Same “Windows 8 Two-Step” Bootmgr

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If one doesn’t dual boot, this is likely not an issue. I was booting Windows 7 Ultimate/8.1 Pro and now I’m booting Windows 8.1 Pro/10 Pro. I’ll be doing a lot of back and forth until I get 10 Pro setup the way I want it.

I first noticed the two-step with Windows 8. When booting, Windows 8 would partially load before presenting the Boot Menu. If I chose Windows 8, it continued to boot, rather quickly. But if I chose Windows 7, it would go all the way back to the UEFI screen to start booting Windows 7.

The Windows 7 bootmgr doesn’t work that way; it presents the Boot Menu soon after the UEFI gets the hardware up to speed. Make a selection, and it just continues to boot into the OS of choice. So to get rid of the Windows 8 two-step, I replaced the bootmgr in the EFI partition with the Windows 7 bootmgr.

When I recognized that the Windows 10 bootmgr had a very similar two-step, I replaced it with the Windows 7 bootmgr, too. Now I’m booting much more crisply when I want to boot into Windows 8.1.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

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How did you replace the boot manager?

cheers, Paul

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How did you replace the boot manager?

The first step is create a partition image of the existing EFI partition. The second step is to use DISKPART to assign the EFI partition a drive letter. Then you can copy the Windows 7 bootmgr to the EFI partition. Once it’s copied, use DISKPART again to remove the drive letter. Be sure to remove the drive letter before you reboot.

I did it this time by restoring the EFI partition from my Windows 7/8 full drive image, then editing the BCD store to change the description for Windows 7 to Windows 10.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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bbearren,

Have you considered EasyBCD & iReboot both free. They both survived the Win 10 update on my main laptop which before the update was running 2 copies of Win 7 HP (one with Office Pro 2010 the other with O2003 Pro). I now have Win 10 Home & Win 7 HP and the boot/reboot process is the same as it was previously. However, this is not a UEFI/Secure Boot system! :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
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My system is UEFI/GPT and boots through the EFI partition where the active bootmgr is located. I haven’t enabled Secure Boot.

I’ve used EasyBCD in the past (it’s still installed), but I’ve also puzzled my way through some of the BCDEDIT commands so that I can do some of the basic functions through it. Windows 10 booted fine after I replaced the bootmgr, but the menu offered it as Windows 7. All I needed to do was boot into 10 and edit the description to say Windows 10 Pro; bcdedit /set {current} description “Windows 10 Pro” (quotes are needed if there are spaces).

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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