Windows 7 default in BIOS after 30 sec when i boot PC

[eurosport360]

Hello to all
First off, Windows 7 is very cool; I might use it more than vista now that I got internet for it, but that will have to wait for a month or two. My first question is: when I boot up my comp, and I have to pick either vista or W7 (I have W7 on another partition), I usually leave the room while my comp is booting, so after 30 seconds the BIOS picks Windows 7 as the default OS because its first. I would really like to boot up my pc while doing something else, and I would love for the BIOS to pick Vista after 30 seconds instead of W7 because I use Vista for games and such. Is there some way of doing that or do I have to sit around throughout the start up and manually pick Vista?

My second question seems a little picky or over the edge, but when I boot up my comp and have to pick an OS, it prints "Windows 7" while underneath it it prints out "Microsoft Windows Vista". Is there some way to add 'Microsoft' in front of Windows 7 when Im picking in the BIOS? It doesn't look as good without the Microsoft.

Thanks

 

[eurosport360]

sorry, just found tutorial on how to change default OS, can anyone answer second question?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello eurosport360.


You can change the default OS in msconfig; you may have some luck with the second question using EasyBCD, I haven't tried it myself.

Please post back with the outcome, as I'm interested if you can.












Later :shock: Ted

 

[limneos]

or to do it the manual way:

Open CMD with administrator rights

type :

bcdedit {enter}

Find your Windows 7 Installation, it should look something like:

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {4c218259-e04b-11dd-b760-00195b61617a}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7 Beta 32bit
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {4c218259-e04b-11dd-b760-00195b61617a}nx                      OptIn

Next to identifier above, you'll find your Windows 7 UUID. So now type:
note: change my UUID in {} BELOW with yours.

bcdedit /set {4c218259-e04b-11dd-b760-00195b61617a} description "Microsoft Windows 7"

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Thanks limneos; I'm going to give this a go myself.


















Later Ted

 

[eurosport360]

Thank you so much bare foot kid, very easy to do with that app


btw limneos, your method works fine too, I think I remember doing that once before, but I didn't know this program^^ was so easy to mess around with stuff, thanks anyways.

 

[garysgold]

Thanks limneos; I'm going to give this a go myself

Me too. Thanks limneos.

Gary

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello eurosport360.


I'm pleased you've found a solution that worked for you. EasyBCD is a piece of cake.

Thanks limneos!














Later Ted

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hey limneos; you know you're making me want to learn bcdedit with all your tips about it.

I've been able to change the Windows 7 boot entry but I've tried twice to change the Vista entry and both times I get "the operation completed successfully" and nothing changes at the boot menu. See pics below.

Thank you for your time.

...


Later Ted

 

[SIW2]

Hi Ted,

try this:

bcdedit /set {current} description "Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit"

Hope it helps

SIW2

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

try this:

bcdedit /set {current} description "Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit"

Hope it helps

SIW2

Hello SIW2, cool, that did it! Thanks! (yes, that was the "identifier")




Later Ted

 

[limneos]

Glad you had it sorted out, Barefootkit.

Bcdedit is really powerful, it's only problem is that it cannot boot via the bootsector written on the disk or partition, it needs a boot loader file to do that, unlike GRUB or others.

Bcdedit edits a file called bcd , which is currently located in the hidden partition under \boot\bcd.

By typing just bcdedit to list you entries, you see next to the idenfiers their UUIDs in {}.

The standard identifiers are explained below:

{bootmgr} = the boot manager
{current} = the OS you selected to boot at startup.
{default} = the default OS selected to boot the PC.
{ntldr} = Windows Legacy OS Loader (for windows xp)

there are others like {memdiag} or {ramdisk} but they can't be of much use.


IMPORTANT: make a backup of your bcd file first. To do that, type:

bcdedit /export C:\SAVEDBCD

This will create a file c:\savebcd which is your boot entry backup.
If you mess up, you can always undo changes by:

bcdedit /import c:\savedbcd


Now to see how we can control the above entries, here are some examples:

bcdedit /set {current} description "My edited Windows Boot Entry"
This changes the title of the boot menu entry {current}

bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition=E:
This tells bcd that windows xp partition is on drive E:

bcdedit /set {ntldr} path \ntldr
this tells bcd that the ntldr file which is the winxp bootloader is on root folder \ (of drive e: )

bcdedit /displayorder {ntldr} /addfirst
this places winxp as the first (default) OS on the menu list.

bcdedit /displayorder {33342343-3424-2342342342-2344} /addlast
This tells bcd that the boot entry with UUID 3334... should be the last entry on the menu.

