Index Introduction The BCD Store The System BCD Store Default Paths\Setup (BIOS) Default Paths\Setup (UEFI) BCDEdit - The Basics Check Entries in a BCD Store Devices Devices - locate Backing up the BCD Store Examples - Part 1 Examples - Part 2 Examples - Part 3 Examples - Part 4 BCDEdit Commands BCDEdit Versions Mounting the BCD Store... Acknowledgements Appendices ========= Glossary BCDEdit (version 6.0.6001) BCDEdit (version 6.1.7601) BCDEdit (version 6.3.9600) Device Partition - Data Objects and Elements Alternatives to bcdedit UEFI, BIOS, GPT and MBR

BCDEdit - The Basics

Bcdedit.exe is a command-line tool that can be used to create, modify and read entries in a BCD store. Being a command-line tool all commands can be automated with the use of batch files.

It's possible to select a BCD store by using the /store switch (e.g. bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD). Alternatively using bcdedit without selecting a BCD store will execute all commands on the system store - the BCD store currently in use.

The example below lists the commands for adding a Windows 7 entry to an existing BCD store. Note the data in the path element is \Windows\system32\winload.exe - the Operating System boot loader used on systems with BIOS firmware.

• bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD /create /application osloader

Running this first command will return a Globally Unique IDentifier (GUID) value - e.g. {e05b4c23-618a-11df-89c6-001d925a73cf}. In all subsequent commands replace {guid} with this value -

• bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {guid} device partition=C:
• bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {guid} path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
• bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {guid} osdevice partition=C:
• bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {guid} systemroot \Windows
• bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {guid} description "Windows 7"
• bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD /displayorder {guid} /addlast

The following demonstrates how these commands would be entered one by one at a command prompt (remember that entries with a      highlight are commands to be entered; entries with a      highlight is output from running the command).

1. bcdedit /store C:\boot\BCD /create /application osloader [enter]
   The entry {e05b4c23-618a-11df-89c6-001d925a73cf} was successfully created.

Remember that the GUID value created when running the /create command (in this case {e05b4c23-618a-11df-89c6-001d925a73cf}) must be used in all subsequent commands used for this particular object/entry -

2. bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {e05b4c23-618a-11df-89c6-001d925a73cf} device partition=C: [enter]
   The operation completed successfully.

3. bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {e05b4c23-618a-11df-89c6-001d925a73cf} path \Windows\system32\winload.exe [enter]
   The operation completed successfully.

4. bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {e05b4c23-618a-11df-89c6-001d925a73cf} osdevice partition=C: [enter]
   The operation completed successfully.

5. bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {e05b4c23-618a-11df-89c6-001d925a73cf} systemroot \Windows [enter]
   The operation completed successfully.

6. bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {e05b4c23-618a-11df-89c6-001d925a73cf} description "Windows 7" [enter]
   The operation completed successfully.

7. bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD /displayorder {e05b4c23-618a-11df-89c6-001d925a73cf} /addlast [enter]
   The operation completed successfully.

Alternatively the above steps can be automated using the batch file below.

@echo off setlocal :: Do not use spaces in paths and do :: NOT wrap in quotes set BCDEDIT=%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\bcdedit.exe set BCDSTORE=C:\Boot\BCD ::___________________________________ for /f "tokens=2 delims={}" %%g in ('%BCDEDIT% /store %BCDSTORE% /create /application osloader') do set GUID={%%g} %BCDEDIT% /store %BCDSTORE% /set %guid% device partition=C: %BCDEDIT% /store %BCDSTORE% /set %guid% path \Windows\system32\winload.exe %BCDEDIT% /store %BCDSTORE% /set %guid% osdevice partition=C: %BCDEDIT% /store %BCDSTORE% /set %guid% systemroot \Windows %BCDEDIT% /store %BCDSTORE% /set %guid% description "Windows 7" %BCDEDIT% /store %BCDSTORE% /displayorder %guid% /addlast endlocal pause