How to Boot Raspberry Pi 4 from USB

If you want to start with a fresh install of Raspberry Pi OS, simply follow the instructions in our tutorial on how to set up Raspberry Pi or how to do a Raspberry Pi headless install and then skip ahead to step 6. The latest versions of Raspberry Pi OS (as of Aug 20 or later) have many of the necessary changes built-in.

Steps for Booting from USB device

1 Boot Using Raspberry Pi OS

Boot from a standard microSD card with the latest Raspberry Pi OS on it.

2 Update OS

Update your OS and firmware by executing:

apt update
apt full-upgrade
rpi-update

Now reboot the Raspberry Pi to make the updates effective.

3 Install the Latest Bootloader

Install the latest bootloader by executing:

 rpi-eeprom-update -d -a

Where -a automatically install bootloader and USB (VLI) EEPROM updates.
Where -d Use the default bootloader config.

Now again reboot the Raspberry Pi to make the changes effective.

Launch Raspberry Pi Configurator

Launch Raspberry Pi configurator by executing:

raspi-config

Go to system options boot order on SD-card boot failure.

Seems that the latest version has SB boot default on number 1 when SD boot failes.