll see later if my USB DVD drive will officially work

Reply 4 of 5, by DaveDDS

Posted on 2025-12-18, 11:57

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I've run into a few older systems with limited BIOS USB support - basically they don't implement knowledge of "flash file systems", but provide only USB<>Block device translation.

I keep a couple USB-CD drives and USB-Floppy drives in order to be abke to boot/install on those systems. I've also got a couple USB<>IDE and USB<>Sata cables which sometimes work as well.

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Reply 5 of 5, by wierd_w

Posted on 2025-12-18, 13:37

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If you have floppy, plopboot should be able to chainload boot anything with a usb port.

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