GUI Boot - Enable or Disable in Windows

How to Enable or Disable "GUI Boot" in Windows​

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the graphical animation GUI Boot while booting or resuming from hibernation into Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8.

You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.

   Note

• If "No GUI Boot" in Vista, you will have the Aurora boot screen instead of the green animated loading bar.
• If "No GUI Boot" in Windows 7, you will have a blank black boot screen instead of the animated dots turning into a Windows flag.
• If "No GUI Boot" in Windows 8, you will only have the blue window in the boot screen instead of also with the animated spining circle of dots.

EXAMPLE: Default "GUI Boot" Screens in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8

OPTION ONE

Enable or Disable "GUI Boot" in msconfig (System Configuration)

1. Press Windows+R keys to open the Run dialog, type msconfig, and click/tap on OK.

2. Click/tap on the Boot tab, select the OS (ex: Windows 7) that you want to set this for at it's startup, and go to step 3 or 4 below. (see screenshot below)

3. To Enable GUI Boot for the Selected Windows
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) Uncheck the No GUI Boot box, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below step 2)
4. To Disable GUI Boot for the Selected Windows
A) Check the No GUI Boot box, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below step 2)
5. If you have another Windows installed (ex: Windows 8) in a multiboot setup that you would like to set this for as well, then repeat step 3 or 4 above for it as well and go to step 6 afterwards.

6. Check the Make all boot settings permanent box, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below step 2)

7. Click/tap on Yes. (see screenshot below)

8. Click/tap on Restart to apply. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Be sure to save and close anything you have open first.

OPTION TWO

Enable or Disable "GUI Boot" in a Command Prompt

1. Open an elevated command prompt, or a command prompt at boot.

2. In the command prompt, type bcdedit and press Enter. Under the Windows Boot Loader sections, make note of the identifier value (ex: {current}) for the OS description (ex: Windows 7) that you want to use in step 4 or 5 below.

3. Do step 4 or 5 below for what you would like to do.

4. To Enable GUI Boot for the Selected Windows
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) In the command prompt, type the command below and press Enter.
NOTE: Substitute identifier in the command below with the actual value or long GUID number to the right of identifer in the command used from step 2.
bcdedit /set {identifier} quietboot Yes

For example: If I wanted to set this for Windows 7 (description) with it's "identifier" showing as {current} from step 2, I would type this command below exactly and press Enter.

bcdedit /set {current} quietboot Yes
B) Go to step 6 below.
5. To Disable GUI Boot for the Selected Windows
A) In the command prompt, type the command below and press Enter.
NOTE: Substitute identifier in the command below with the actual value or long GUID number to the right of identifer in the command used from step 2.
bcdedit /set {identifier} quietboot No

For example: If I wanted to set this for Windows 7 (description) with it's "identifier" showing as {current} from step 2, I would type this command below exactly and press Enter.

bcdedit /set {current} quietboot No
B) Go to step 6 below.
6. If you have another Windows installed (ex: Windows 8) in a multiboot setup that you would like to set this for as well, then repeat the steps above for it as well and go to step 7 afterwards.

7. Close the command prompt. If you like, you can restart the computer and startup the Windows this was applied to see the change.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Enable the Hidden Aurora Boot Screen in Vista
• How to Speed Up the Performance of Windows 7
• How to Change the Default Operating System to Start in Windows 7
• How to Choose a Default Operating System to Run at Startup in Windows 8
• How to Enable or Disable the New Windows 8 Startup Options Boot Menu

 

[Infinite]

Thanks for posting this on request.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome. Thank you for requesting it.

 

[JonathanV]

Thank you for the tutorial, but in OPTION ONE. You checked Make all boot settings permanent. What is this? You cannot restore them or you can restore them with rstrui.exe?

 

[Brink]

Hello Jonathan, and welcome to Seven Forums.

"Permanent" is a bit misleading. It's just a setting that needs to be checked to keep it set that way until you want to change it again using the steps in the tutorial. That's all.

 

[JonathanV]

Hello Jonathan, and welcome to Seven Forums.

"Permanent" is a bit misleading. It's just a setting that needs to be checked to keep it set that way until you want to change it again using the steps in the tutorial. That's all.

I'm also member of Microsoft Answers since March, 2012.

Will changing GUI boot speed up boot time?

 

[Brink]

Disabling GUI Boot can help reduce the amount of time it takes to startup Windows by the amount of time it takes to not play the graphical animation anymore.

 

[dx2]

Is there a way to set this in Windows 7 Setup somewhere (windows 7 setup modification, before Windows 7 is installed)

 

[Brink]

Hello dx2, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Sorry, but not that I'm aware of.

 

[dx2]

Ty, I've traced the msconfig "no gui boot" action and saw that a registry entry under in the BCD0000000 subkeys gets changed. I loaded the bcdtemplate file as temporary hive but could not find it in there. probably get's dynamically generated.

So using bcdedit after setup should solve this problem.

 

[Brink]

Ty, I've traced the msconfig "no gui boot" action and saw that a registry entry under in the BCD0000000 subkeys gets changed. I loaded the bcdtemplate file as temporary hive but could not find it in there. probably get's dynamically generated.

So using bcdedit after setup should solve this problem.

If you like, you could also create a .bat file to run it for you using {current} as the identifier.

 

[dx2]

ok

probably the best way to apply post setup tweaks instead of the install.wim registry.

 

[Brink]

It'd be the easiest way at least.

 

[najodleglejszy]

I was using the method #1 on my previous laptop (Lenovo Y550) with no problems at all. I've tried it on my Lenovo Z580 and something weird happened: after I checked "No GUI boot", some error popped out (unfortunately I can't remember what it was saying) and then all the checkboxes in msconfig window cleared themselves. and I wasn't able to check any of them.
after rebooting, Windows wouldn't start up, it was only displaying something about boot failure and was asking for a repair disc (if I remember correctly). I couldn't find mine anywhere, so the only solution was to wipe everything with One Key Recovery.

 

[Brink]

Hello Najodleglejszy, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Sounds like some sort of mistake may have been made or you may have had some pre existing issue since this shouldn't cause any boot issues with just having the graphical animation not load.

 

[najodleglejszy]

yeah, I was quite surprised when I saw what have happened next, what with me using it before on another laptop. and, for obvious reasons, I'm a bit afraid to try it again :S

 

[Brink]

I'd recommend to create another one key image backup first to be on the safe side in case you do have some issue that may be causing it.

 

[giuopli]

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1

Have you timed the results on your system? I used a stopwatch to time the boot from the end of the BIOS screen to appearance of logon screen. With regular boot, the animated logo appears for a few seconds. Without GUI boot there's no animated logo, but there's a black screen for the same amount of time.

With GUI boot or without GUI boot, from end of the BIOS screen to appearance of logon screen is 18 seconds. I see no time saving by disabling GUI boot, probably because the animated logo isn't actually delaying anything. I think the boot process is occurring while the animated logo displays.

I'd be interested to hear if other systems show different results. On my system at least, there's no difference with GUI boot or without GUI boot.

 

[Brink]

Hello Acornada,

It mostly depends on how fast one's system is for the difference, but I can't imagine it being much (seconds or less) regardless.

 

[giuopli]

On a decent system, I suspect there would be no difference because I don't think the animated logo delays the boot. I think the boot continues normally, while the animated logo appears at the same time as boot operations continue in the background.

BTW Brink, I've read many of your tutorials. Excellent stuff!!