When I installed Vista Beta 2 on my MacBook, I had to do system recover to fix the installation. After the system got recovered, I have two entries in the boot screen. To fix this problem in Windows XP, just edit the boot.ini file in C: . However, I couldn’t find boot.ini in Vista. I found that now instead of editing boot.ini, you need to use bcdedit.exe to edit the boot configuration.
To use bcdedit, first bring up Command Prompt windows using an administrator credential. If you don’t know how to do this, please refer to step 1 ~ 3 in this post. Type in bcdedit to see a list of boot manager and boot loaders.
c:>bcdedit
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=DeviceHarddiskVolume1
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {f5346d3d-0236-11db-b7af-806e6f6e6963}
displayorder {50c73d4f-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216}
{current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 5
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {50c73d4f-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216}
device partition=DeviceHarddiskVolume1
path Windowssystem32winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice partition=DeviceHarddiskVolume1
systemroot Windows
resumeobject {50c73d50-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216}
nx OptIn
detecthal Yes
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path Windowssystem32winload.exe
description Windows (TM) Vista Ultimate (recovered)
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot Windows
resumeobject {f5346d3d-0236-11db-b7af-806e6f6e6963}
From the list, we can see that the boot loader named Microsoft Windows is the one that’s not needed. The identifier for this boot loader is {50c73d4f-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216}. We can use this info to delete it.
c:>bcdedit /delete {50c73d4f-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216}
The operation completed successfully.
c:>bcdedit
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=DeviceHarddiskVolume1
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {f5346d3d-0236-11db-b7af-806e6f6e6963}
displayorder {current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 5
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path Windowssystem32winload.exe
description Windows (TM) Vista Ultimate (recovered)
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot Windows
resumeobject {f5346d3d-0236-11db-b7af-806e6f6e6963}
We can see that the boot loader is now gone. There is one more change that I’d like to do. Look at the one and only boot loader, the description is Windows (TM) Vista Ultimate (recovered). I wanted to change it to just Windows (TM) Vista Ultimate. Here is what I did to change the description.
c:>bcdedit /set {current} description "Windows (TM) Vista Ultimate"
The operation completed successfully.
c:>bcdedit
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=DeviceHarddiskVolume1
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {f5346d3d-0236-11db-b7af-806e6f6e6963}
displayorder {current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 5
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path Windowssystem32winload.exe
description Windows (TM) Vista Ultimate
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot Windows
resumeobject {f5346d3d-0236-11db-b7af-806e6f6e6963}
Note that instead of using a long identifier, you can use just {current} to modify this boot loader. After the changes, you won’t see the boot screen again since there is only one boot loader.
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I’ve tried BCDEDIT but get “The boot configuration data store could not be opened. Access is denied”. I’m running as administrator, UAC is off and I’m the owner of all of drive c: – any ideas?
Mike,
Did you use an elevated command prompt? You need to use it even you are an administrator. If you already use an elevated command prompt, try to turn UAC on and do it again.
Hi, can someone explain how I can move my Boot Manager to C: where my boot loader is located, here’s what it show when I give the bcdedit command
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit
Windows Boot Manager
——————–
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=E:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {40cc8835-b57b-11db-bd34-dba19cc8aa88}
displayorder {current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30
Windows Boot Loader
——————-
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows (TM) Vista Ultimate
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {5df83c84-e390-11db-a8a6-806e6f6e6963}
C:\Windows\system32>
Many thanks on this article (as also the one on running the elevated command prompt). I was going crazy trying to figure out how to edit my boot.ini file to remove a redundant partition in the boot up prompt
Joe,
If you have a dual boot machine, it’s normal that your Windows Boot Manager is on a drive other than C:. Why do you want to change it? Did you experience some problems?
I would also like to know how to change the bootmgr drive. I had installed Vista as a short-term test on a smaller drive and then upgraded my drive, but left the smaller one on for more file storage. Now it’s stuck on my D: drive and I’d like to delete Vista and everything else on that drive so that I can use it for storage.
For those who want to restore XP’s boot loader, put the Vista installation DVD in the drive and use the following command.
e:\boot\bootsect /nt52 ALL
Replace the drive letter e with the actual drive letter.
i got now xp and vista on my computer but if you can you chooice vista or earlier version of windows my qoustion is can change earlier version of windows change in windows xp sp2
I ran the command in XP command line and it reported success, but on reboot the 2nd (unwanted) Vista was still listed by the Boot Manager.
So I tried to do the same command in Vista command line, and it said “Access Denied”. Now, to figure out how to log on as Admin on Vista ….
Girderman,
Please see comment #2 about elevated command prompt.
I have had all sorts of problems with Windows Vista and in grinded my Dell Laptop to a stand still. I have since removed it reinstalled window XP and am now happy again.
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Hey guys i have jus installe vista 64 bit os in C drv after installing Xp 32 bit in D drv but vista is not showing me boot menu plzz help abt this
Desi1990,
Type the following in an elevated command prompt.
bcdedit /enum all | find "{ntldr}"Did this generate any output?
hey in havin real trouble i installed XP then installed Vista on D: the time out in boot.ini is 30 so i dont get why it doesnt stop and let me choose XP it shows it but races pact before you can react what can i do
If you have problems with the boot manager, you can try to use VistaBootPro.
http://www.vistabootpro.org/
Thanks! I have a dual boot setup with Windows 7 Ultimate and Windows Server 2008 R2 (both on a RAID 5 volume). I had to make my Windows 7 Partition Active to install the SP1 update, which caused a crash at boot. After running the repair disk, recovering, and succesfully installing the SP1 update, I too had :
“Windows Server 2008 R2 (RECOVERED)”
&
“Windows 7 Ultimate (RECOVERED)”
This was very unsightly at boot and was driving me crazy. Thanks for the easy fix! 🙂