Custom Startups Using the Boot Configuration Data (part 2) - Using BCDEDIT to Customize the Startup Options

Using BCDEDIT to Customize the Startup Options

The System Configuration Utility makes it easy to modify BCD store items, but it doesn’t give you access to the entire BCD store. For example, the Boot tab doesn’t list any legacy boot items on your system, and there are no options for renaming boot items, or changing the order in which the boot items are displayed in the Windows Boot Manager menu. For these tasks, and indeed for every possible BCD task, you need to use the BCDEDIT command-line tool.

Note that BCDEDIT is an Administrator-only tool, so you must run it under the Administrator account (not just any account in the Administrators group). The easiest way to do this is elevate your privileges when running the Command Prompt, as described in the following steps:

Table 1 summarizes the switches you can use with BCDEDIT.

To help you understand how BCDEDIT works, let’s examine the output that appears when you run BCDEDIT with the /enum switch:

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
Identifier:             {bootmgr}
Type:                   10100002
Device:                 partition=C:
Description:            Windows Boot Manager
Inherit options:        {globalsettings}
Boot debugger:          No
Default:                {current}
Display order:          {ntldr}
                        {current}
                        {a8ef3a39-a0a4-11da-bedf-97d9bf80e36c}
Tools display order:    {memdiag}
Timeout:                30

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
Identifier:             {ntldr}
Type:                   10300006
Device:                 partition=C:
Path:                   \ntldr
Description:            Earlier version of Windows
Boot debugger:          No

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
Identifier:             {current}
Type:                   10200003
Device:                 partition=C:
Path:                   \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Description:            Microsoft Windows Vista
Locale:                 en-US
Inherit options:        {bootloadersettings}
Boot debugger:          Yes
Windows device:         partition=D:
Windows root:           \Windows
Resume application:     {c105ff07-b93e-11da-82e5-ae629af91d6e}
No Execute policy:      OptIn
Kernel debugger:        No
EMS enabled in OS:      No

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
Identifier:             {a8ef3a39-a0a4-11da-bedf-97d9bf80e36c}
Type:                   10200003
Device:                 partition=G:
Path:                   \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Description:            Microsoft Windows Vista
Locale:                 en-US
Inherit options:        {bootloadersettings}
Boot debugger:          No
Windows device:         partition=G:
Windows root:           \Windows
Resume application:     {a8ef3a3a-a0a4-11da-bedf-97d9bf80e36c}
No Execute policy:      OptIn
No integrity checks:    Yes
Kernel debugger:        No
EMS enabled in OS:      No

					  

As you can see, this BCD store has four entries: one for Windows Boot Manager, one for a legacy Windows install (on partition C:), and two for Vista installs (on my text machine, partitions D: and G:). Notice that each entry has an Identifier setting, and these IDs are unique to each entry. All IDs are actually 32-digit globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) such as the one shown earlier for the second Windows Boot Loader item:

a8ef3a39-a0a4-11da-bedf-97d9bf80e36c

The other entries have GUIDs, as well, but by default BCDEDIT works with a collection of well-known identifiers, including the following (type bcdedit id /? to see the complete list):

If you want to see the full GUIDs for every entry, add the /v (verbose) switch:

bcdedit /enum /v

It would take dozens of pages to run through all the BCDEDIT switches, so I’ll just give you a few examples so you can get a taste of how this powerful utility operates.

Making a Backup Copy of the BCD Store

Before you do any work on the BCD store, you should make a backup copy. That way, if you make an error when you change something in the BCD, you can always restore the backup copy to get your system back to its original state.

You create a backup copy using the /export switch. For example, the following command backs up the BCD store to a file named bcd_backup in the root folder of drive C:

bcdedit /export c:\bcd_backup

If you need to restore the backup, use the /import switch, as in this example:

bcdedit /import c:\bcd_backup

Renaming an Entry

The names that Windows Boot Manager assigns to the boot applications leave a lot to be desired. For a legacy operating system entry, for example, the default Legacy (pre-Longhorn) Microsoft Windows Operating System name is overly long and not particularly descriptive. A simpler name such as Windows XP Pro or Windows 2000 would be much more useful. Similarly, all Vista installs get the same name: Microsoft Windows, which can be quite confusing. Names such as Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate would be much more understandable.

To rename an entry using BCDEDIT, use the following syntax:

bcdedit /set {id} description “name”

Here, replace id with the entry identifier (the GUID or the well-known identifier, if applicable) and replace name with the new name you want to use. For example, the following command replaces the current name of the legacy operating system entry (ntldr) with Windows XP Pro:

bcdedit /set {ntldr} description “Windows XP Pro”

Changing the Order of the Entries

If you’d prefer that the Boot Manager menu entries appear in a different order, you can use BCDEDIT’s /displayorder switch to change the order. In the simplest case, you might want to move an entry to either the beginning or the end of the menu. To send an entry to the beginning, include the /addfirst switch. Here’s an example:

bcdedit /displayorder {a8ef3a39-a0a4-11da-bedf-97d9bf80e36c} /addfirst

To send an entry to the end of the menu, include the /addlast switch instead, as in this example:

bcdedit /displayorder {current} /addfirst

To set the overall order, include each identifier in the order you want, separated by spaces:

bcdedit /displayorder {current} {a8ef3a39-a0a4-11da-bedf-97d9bf80e36c} {ntldr}