Changing/Renaming the Boot Order/Description for Windows Vista Installations

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I have a machine which I need to dual boot Windows Vista. I need to run a connection to my corporate network but I also like to have a separate partition to enable me to demonstrate Windows Vista without using my corporate connection. So, in order to achieve this, I created two partitions on my disk and then installed Windows Vista on each partition. The problem? In the boot menu, I have two available options:

  • Microsoft Windows Vista
  • Microsoft Windows Vista

Not too helpful and also, given that I installed my (most used) corporate copy of Vista first, the default boot entry was set to my demo environment. How can this be changed..?

First of all, you’ll need to run the command prompt as an administrator (in the search bar, type “cmd”, right click it and choose Run as administrator.) I then created a backup of my boot record just to be on the safe side:

bcdedit /export <x:\filename>

I then used bcdedit to get the GUID (same as the resumeobject) of the partition I wanted to use as the default:

bcdedit (the GUID will be in the list of properties)

Then I issued the default command to change which version of the OS boots without user intervention.

bcdedit /default {corporate GUID}

The final step needed was to rename the description of my demo environment:

bcdedit /set {demo GUID} description "Microsoft Windows Vista DRT"

Finally, I wanted to drop the 30 seconds it takes before loading the default to 10:

bcdedit /timeout 10

Phew, job’s a good un’!!! If necessary, you could always use the /import parameter to reinstate your original settings...

There's some great documentation and samples on MSDN if you need more assistance!

Ciao for Now :)