Customizing Startup and Boot Configuration

Windows 7 provides the Startup And Recovery dialog box, the System Configuration utility, and the BCD Editor to help you modify the boot configuration and the startup process. The Startup And Recovery dialog box and the System Configuration utility are the easiest to use. Although a command-line professional may want to tune a computer with the BCD Editor, you can use the other tools to perform essentially the same tasks without all the fuss.

During startup of the operating system, you can press F8 or F12 to access the Advanced Boot Options menu and then use this menu to select one of several advanced startup modes. Although these advanced modes don't make permanent changes to your computer, you can use them to enable boot and logon when it otherwise isn't possible; then when you are logged on, you can make any necessary changes to repair your computer.

Fine-Tuning Startup and Recovery Settings

One of the easiest ways to control the way your computer starts is to configure startup options by using the Startup And Recovery dialog box. The related options set the default operating system, how long to display the list of available operating systems, and how long to display recovery options when needed. You can optimize these settings to speed up the startup process by reducing wait times while also ensuring that you can access advanced options, which may be necessary for troubleshooting and recovery.

You access and configure startup options by completing the following steps:

1. Click Start, type SystemPropertiesAdvanced in the Search box on the Start menu, and then press Enter to open the System Properties dialog box with the Advanced tab selected.
2. Under Startup And Recovery, click Settings to display the Startup And Recovery dialog box.
3. If your computer has multiple operating systems, use the Default Operating System list to specify the operating system that you want to start by default.
4. Specify the display interval for the operating system list by selecting the Time To Display List Of Operating Systems check box and setting the desired interval in seconds. To speed up the startup process, you might use a value of 5 seconds.
5. Specify the display interval for the recovery options list by selecting the Time To Display Recovery Options When Needed check box and setting the desired interval in seconds. Again, to speed up the startup process, you might use a value of 5 seconds.
6. Under System Failure, select Write An Event To The System Log if you want to record events related to system failure. If you want your computer to automatically restart after a failure, select Automatically Restart.
7. Save your settings by clicking OK twice.