As you know, quite often, in the event of all kinds of failures at the start of Windows operating systems, it may be necessary to use a special start menu, in which you select the desired action to restore the OS’s performance or additional operations that allow you to fine tune it. But not all users have a clear idea of how to use the Windows 7 boot menu correctly, for which one or another item is used, how to configure a list of displayed actions or troubleshoot if the menu itself is unavailable at system startup. Read about all this and much more in the material presented below.
Windows 7 operating system boot menu: what is it and what is it used for?
To begin with, this menu is mostly used precisely in those situations when the operating system installed on the computer as the main one for some reason crashes, loads incorrectly or does not start at all. Using this toolkit allows you to bring the system to life, and, as already understood, you do not need to use start from removable media with a distribution kit or recovery environment, since the operating system can fix most errors and malfunctions by its own means. And despite the fact that the contents of the main list and the menu of additional boot options for Windows 7 is standard for all versions of this OS (the same by default), they can be rebuilt based on your own needs and considerations: change some items, add your own, disable unused tools, etc. e. How to do this or even restore the functionality of the toolkit itself, if it fails, we will consider a little later, but for now we will focus on how to call the described menu, what options and in what situations x can be used.
How to enter the boot menu of Windows 7?
Ever since the very first modifications of Windows were released, which made it possible to take “snapshots” of the OS state at a certain point in time and restore system components and user data with their help, they just provided for the use of special tools through which one could achieve the desired result without reinstalling the entire system. This tool is still presented in the form in which it was originally developed (except for the background color and access method in the eighth and tenth modifications). But how to call up the Windows 7 boot menu? In the seventh modification and versions below, the F8 key is used for this at the moment when the start screen with brief characteristics of the main equipment (CPU and RAM) disappears, but the logo indicating the start of the operating system has not yet appeared. At the same time, a single press of a key almost never gives the desired result, so you have to press it several times.
Key boot menu items
So, you are in the Windows 7 boot menu. What is interesting here? First of all, you should pay attention to the fact that it is divided into several main information blocks. The first is a troubleshooting item, the use of which launches a recovery environment (RE) and allows you to select the desired action. But sometimes this item may not be. You can restore it, but more on that later. This is followed by a block corresponding to the launch of Safe Mode in several variants. The list is completed by a block of additional operations, most of which users use only the start point of the last workable configuration (recovery point), not paying attention to other tools. And their use may be required quite often.
What should be used and in what cases?
Now briefly go through all three blocks that are present in the Windows 7 boot menu. The troubleshooting item is used if the safe start does not work correctly or does not start at all.
When you click on this item, you have the opportunity to apply the following operations:
- restore startup, including from a backup (not to be confused with a rollback point);
- Performing a standard rollback from a manually selected recovery point
- check of random access memory by means of system;
- use of diagnostic tools of the SFC system;
- performing a disk check;
- editing the registry, etc.
Safe start allows you to boot the system with restrictions on automatically launched services and drivers, which allows you to find failed software components and restore their functionality. Command line support is designed for situations where you know exactly which command performs an action, or when other options for a safe start do not work. Starting with network drivers is necessary if you may need access to the Internet or communication with other computers on a local network.
Logging the boot allows the system based on the recording of recorded events to independently eliminate some failures. With the last successful configuration, and so everything is clear (it is selected to perform a quick rollback, if possible). A decrease in screen resolution (but without entering Safe Mode) is applied if crashes are observed due to problems with the graphics drivers or the corresponding screen settings.
By and large, the remaining modes are not needed by ordinary users, but are designed for system engineers, although if a failure occurs due to the lack of a digital signature for the device drivers, deactivating its verification can also give an instant result.
Can I remove additional download options?
Some users try to customize (personalize by setting their own settings) the start menu and try to remove the third block described above from it. It should be said right away that if you don’t know exactly what such actions will lead to, it’s better not to do this, because then you won’t be able to quickly roll back the system (you will have to choose the tools presented for the first paragraph). However, you can disable it. How to remove the Windows 7 boot menu regarding additional options?
To do this, in the computer properties (of course, in a fully loaded system), you need to call the item of additional parameters and go to the boot and recovery section, and then in the window that appears, uncheck the box for displaying additional recovery options). When you restart the system and re-call the Windows 7 boot menu, the third block will no longer appear. If for some reason you need it again, you can activate it by performing the opposite action.
