Windows 10: bcdedit command to create a new boot entry in UEFI setup

Hi,I came across this link boot - How remedy situation with two EFI partitions on one drive? - Super User on another QnA site where the user claims that following command using bcdedit will create a new boot entry in UEFI menu.bcdedit /create /d "NAME" /application firmware[note down the GUID of the new entry]bcdedit /set [THE_GUID] device partition=Z:bcdedit /set [THE_GUID] path \EFI\whatever\grubx64.efiHowever bcdedit /create/d "NAME" /application firmware is not accepted. It says The application type switch specified is not valid.What is wr

:)

 

Not able to create Windows PE and ramddiskoptions boot entry using bcdedit command

Hello Friends

I want to create Windows PE and ramddiskoptions boot entry using bcdedit, when i am going to create using bcdedit /create {ramdiskoptions} /d "Ramdisk
options" it s shows like an error occured while attempting the specified create operation, the specified entry already created."

Moved from: Windows 10 / Windows settings

 

How do i add a boot entry for a partition

Hello Arsha, my name is Paul one of the Community Experts.

Here's a guide on how you can create a Boot Entry.

The first step in customizing boot options in operating systems is to add a new boot entry for an operating system. A boot entry is a set of options that define a load configuration for an operating system or bootable program.

You can have multiple boot entries for an operating system, each with a different set of boot parameters. Windows Installer creates a standard boot entry when you install an operating system, and you can create additional, customized boot entries for an operating
system by editing the boot options.

You can add, delete, and change the options in the boot entry that Windows Installer created. However, it is prudent to keep the standard entry and, instead, add a separate entry that you customize.

To add a boot entry, copy an existing boot entry, and then modify the copy.

This topic applies to Windows Vista and later, Windows Server 2008 and later, and Windows Recovery Environment.

Adding a new boot entry

In Windows, you use BCDEdit to modify your boot options. To add a new boot entry, open a Command Prompt window with elevated privileges (right click Command Prompt and click Run as administrator from the shortcut menu).

Note Before setting BCDEdit options you might need to disable or suspend BitLocker and Secure Boot on the computer.

The easiest way to create a new boot entry is to copy an existing entry and then modify it as you need. To do this, use BCDEdit with the /copy option. For example, in the following command, BCDEdit copies the Microsoft Windows boot entry that was last used
to boot Windows, identified as {current}, and creates a new boot entry. The /d description option specifies DebugEntry as the name of the new boot entry.

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bcdedit /copy {current} /d "DebugEntry"

If the command succeeds, BCDEdit displays a message similar to the following:

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The entry was successfully copied to {49916baf-0e08-11db-9af4-000bdbd316a0}.

When you copy a boot loader entry that appears on the boot menu, the copy is automatically added as the last item on the boot menu.

The GUID in the preceding message (which appears between braces ({})) is the identifier of the new boot entry. The /copy option creates a new GUID for the boot entry. You use the identifier to represent the entry in all subsequent BCDEdit commands.

If the command fails, be sure that you are running in a Command Prompt window with administrator privileges and that all of the command parameters are spelled correctly, including the braces around {current}.

You can also add a boot entry using the /create option. This method is more difficult because you need to provide additional information about the boot entry type. You also need to specify the /application, /inherit, or /device options. For example, the following
creates a new operating system boot entry called "My Windows Vista":

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bcdedit /create /d "My Windows Vista" /application osloader

When you use the /create option, the new boot loader entries are not added to the boot menu automatically. The /create option creates a new GUID for the boot entry. You must add the new boot entry to the boot menu by using the /displayorder option. You can
place the boot loader entries in any order.

For information about the /create command parameters, type bcdedit /? /create in a Command Prompt window.

Editing the boot menu

In Windows, new boot loader entries are not added to the boot menu automatically. You can place the boot loader entries in any order.

You can use the /displayorder option to set the order in which the boot manager displays the boot entries on a multi-boot menu. The command has the following syntax:

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bcdedit /displayorder {ID} {ID} ...

The ID is the GUID of the boot entry or a reserved identifier, such as {current}). Separate each identifier with a space. Be sure to include the braces ({}).

For example, to add the DebugEntry boot entry to the boot menu after the {current} entry, use the following command (remember to use '{guid}' in Windows PowerShell):

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bcdedit /displayorder {current} {49916baf-0e08-11db-9af4-000bdbd316a0}

You can also use the options /addlast, /addfirst, and /remove to order and remove items from the menu. For example, the following command adds the DebugEntry boot entry as the last item on the menu:

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bcdedit /displayorder {49916baf-0e08-11db-9af4-000bdbd316a0} /addlast

Removing and deleting a boot entry

The following command removes the {49916baf-0e08-11db-9af4-000bdbd316a0} boot entry item from the boot menu.

