The first step in customizing boot options in operating systems is to add a new boot entry for an operating system. A boot entry is a set of options that define a load configuration for an operating system or bootable program.

You can have multiple boot entries for an operating system, each with a different set of boot parameters. Windows Installer creates a standard boot entry when you install an operating system, and you can create additional, customized boot entries for an operating system by editing the boot options.

You can add, delete, and change the options in the boot entry that Windows Installer created. However, it is prudent to keep the standard entry and, instead, add a separate entry that you customize.

To add a boot entry, copy an existing boot entry, and then modify the copy.

Using Bootcfg in operating systems prior to Windows Vista

You can use the Bootcfg /copy switch to copy a boot entry on any system, regardless of the type of firmware.

The following Bootcfg command copies the second boot entry to create a new entry. The /ID switch identifies the line number of the entry being copied and the /d (description) switch specifies a friendly name for the new entry, which must be in quotation marks.

bootcfg /copy /ID 2 /d "Microsoft Windows XP Professional - new"

If you have added boot entries that you are no longer using, be sure to delete them, especially on computers that store boot options in the finite EFI NVRAM resource. Use the Bootcfg /delete switch to delete unused entries.

If you have more than one boot entry for an operating system, be sure to select your preferred entry from the boot menu or set the preferred entry as the default boot entry. For instructions, see Changing the Default Boot Entry.

For complete instructions for using Bootcfg, see Help and Support Services. For examples, see Using Boot Parameters.

Editing the Boot.ini File in operating systems prior to Windows Vista

To add a boot entry to a Boot.ini file, copy and paste an existing boot entry. Then, change the friendly name of the entry so you can easily distinguish it in the file and on the boot menu. The friendly name is the quoted string in the boot entry.

For example, in the following sample Boot.ini file, the original entry for Windows XP was duplicated, and then the friendly name of the duplicate entry was changed. The newly created entry appears in bold text.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect 
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect 
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional - new" /fastdetect

Adding a new boot entry in Windows Vista and Later

In Windows Vista and later versions of Windows, you use BCDEdit to modify your boot options. To add a new boot entry, open a Command Prompt window with elevated privileges (right click Command Prompt and click Run as administrator from the shortcut menu).

Use BCDEdit with the /copy option to copy an existing boot entry. For example, in the following command, BCDEdit copies the Microsoft Windows boot entry that was last used to boot Windows, identified as {current}, and creates a new boot entry. The /d description option specifies DebugEntry as the name of the new boot entry.

bcdedit /copy {current} /d "DebugEntry"

If the command succeeds, BCDEdit displays a message similar to the following:

The entry was successfully copied to {49916baf-0e08-11db-9af4-000bdbd316a0}.

When you copy a boot loader entry that appears on the boot menu, the copy is automatically added as the last item on the boot menu.

The GUID in the preceding message (which appears between braces ({})) is the identifier of the new boot entry. You use the identifier to represent the entry in all subsequent BCDEdit commands.

If the command fails, be sure that you are running in a Command Prompt window with administrator privileges and that all of the command parameters are spelled correctly, including the braces around {current}.

You can also add a boot entry using the /create option. For example, the following creates a new operating system boot entry called "My Windows Vista":

bcdedit /create /d "My Windows Vista" /application osloader

When you use the /create option, the new boot loader entries are not added to the boot menu automatically. You must add the new boot entry to the boot menu by using the /displayorder option. You can place the boot loader entries in any order.

For information about the /create command parameters, type bcdedit /? /create in a Command Prompt window.

Editing the boot menu in Windows Vista and Later

In Windows Vista and later versions of Windows, new boot loader entries are not added to the boot menu automatically. You can place the boot loader entries in any order.

You can use the /displayorder option to set the order in which the boot manager displays the boot entries on a multi-boot menu. The command has the following syntax:

bcdedit /displayorder {ID} {ID} ...

The ID is the GUID of the boot entry or a reserved identifier, such as {current}). Separate each identifier with a space. Be sure to include the braces ({}).

For example, to add the DebugEntry boot entry to the boot menu after the {current} entry, use the following command:

bcdedit /displayorder {current} {49916baf-0e08-11db-9af4-000bdbd316a0}

You can also use the options /addlast, /addfirst, and /remove to order and remove items from the menu. For example, the following command adds the DebugEntry boot entry as the last item on the menu:

bcdedit /displayorder {49916baf-0e08-11db-9af4-000bdbd316a0} /addlast 

To verify that the display order is correct, use the following command:

bcdedit

When you type bcdedit without additional parameters, BCDEdit displays the boot manager entry and the boot loader entries in the order that they will appear in the menu.

The Windows Boot Manager entry also includes the boot menu display order, as the following example shows.

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=C:
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
displayorder            {current}
                        {18b123cd-2bf6-11db-bfae-00e018e2b8db}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Microsoft Windows Vista
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {d7094401-2641-11db-baba-00e018e2b8db}
nx                      OptIn

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {18b123cd-2bf6-11db-bfae-00e018e2b8db}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Debugger Boot
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {d7094401-2641-11db-baba-00e018e2b8db}
nx                      OptIn
debug                   Yes