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.

It is extremely easy to create a custom boot menu for your self.

When you first boot up your computer and you see the “Windows Loading” screen, turn off your computer by holding in the computer and then turn it back on again.

Now when you boot up you will see a Windows boot menu with various Safe-mode boot options. So you can choose to boot into Safe mode, regular mode, etc.

Creating the custom boot.ini

Details for boot.ini options and  in-depth info

1. Go to Start->Run-> type cmd
2. Type cd c:\
3. Type attrib boot.ini
   Now you should see A   SHR   C:\boot.ini
4. Type attrib -S -H -R
5. Type type boot.ini to see your current boot.ini
6. Type edit boot.ini to edit your boot.ini
7. Once done editing, type attrib +S +H +R to return the boot.ini file attributes to normal.
8. reboot and now you have a custom boot.ini!

My custom boot.ini

[boot loader]
timeout=24
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="XP Pro Normal" /fastdetect /noexecute=optin /numproc=2
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="XP Pro SMode" /safeboot:minimal /sos /bootlog /noguiboot
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="XP Pro SMode with Net" /safeboot:network /sos /bootlog /noguiboot
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="XP Pro SMode with CMD" /safeboot:minimal(alternateshell) /sos /bootlog /noguiboot
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="XP Pro Debug" /debug /sos /basevideo /noguiboot /bootlog
C:CMDCONSBOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

Available switch options for the Boot.ini file

1. /basevideo
2. /baudrate=number
3. /crashdebug
4. /debug
5. /debugport=comnumber
6. /maxmem=number
7. /noguiboot
8. /nodebug
9. /numproc=number
10. /pcilock
11. /fastdetect:comnumber
12. /sos
13. /PAE
14. /HAL=filename
15. /kernel=filename
16. /bootlog
17. /burnmemory=number
18. /3GB
19. /safeboot:
20. /NoSerialMice
21. /userva
22. /redirect
23. /channel

Details for boot.ini options and  in-depth info