BCDEdit Command-Line Options

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Boot Configuration Data (BCD) files provide a store that is used to describe boot applications and boot application settings.

BCDEdit is a command-line tool for managing BCD. It can be used for a variety of purposes, including creating new stores, modifying existing stores, and adding boot menu options.

Running BCDEdit

BCDEdit is included in the %WINDIR%\System32 folder. It requires administrative privileges to modify BCD data. After modiifying BCD data, a normal shutdown and reboot is necessary to ensure that any modified BCDEdit settings are flushed to disk.

BCDEdit is limited to the standard data types and is designed primarily to perform single common changes to BCD. Related resources:

  • Some common BCD operations, such as recovering a partition or setting up a new PC's system partition, may be more easily accomplished by using BCDboot.
  • For complex operations or nonstandard data types, consider using the BCD Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) application programming interface (API) to create more powerful and flexible custom tools.

BCDEdit syntax

BCDEdit /Command[Argument1] [Argument2] ...

BCDEdit Command-Line Options

The following command-line options are available for BCDEdit.exe.

Help

Option Description
/? [commmand]

Displays a list of BCDEdit commands.

To display detailed help for a particular command, run bcdedit /?command, where command is the name of the command you are searching for more information about.

bcdedit /? createstore

Operating on a store

Option Description
/createstore Creates a new empty boot configuration data store. The created store is not a system store.
/export Exports the contents of the system store into a file. This file can be used later to restore the state of the system store. This command is valid only for the system store.
/import Restores the state of the system store by using a backup data file previously generated by using the /export option. This command deletes any existing entries in the system store before the import takes place. This command is valid only for the system store.
/store This option can be used with most BCDedit commands to specify the store to be used. If this option is not specified, then BCDEdit operates on the system store. Running the bcdedit /store command by itself is equivalent to running the bcdedit /enum active command.
/sysstore Sets the system store device. This only affects EFI-based systems. It does not persist across reboots, and is only used in cases where the system store device is ambiguous.

Operating on entries in a store

Option Description
/copy Makes a copy of a specified boot entry in the same system store.
/create Creates a new entry in the boot configuration data store. If a well-known identifier is specified, then the /application, /inherit, and /device options cannot be specified. If an identifier is not specified or not well known, an /application, /inherit, or /device option must be specified.
/delete Deletes an element from a specified entry.
/mirror Creates mirror of entries in the store.

Changing entry options

Option Description
/deletevalue Deletes a specified element from a boot entry.
/set Sets an entry option value.

For example, this command will enable the system to trust Windows Insider Preview builds that are signed with certificates that are not trusted by default:

Bcdedit /set {bootmgr} flightsigning on
Bcdedit /set flightsigning on

Reboot after running the command. To turn off flightsigning:

Bcdedit /set {bootmgr} flightsigning off
Bcdedit /set flightsigning off

Controlling output

Option Description
/enum Lists entries in a store. The /enum option is the default value for BCEdit, so running the bcdedit command without options is equivalent to running the bcdedit /enum active command.
/v Verbose mode. Usually, any well-known entry identifiers are represented by their friendly shorthand form. Specifying /v as a command-line option displays all identifiers in full.

Running the bcdedit /v command by itself is equivalent to running the bcdedit /enum active /v command.

Controlling the boot manager

Option Description
/bootsequence Specifies a one-time display order to be used for the next boot. This command is similar to the /displayorder option, except that it is used only the next time the computer starts. Afterwards, the computer reverts to the original display order.
/default Specifies the default entry that the boot manager selects when the timeout expires.
/displayorder Specifies the display order that the boot manager uses when displaying boot options to a user.
/timeout Specifies the time to wait, in seconds, before the boot manager selects the default entry.
/toolsdisplayorder Specifies the display order for the boot manager to use when displaying the Tools menu.

Emergency Management Services options

Option Description
/bootems Enables or disables Emergency Management Services (EMS) for the specified entry.
/ems Enables or disables EMS for the specified operating system boot entry.
/emssettings Sets the global EMS settings for the computer. /emssettings does not enable or disable EMS for any particular boot entry.

Debugging

Option Description
/bootdebug Enables or disables the boot debugger for a specified boot entry. Although this command works for any boot entry, it is effective only for boot applications.
/dbgsettings Specifies or displays the global debugger settings for the system. This command does not enable or disable the kernel debugger; use the /debug option for that purpose. To set an individual global debugger setting, use the bcdedit /setdbgsettings type value command.
/debug Enables or disables the kernel debugger for a specified boot entry.
/hypervisorsettings Sets the hypervisor parameters.

To troubleshoot a new installation, enable debug mode by modifying the boot configuration file (BCD). For example, use the following syntax to enable kernel or boot debug.

bcdedit /set <id> debug on

or

bcdedit /set <id> bootdebug on

where <id> is the GUID of the Loader object that is used to load the operating system. "Default" can be used if the operating system is the default option of the Boot Manager menu.

For examples of BCDEdit, see Boot Configuration Data in Windows Vista.

Remote event logging

Option Description
/eventsettings Sets the global remote event logging parameters.
/event Enables or disables remote event logging for an operating system entry.