Start Menu Editing Techniques
Now let's see how to edit the Windows 7 boot menu. For this, the system itself has three main options (at least):
- setting a minimum of parameters in the system configuration;
- change of additional system options;
- use of BCEDIT tools through the command console.
The first two methods allow you to change only the basic settings, but the use of the third makes it possible not only to rebuild the menu itself at its discretion, adding additional items to it or removing unnecessary ones, but also to perform some related actions that are not available in the graphical interface.
System Configuration Actions
The simplest editing of the Windows 7 boot menu is done in a special section called configuration, which is called up from the Run console (Win + R) by entering the msconfig shortcut. The main parameter here is to remove unused ones from the list of installed operating systems. This is necessary for those cases when you have several operating systems and at each start a suggestion appears to select a bootable OS.
You can leave only the one that will be loaded by default as the main one.
Along the way, one can note the launch of related modes (safe start, recovery environment, boot without a graphical interface, etc.), which upon restart will be activated automatically without the need to manually start them in the start menu. But this is inconvenient in that in such modes the system will boot constantly, and to set the usual start the options will have to be changed to the original values.
Configure advanced system settings
Additional parameters have been briefly mentioned. But here you can use the ability to display or hide the list of installed OS, which fully duplicates the previous technique. You can also set the desired timeout time, activate logging, enable or disable automatic restart when the system crashes, etc. As already understood, any of these actions makes adjustments to the start menu.
Command Line and BCDEDIT Toolkit
Finally, the BCDEDIT toolkit is considered to be the most powerful tool that allows not only editing the start menu, but also restoring it when a failure occurs. And you can call it only through the command line, which for the majority of the actions provided for the entire toolkit requires a mandatory start on behalf of the administrator. The console can be launched from the Run console using the cmd command and setting a flag on the start point as administrator. If this item is missing, a similar operation can be performed through the "Task Manager" by creating a new task in the file menu.
We will not give all possible commands, operators and attributes.
If you wish, you can use the additional brief help system provided for this toolkit (and with examples), which can be accessed by executing the main command with the additional attribute “bcdedit /?”, Entered without quotes.
By the way, using the command console, you can return to the troubleshooting item, for which you need to perform a combination of "reagent / enable" (without quotes).
Typical Start Menu Failures
As for failures when trying to access the start menu, alas, they are observed quite often.
At the same time, a notification is displayed on the screen that the installed OS was not found, and the user must use the system disk to boot, or it is proposed to fix the errors using the system if it is defined. This failure of the Windows 7 boot menu indicates corruption of the bootloader system files. In most cases, it is really possible to restore the functionality of both the system and the start menu only when booting from removable media, which should be set as a priority device in the BIOS settings.
At startup, you can use either an automated recovery tool, or a command line, or additional tools (for example, hard drive diagnostics).
Auto recovery on boot
Not every Windows 7 boot menu failure can be fixed using automated tools, but it’s worth a try. To do this, after starting from removable media, you just need to go to the recovery point and select automatic recovery at boot. It is possible that with non-critical failures this will help.
Bootloader recovery
Botrec.exe applet with additional attributes is considered a much more effective tool. To use it from the installation or recovery disk, you need to run the command line, and then enter the following commands, pressing the Enter key after each of them:
- bootrec / fixmbr;
- bootrec / fixboot;
- bootsect / nt60 ALL / force / mbr;
- exit.
Note: all commands are entered without punctuation. If this sequence does not work when the effect is performed, you can try to completely overwrite the bootloader by executing the “Bootrec.exe / RebuildBCD” command (again, without quotes).
Troubleshoot hard drive issues
Apparently, there is no need to say that errors on the hard disk or damage to boot sectors and areas can also lead to countless crashes. You can use system tools for troubleshooting and troubleshooting, but third-party software products look like much more effective means.
So, to restore the Windows 7 boot menu, the errors in which were connected precisely with the problems of the hard disk, you can first create the starting media with the Hiren's BootCD utility, which has enough tools to fix the failures. For the hard drive, the Hard Disk Tools are used, which is part of the main set. However, you can experiment with additional tools from the proposed package.
Note: if the hard drive is damaged to such an extent that it is impossible to recover it by any means, try using the HDD Regenerator utility, which, according to its creators, is able to reanimate any hard drive through the use of a unique surface remagnetization technology.