Comments on Custom Boot Menu for Windows XP
Custom Boot Menu for Windows XP One of the first things that I do upon receiving a new windows computer is create my own custom boot menu that shows up every time I boot my machine. This is especially handy when you suspect a virus; you can reboot into safe mode and scan for it.
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Thanks to apachethedude for suggesting a very good idea. However, here are a few tips for doing this in a safer and better manner.
1) You do not need to shut your system off mid boot, and it is not adviseable to do so as the rare chance of file corruption (ie registry) can occur. This is for any OS. In Windows, as soon as the POST text clears, press the F8 key and it will safely bring up the same menu giving options for safe mode, ect.
2) Do not just cut and paste the text shown for the boot.ini. Different disk controller types means the device text may be slightly different. SCSi VS IDE VS sata. So keep the device names the same as your file shows. it's the added switches on the end that make the menu choices.
3) I would suggest you make a backup of your boot.ini first in case you typo in it. A typo can render the file bad an thus your system un-bootable. Making a backup allows you to get yourself back to square one quickly simply by booting to a command prompt. If you did change the file and it does not boot, you can either copy back the file if you made a backup, or if not, then boot to your XP CD, choose recovery console, and then run the FIXBOOT command. It can repair your file. See FIXBOOT /? for more details.
[boot loader]timeout=00default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect