Windows Server 2003 in a Nutshell

Views, modifies, and rebuilds the boot menu ( boot.ini ) file using information obtained by scanning your hard drives for installations of Windows 2003/XP/2000/NT.

Syntax

bootcfg bootcfg / option [/s Computer [/u Domain \ User /p Password ]] [/id OSEntryLineNum ]

Options

Since bootcfg has multiple command options, each with its own syntax, these options are treated separately in entries following this one. Here's a quick summary of the command options available:

addsw

Adds load options for a specified OS entry

copy

Copies an existing OS entry

dbg1394

Configures IEEE 1394 port debugging for a specified OS entry

debug

Modifies the debug settings for a specified OS entry

default

Designates an OS entry as the default

delete

Deletes an OS entry

ems

Lets the user configure redirection of the Emergency Management Services (EMS) console to a remote machine

query

Displays the boot loader and operating systems sections of boot.ini

raw

Adds a specified string to a boot entry in the operating systems section of boot.ini

rmsw

Removes load options for a specified OS entry

timeout

Modifies the time-out value for the boot loader menu

Note that the following switches can be used with most of the bootcfg command options and are therefore not included in the syntax for the entries following this one:

/s Computer

Specifies the name or IP address of a remote computer whose boot.ini file you wish to manage (if switch is absent, then defaults to local computer). This switch is available with all preceding command options and is therefore omitted from the entries following this one.

/u Domain\User /p Password

Specifies credentials for running the command (defaults to logged-on user). This switch is available with all preceding command options and is therefore omitted from the entries following this one.

/id OSEntryLineNum

Specifies a line number in the operating systems section of boot.ini in order to specify additional load options for the OS entry (first line after operating systems section header is line 1). This switch is available with all preceding command options except query and timeout .

Examples

To display the settings in the boot.ini file, use bootcfg with no options (same as using bootcfg /query ):

bootcfg Boot Loader Settings -------------------- timeout:30 default:multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS Boot Entries ------------ Boot entry ID: 1 OS Friendly Name: WS2003, Enterprise Path: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS OS Load Options: /fastdetect

Note that this isn't the actual content of the boot.ini file, which in this example looks like this:

[boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS operating systems multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="WS2003, Enterprise" /fastdetect

To perform other tasks using bootcfg , see the following entries.

Notes

• bootcfg is also available from the Recovery Console.

• You can also configure certain boot menu options (default OS, timeout) from the GUI or edit boot.ini directly:

  Control Panel System Advanced Startup and Recovery Settings select default OS modify timeout click Edit to directly edit boot.ini

See Also

Recovery Console