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How do I get rid of boot choices in Windows 7?

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Summary: It can be confusing to remove multi-boot choices for operating systems that have been removed. We'll walk through the simple process for Windows 7.

I have downloaded the retail version of Windows 7 on my "C" drive, but I am unable to remove the boot choice which previously allowed me to either open the RC Windows 7 on another internal HD, or open the Windows Vista OS on my "C" drive. I did format the other HD, which I now use for backups only. The "Startup and Recovery" pop-up window referred to in your last newsletter, which I looked up, does not provide an option to carry out the "edit". Apart from the other details as per your illustration the "edit" option is simply not shown. Please enlighten me how to otherwise remove this 2nd boot choice.

Yep, things changed (back in Vista, I believe).

The good news is that it's still pretty easy to modify your boot choices.

You just need to drop to the Windows Command prompt - as administrator, of course.

Editing boot choices has become significantly more powerful, but has moved to a command-line tool.

Fire up a Windows Command Prompt, making sure to run it as administrator (right click on the shortcut and select "Run as administrator"):

Command Prompt, run as administrator

In the command prompt, run bcdedit /enum - here's the result from my Windows 7 machine:

bcdedit /enum

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=C:
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {8fe75379-c446-11de-9f1d-ab62aca77990}
displayorder            {current}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {8fe7537b-c446-11de-9f1d-ab62aca77990}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {8fe75379-c446-11de-9f1d-ab62aca77990}
nx                      OptIn

I've highlighted the identifier "{current}" - each Windows Boot Loader will have its own unique identifier, and that's what you'll use in the next step.

To simply delete one of the boot options, type bcdedit /delete {identifier}, where "identifier" is replaced with the identifier for the boot option you want removed.

For example, if I wanted to remove my current boot option (and in my case render my machine unbootable), I'd enter:

bcdedit /delete {current}

Since "{current}" is the identifier of my one and only boot choice.

And no, I didn't.

But that bringw up a very good point: as you can imagine, used improperly, bcdedit can indeed render your machine unbootable, which can only then be fixed by booting from the Windows 7 install or recovery disk and running repair tools.

And finally, if you're interested in all that bcdedit can do, enter bcdedit /? for a full list of options.

Use it with caution.

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Article C3915 - October 30, 2009

Recent Comments
4 Comments

I think a great many folks may do well by downloading EasyBCD from NeoSmart from here--> http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1 Having a familiar user interface may make the experiance a little less frightening than working from the command prompt.

Posted by: Ronald at November 3, 2009 10:07 AM

Yep, EasyBCD is what I use.

Posted by: Frank Golden at November 3, 2009 3:24 PM

One word: "Backup". In this case, a full-disk backup. Using an "outside-of-Windows" utility such as BootItNG (which is what I use).

That way, if you Goof Up and render your machine unbootable -- well, it's unbootable to WINDOWS, but it SHOULD still be bootable to BootItNG! -- you can restore your disk to its original state and can try out your fumblethumbs all over again. :)

Posted by: Glenn P. at November 6, 2009 1:08 PM

I just get "This entry cannot be deleted unless the /f switch is specified on the command line".

Access is denied.

Posted by: aaa at November 12, 2009 8:30 AM

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