BCDEDIT - How to Use

How to Use the BCDEDIT Command Line Tool

Published by limneos
22 Jan 2009

How to Use the BCDEDIT Command Line

Tool
Information
This will show you how to use BCDEDIT in the command prompt and avoid the
need of third party applications like EasyBCD.
Note
Bcdedit is a really powerful tool that Windows Vista and Windows 7 uses to
manage the boot loader entries.
BCDEDIT needs a boot manager to boot your system.

A boot manager is a file that contains necessary information that instruct the
system how to boot/start an operating system.

Windows 7 and Vista boot manager file is \bootmgr

Windows XP boot manager file is \ntldr

BCDEDIT can support other boot managers too, like grub for linux. You just have
to place the boot file on the root of the boot manager partition. e.g. \grldr and
you have a grub boot loader enabled.
Bcdedit edits a file called bcd , which is located in Windows 7's hidden partition
under \boot\bcd.
In Vista, its located under C:\boot\bcd.

Warning
You must be logged on in an administrator account to be able to do this
tutorial.

To Use bcdedit:
1. Open an elevated command prompt.
2. Type bcdedit and press enter.
NOTE: By typing just bcdedit you just list your boot entries.
A boot entry consists of 4 main elements:
1. Identifier
The identifier is how the system has named the boot entry.
2. Device
The device is the drive or virtual image that the system will use to boot the boot
entry.
3. Path
The path is the location on the device where the bootloader file is found.
4. Description
The description is the friendly name we give to our boot entry, e.g. "Windows 7"
You see next to the identifiers their UUIDs in {}. The UUID is the unique
codename that the system gives to each boot entry and cannot be changed.
The standard identifier UUIDs 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
right now.
Warning
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"
NOTE: This changes the title of the boot menu entry "{current}".
bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition=E:
NOTE: This tells bcd that Windows XP partition is drive E:
bcdedit /set {ntldr} path \ntldr
NOTE: This tells bcd that the ntldr file which is the winxp bootloader is on root
folder "\" (of drive e: as stated above)

bcdedit /displayorder {ntldr} /addfirst

NOTE: This places Windows XP as the first OS on the menu list.
bcdedit /default {ntldr}
NOTE: This places Windows XP as the default OS to boot first with.
bcdedit /displayorder {33342343-3424-2342342342-2344} /addlast
NOTE: 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 to play with.
bcdedit /copy {current} /d "New W7 boot entry I just copied!"
this will give you a line:
NOTE: The entry was successfully copied to {4c21825f-e04b-11dd-b76000195b61617a}. 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
NOTE: This adds the 2 CPU Core support during boot, like you do in msconfig.
bcdedit /deletevalue {4c21825f-e04b-11dd-b760-00195b61617a}
numproc
NOTE: This deletes the numproc parameter from entry {4c21825f....}
bcdedit /delete {4c21825f-e04b-11dd-b760-00195b61617a}
NOTE: This deletes the boot entry {4c21825f....} completely. In order to delete
an {ntldr} entry, you must use the /f switch to force deletion: bcdedit /delete
{ntldr} /f
You can always type just bcdedit to see your current settings.
What else can I do with BCDEDIT?
You can use BCDEDIT to alter any boot parameter , like you would in msconfig,
only more. BCDEDIT works from booting with installation dvd too, so it can be
handy for recovery purposes.
bcdedit /timeout 5
NOTE: This sets the wait-to-select-OS menu timeout at startup to 5 seconds .
You will notice that I didn't give a UUID above. If you omit the UUID, it applies
automatically to the relavant UUID. So: bcdedit /timeout 5 is identical
to bcdedit /set {bootmgr} timeout 5
Some more advanced examples:
bcdedit /set {current} detecthal yes
bcdedit /set {current} detecthal no
NOTE: The above commands sets the detecthal to yes or no for entry {current}
To create a new boot entry to load Windows XP from a partition on your disk:
NOTE: The example below uses F: as the Windows XP partition. Replace with
your xp drive letter.

bcdedit /create {ntldr} /d "Windows XP"

bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition=F:
bcdedit /set {ntldr} path \ntldr
bcdedit /displayorder {ntldr} /addlast
Note
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.