You can copy your existing VISTA or W7 boot entry to another identical. Then you can change settings on the new entry to experiment. You will always have the first entry available, so it's safe.

bcdedit /copy {current} /d "New boot entry I just copied!"
this will give you a line:
The entry was successfully copied to {4c21825f-e04b-11dd-b760-00195b61617a}.

"/d" means "new description to give:"...

The {4c21825f-e04b-11dd-b760-00195b61617a} is the UUID of the new entry that the system just created. Yours will be different than mine! This is its identifier and you should use this to address that entry. Example:

bcdedit /set {4c21825f-e04b-11dd-b760-00195b61617a} numpoc 2
This adds the 2 CPU Core support during boot, like you do in msconfig.

bcdedit /deletevalue {4c21825f-e04b-11dd-b760-00195b61617a} numproc
This deletes the numproc parameter from entry {4c21825f....}

You can always type just bcdedit to see your current settings.

Now that we've learnt a few things, let's see how we could move the BOOT LOADER from the hidden partition to drive C: , and delete the hidden partition completely!!!

1. Assign a drive letter to your hidden partition, e.g. E:

2. Copy all of its contents to the root of C: (including hidden files! -> Folder options , Show hidden files and folders, and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files". We choose copy "here" and not "move" , for security reasons. If it works, we can then delete them.

3. Tell the {bootmgr} entry that C: is the new partition, instead of the hidden one on which it looks right now.
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device partition=C:

4. That's it. If you copied the boot files from your hidden partition, which you unhide first, to C: (including the \bootmgr file), you should boot now having C: as you only needed drive to boot. You can then delete the extra 200MB partition completely.

Final note: BCDEDIT works from installation boot dvd too. If you mess up with a setting and you cannot boot, just boot from DVD and enter Repair Computer, then go to command prompt and there you go. You can play again with bcdedit to restore your system back.


edit: You gave me the idea and I just posted this as a turotial.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2676-bcdedit-how-use.html?ltr=B

 

[hethoofd]

I've seen too much bcdedit since I screwed up my MBR twice

 

[garysgold]

Thanks limneos. The tutorial looks nice. Glad to know more about this.

Gary

 

[L1QU1D]

The 7BCD is is too similar to the Vista one.. MS should try a gui driven BCD next time.. lol

 

[limneos]

   Information

The new bcdedit version 6.1 coming with W7, has one major different with the one in Vista , version 6.0:

It supports mounting VHD image files to boot from.
So, if you want this feature in Vista too, all u have to do is copy the bcdedit.exe from W7 to Vista's system32.

More info:
Take Ownership of file - Vista Tutorials

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/625-boot-vhd-using-windows-7-a.html?highlight=mount

 

[Dzomlija]

The 7BCD is is too similar to the Vista one.. MS should try a gui driven BCD next time.. lol

What? WHY?? There's a reason general users never knew about FDISK or DISKPART, etc. This is why Microsoft abandoned the text-based BOOT.INI from Windows 2000 and Windows XP - it was too easy for normal users to screw things up.

Now you want to give them a GUI to one of the most powerfull boot configurations tools ever included in the box with Windows???

BCDEDIT by its very nature is designed for system admins and power users, In honesty, slapping a GUI on the thing will likely slow them down!

 

[zone23]

Hello to all
First off, Windows 7 is very cool; I might use it more than vista now that I got internet for it, but that will have to wait for a month or two. My first question is: when I boot up my comp, and I have to pick either vista or W7 (I have W7 on another partition), I usually leave the room while my comp is booting, so after 30 seconds the BIOS picks Windows 7 as the default OS because its first. I would really like to boot up my pc while doing something else, and I would love for the BIOS to pick Vista after 30 seconds instead of W7 because I use Vista for games and such. Is there some way of doing that or do I have to sit around throughout the start up and manually pick Vista?

My second question seems a little picky or over the edge, but when I boot up my comp and have to pick an OS, it prints "Windows 7" while underneath it it prints out "Microsoft Windows Vista". Is there some way to add 'Microsoft' in front of Windows 7 when Im picking in the BIOS? It doesn't look as good without the Microsoft.

Thanks

You know what I'm the same way I would also add the"Microsoft" in the front so they matched. Glad to read I'm not the only one.

 

[SIW2]

Hi,

That can be done easily with bcdedit - if you are not comfortable with that, download Easybcd free from here

Download EasyBCD 1.7.2 - NeoSmart Technologies



Click Change Settings, select the name to change in the drop-downflap, Cilck on Name and type the name you want, Click Save Settings.

Hope it helps

SIW2

 

[elixir]

great tutorial limneos

i'm gonna try this one.

thanks