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bcdedit /displayorder {49916baf-0e08-11db-9af4-000bdbd316a0} /remove

When you remove the specified boot entry using the /displayorder and /remove options, the boot entry is removed from the boot menu, but it is still in the BCD store. To completely remove a boot loader entry from the boot menu and from the store, use the /delete
option.

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bcdedit /delete {49916baf-0e08-11db-9af4-000bdbd316a0}

To verify that the display order is correct, use the following command:

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bcdedit

When you type bcdedit without additional parameters, BCDEdit displays the boot manager entry and the boot loader entries in the order that they will appear in the menu.

The Windows Boot Manager entry also includes the boot menu display order, as the following example shows.

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## Windows Boot Manager

identifier {bootmgr}

device partition=C:

description Windows Boot Manager

locale en-US

inherit {globalsettings}

default {current}

displayorder {current}

{18b123cd-2bf6-11db-bfae-00e018e2b8db}

toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}

timeout 30

## Windows Boot Loader

-------------------

identifier {current}

device partition=C:

path \Windows\system32\winload.exe

description Microsoft Windows Vista

locale en-US

inherit {bootloadersettings}

osdevice partition=C:

systemroot \Windows

resumeobject {d7094401-2641-11db-baba-00e018e2b8db}

nx OptIn

## Windows Boot Loader

-------------------

identifier {18b123cd-2bf6-11db-bfae-00e018e2b8db}

device partition=C:

path \Windows\system32\winload.exe

description Debugger Boot

locale en-US

inherit {bootloadersettings}

osdevice partition=C:

systemroot \Windows

resumeobject {d7094401-2641-11db-baba-00e018e2b8db}

nx OptIn

debug Yes

 

UEFI remove unwanted boot entries from BIOS solved easily

OK, FINALLY I figured it out. It would appear as though the last few people who used UEFI Shells died years ago, and I'm the only one left. But in case there exists a person who owns a Dell XPS 17 L702x system, here's how you delete boot entries from the BIOS.

Step 1. Download the Phoenix Technologies UEFI Shell: Dropbox - UefiShellX64.efi - Simplify your life

Step 2. Format a USB flash drive in FAT32, and create a folder named "EFI", and inside that, create another folder named "boot".

Step 3. Copy and paste the UEFI Shell utility into the boot folder, and rename the file "bootx64". The full path should look like this: EFI\boot\bootx64.efi

Step 4. Reboot your computer, and rapidly tap the "F12" key on your keyboard until you get to the Boot Menu. Scroll down to "Setup" and hit Enter.

Step 5. Now that you're in the BIOS, use the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll to the Advanced tab. From there, scroll down to Boot Configuration. In Boot Configuration, set UEFI Boot to "Enabled" and Legacy Boot to "Disabled". Hit the Escape key to go back and then go to the Exit tab. Select the option to "Exit SAVING Changes", and go back to rapidly hitting that F12 key on your keyboard.

Step 6. Once at the Boot Menu, select your USB Mass Storage Device, and you'll boot into the UEFI Utility.

Step 7. From there, type: bcfg boot dump -b

This will display a list of boot entries. Take careful note of the "Option" numbers, and make note of the one that you want to delete. In my case, it was Option 05 with a description of "RAID Array". DO NOT CONFUSE OPTION NUMBERS WITH THE BOOT HEX NUMBERS!!! For example, Option 05 had a hex number of "Boot000A". Others will have such numbers as "Boot0005". That is NOT the number you want. You want the option number. It's a two character number after the word "Option". Hit the "Enter" key until the list has fully displayed.

Step 8. Once you know the Option number of which boot entry you want to delete, simply type this command:

bcfg boot rm XX (where XX is the Option number of the entry you want to delete).

For example, in my case, my RAID entry was Option 05. Therefore, my command looked like this:

bcfg boot rm 05

Step 9. Hold the power button to turn off your computer (I don't think there's a "shutdown" command for UEFI Shells).

Step 10. Turn your computer back on, and go back to rapidly tapping that F12 key while doing it. Once at the Boot Menu, go back into Setup. Once in the BIOS, go back to the Advanced Tab, scroll down to Boot Configuration, Set UEFI Boot to "Disabled" and Legacy Boot to "Enabled". Don't forget to exit saving changes.

And that should do the trick. Hopefully I helped at least one person with this post.