Windows 7 How to remove multiple OS from Boot Manager during startup?

[ESLGB]

Hi,
I have upgraded to Windows 7 and now when I start the PC I have to chose which OS to start with. However when I enter the msconfig file in the Boot tab only the windows7 is listed! Any idea how I avoid the need to chose during PC startup which OS to run?

Thanks

 

[Saltgrass]

I would say if Msconfig doesn't see the entries then they are not in the BCD store for Win 7. Since it is hard to see what might be going on, could you attach a snipping tool picture of your Disk Management Window?

 

[ESLGB]

Thanks for answering - by saying disk management window, do you mean the one that showing the partitions (insdie the computer management tool)?

 

[Saltgrass]

Yes, type diskmgmt.msc in the Start Menu Search box and hit enter. Use the Snipping to take a screen shot and attach with the paperclip.

There is a lot of information there and we can see what is what.

 

[ESLGB]

Hope it is what you asked for .....

 

[Saltgrass]

Wel, the system and boot drive, are C:. I assume that is your Win 7 install.

I don't know why both OSes would not show unless something got out of order somehow. Try opening an administrative command prompt window and type BCDedit. This will show the BCD store and should contain entries for all the boot menu entries. If you want to attach a picture of that it might help.

You haven't been messing with Linux or Grub at some point?

 

[ESLGB]

No, I have not played with Linux of Grub. I did try to setup XP again at one point and it setup didn't finish. What I have left now is with a XP setup option (as default) and windows 7.
The BCDedit commant returns: "The Boot configuration data store could not be opened".
If I use Easy BCD and chose Tools>Edit legacy Entries - I get a Boot.ini file that shows:

;
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=c:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT
[operating systems]
c:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP Setup"

I can't touch it as it is a read only, and can't find it as well on the hard drive. The last line is what appears as windows starts together with Windows 7 option.

 

[Saltgrass]

The reason you can't get a bcdedit readout is because you did not use an administrative command prompt.

From the Start Menu, type CMD in the search box and hit CTRL+Shift Enter.

Now type bcdedit again

You said you removed XP or stopped trying to install, so after we check the bcd store we can delete the boot.ini and anything else that might be there, like ntdetect and ntldr. I am assuming you do not want to complete the XP install...

At least this explains why XP doesn't show up in msconfig...

 

[ESLGB]

Thanks,
Attached is the reado fo the BCDEdit after following your guide.
Yes - The XP install is not needed as now I have upgraded to Win7 and can be removed. Will wait your guidance - manythanks on this

 

[Saltgrass]

I do not know where the additional boot menu is coming from unless it is involved with the aborted XP install and stuck in the Master Boot Record. So what I would recommend right now is to let the XP install finish, or let it restart and then cancel it.

You might try doing a startup repair of Win 7, but it may not find anything.

You might try booting to the Install DVD or Repair CD and going to the repair section and command prompt and typing the following.

Or, try renaming the Boot.ini file to see what happens. You may have to unmark it as read only, or take ownership of it. You could try moving it out of the folder.

But I would think the first option would be the best. If you let it complete, it should get rid of the forced restart.

 

[rajgrghk]

Here’s how you can delete the unnecessary boot loader entries and straight boot into your Windows 7

First, you need to boot into Windows 7.

Open up the command prompt and type “bcdedit”. Make sure you are running the command line as Administrator.



Here is an example, everybody might have different results when you type the command. Basically it lists out all the OS that has registered to the Windows Boot Manager. For instance, as you can see, there is an entry called “Windows Legacy OS Loader”, the identifier of which contains the value “{ntldr}”. From this, I can tell the Windows Legacy OS Loader used to load Windows XP on this system, since the value of ntldr is default for winxp bootloader.

Now type bcdedit /delete {ntldr} /f



After you see the message “The operation completed successfully”, restart your computer. And you will not see this boot option anymore during the next startup.

“bcdedit” is a powerful command line utility that manages your Windows boot loader. You can not only clean out unnecessary boot entries, but also can create new boot entries manually as well. For more information about how to use the tool, simply type bcdedit /? for help. But be more careful about what you will be doing there, as any deletion operation will be extremely difficult to recover.