2. Installing or Upgrading to Windows 10
Windows 10 System Requirements
Personal computing is governed by two inexorable, and not unrelated, “laws”:
Moore’s Law—Processing power doubles every 18 months (from Gordon Moore, cofounder of Intel).
Parkinson’s Law of Data—Data expands to fill the space available for storage (from the original Parkinson’s Law: Work expands to fill the time available).
These two observations help explain why, when the computers we use are becoming increasingly powerful, our day-to-day tasks never really seem all that much faster. The leaps in processing power and memory are being matched by the increasing complexity and resource requirements of the latest programs. Therefore, the computer you’re using today might be twice as muscular as the one you were using a year and a half ago, but the applications you’re using are twice the size and require twice as many resources.
Windows fits neatly into this scenario. With each new release of Microsoft’s flagship operating system, the hardware requirements become more stringent, and our computers’ processing power is taxed a little more. Even though Microsoft spent an enormous amount of time and effort trying to shoehorn Windows 10 into a minimal system configuration, you need a reasonably powerful computer if you don’t want to spend most of your day waiting, thumbs a-twiddle. The good news is that in Windows 10, just like Windows 8/8.1, the hardware requirements are nowhere near as onerous as many people believed they would be. In fact, most midrange or better systems purchased in the past year or two should run Windows 10 without a problem.
The next few sections present a rundown of the system requirements you need to meet to install and work with Windows 10. Note that we give the minimum requirements, as stipulated by Microsoft, as well as a set of reasonable requirements that we believe you need to make working with Windows 10 more or less pleasurable.
Note
Although we said that each new Windows release requires more PC horsepower, that’s actually not the case with Windows 10, which has the same system requirements as Windows 8/8.1. Basically, if your system does a good job of running Windows 8/8.1, it will perform just as well running Windows 10.
Processor Requirements
Windows 10 desktop minimum: 1GHz modern processor
This is a true minimum requirement because these days you’d be hard pressed to even find a PC with a 1GHz processor. There are plenty of cheap PCs available running old Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs at 1.8GHz and AMD Athlon processors at 2.0GHz. But for adequate Windows 10 performance, you need at least a midrange processor, which means an Intel Core i3 or i5, or an AMD Phenom II X3 or X4, running at 2.5GHz–3.0GHz. Faster is better, of course, but only if money is no object. Moving up to an Intel i7 or AMD FX-series chip running at 3.2GHz or even 3.8GHz might set you back a few hundred dollars, but the performance improvement won’t be all that noticeable. You’d be better off investing those funds either in extra memory (discussed later) or in a quad-core (or better) processor.
Note
What does quad-core mean? It describes a CPU that combines four separate processors, each with its own cache memory, on a single chip. (The cache memory is an on-board storage area that the processor uses to store commonly used bits of data. The bigger the cache, the better the performance.) This enables the operating system to perform four tasks at once without a performance hit. For example, you could work in your word processor or spreadsheet program in the foreground using one processor, while the other processors take care of a background File History backup, virus check, and print operation. Current examples of quad-core processors are the Intel Core i5 and i7 and the AMD FX-series. Note, as well, that you can also get systems with 6-core and even 8-core processors, although they tend to be quite expensive.
Memory Requirements
Windows 10 minimum: 1GB (32-bit Windows) or 2GB (64-bit Windows)
You can run 32-bit Windows 10 on a system with 1GB of RAM, but the performance will be quite slow. However, we believe that, for most people, 2GB is a more realistic minimum for day-to-day work on 32-bit systems. If you regularly have many programs running at the same time, if you use programs that manipulate digital photos or videos, or if you do extensive work with large files such as databases, 3GB should be your RAM goal on a 32-bit system.
Note, however, that if you’re running a 64-bit version of Windows 10, you should seriously consider upgrading your system RAM. The conventional wisdom is that because 64-bit machines deal with data in chunks that are twice the size of those in 32-bit machines, you need twice the memory to see the full benefit of the 64-bit advantage. Therefore, if you’d normally have 1GB of RAM in a 32-bit machine, opt for 2GB in your 64-bit computer. However, the real reason 64-bit versions of Windows are superior to 32-bit versions for many people is that 64-bit systems can address memory far beyond the 4GB maximum of 32-bit systems. These days, 64-bit machines installed with 8GB or even 16GB of RAM are becoming commonplace. It’s unlikely you need double-digit gigabytes of RAM, but you won’t regret getting an 8GB system, which offers plenty of room for your programs and data to roam.
