Changing Your Computer's Boot Configuration

As you've seen, the Startup And Recovery dialog box makes it easy to set basic startup options. To configure more advanced options and fine-tune the startup process, you can use the System Configuration utility (Msconfig.exe). Although you typically use this utility during troubleshooting, you also can use the utility to dig down deep into startup processes and change the way startup works.

The System Configuration utility is available on the Administrative Tools menu, and you can also access it by clicking Start, typing msconfig.exe in the Search box, and then pressing Enter. This utility has the following tabs:

• General Allows you to configure normal startup, diagnostic startup, or selective startup
• Boot Allows you to control the way to enable various Safe Boot modes and the way that individual startup-related processes work
• Services Allows you to enable or disable system services
• Startup Allows you to enable or disable startup processes
• Tools Allows you to access various system management tools

You should know several important things about using the System Configuration utility:

• If you make changes on the Boot, Services, or Startup tabs, the Selective Startup option and related suboptions are automatically selected on the General tab.
• You should usually remove your selective or diagnostic options when you are finished troubleshooting your computer's problem. After you restart the computer and resolve any problems, access the System Configuration utility again, restore the original settings, and then click OK.
• You must specifically elect to make changes permanent. Otherwise, your changes will be lost when you go back to normal startup.