Finally, consider the speed of the memory. Older DDR2 (double data rate) memory chips typically operate between 200MHz and 533MHz. DDR3 chips operate between 1066MHz and 2800MHz, and the latest DDR4 chips range from 2133MHz to 3400MHz, which is a substantial speed boost that improves Windows 10 performance noticeably (as long as your PC’s motherboard supports the faster memory).
Note
That “32-bitness” of 32-bit Windows means that these systems can address a maximum of 4GB RAM (because 2 raised to the power of 32 is 4,294,967,296 bytes, which is essentially 4GB). However, if you install 4GB on your motherboard and then check the amount of system memory, you might see only 3,198MB (3.12GB). What’s going on here? The problem is that some devices require a chunk of system memory to operate. For example, the memory on the video card must be mapped to an area in system memory. To allow for this, 32-bit versions of Windows set aside a chunk of the 4GB address space for devices. This means the maximum amount of RAM available to your programs will always be 3.12GB.
Storage Requirements
Windows 10 hard disk free space minimum: 16GB (32-bit Windows) or 20GB (64-bit Windows)
The disk space requirements depend on which version of Windows 10 you’re installing, but you should count on the new OS requiring at least 16GB free space to install. The OS will use perhaps another few gigabytes for storing items such as the paging file, System Restore checkpoints, web browser temporary files, and the Recycle Bin, so 32-bit Windows 10 will require at least 20GB of storage, and 64-bit Windows at least 24GB.
These days, of course, it’s not the operating system that usurps the most space on our hard drives; it’s the massive multimedia files that now seem to be routine for most of us. Multimegabyte digital photos and spreadsheets, and even multigigabyte database files and digital video files, are not unusual. Fortunately, hard disk storage is dirt cheap these days, with most disks costing less—often much less—than a dime a gigabyte.
Note, too, that the type of hard drive can affect performance. For desktop systems, an older drive that spins at 5,400RPM will be a significant performance bottleneck. Moving up to a 7,200RPM drive will help immeasurably, and a 10,000RPM (or even 15,000RPM) drive is even better if you don’t mind the extra expense. You should also look for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) drives that boast throughput rates of 6GBps. Look for a SATA drive with a 32MB or 64MB cache.
If having a ton of storage space isn’t a priority for you, consider opting for a solid-state hard drive (SSD). These 2.5-inch drives are made from solid-state semiconductors, which means they have no moving parts. As a result, SSDs are much faster than regular hard drives, last longer, use less power, weigh less, and are completely silent. The downside is price. This technology is still newish (although no longer bleeding-edge), so expect to pay from 50 to 70 cents a gigabyte.
Finally, you should also bear in mind that one longstanding feature of Windows is the capability to burn data to recordable optical discs (CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs). To take advantage of this feature, your system requires an optical disc burner, at the very least one that supports both the DVD-RW and DVD+RW disc formats (that is, a DVD±RW drive).
Graphics Requirements
Windows 10 graphics memory minimum: DirectX 9 video card with WDDM driver; 1024×768 resolution for Modern apps
Windows 10’s interface is graphics intensive, but it will be smart enough to adopt a less intensive interface based on what your PC can handle. Whether Windows 10 holds back on the visual bells and whistles depends on whether you have a separate graphics card (as opposed to an integrated motherboard graphics chip), the capability of the card’s graphics processing unit (GPU), and how much graphics memory the card has onboard.
To get the beautiful Windows theme look as well as the animated effects offered by many Modern apps, your system should have a graphics processor that supports DirectX 9, Pixel Shader 2.0 (in hardware, not as a software emulation), and 32 bits per pixel, and comes with a device driver that supports the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM). (If you purchase a new video card, look for the Windows 10 Capable or Windows 10 Pro Ready logo on the box. If you just need to upgrade the driver for an existing graphics card, look for “WDDM” in the driver name or description.)
Note that some games and programs might require a graphics card compatible with DirectX 10 or higher for best performance.
The amount of onboard graphics memory you need does not depend on the resolution you plan to use. For example, even a card running at HD (1920×1080) resolution requires only a bare minimum of 8MB of graphics memory to display an image, whereas a card running at a whopping 2560×1600 resolution really needs only 16MB. However, factor in features such as triple buffering (rendering images while the current image is displayed) and high-end game features (such as rendering textures), and basically the more graphics memory you can afford, the better.
Hardware Requirements for Various Windows 10 Features
Windows 10 is a big, sprawling program that can do many things, so it’s not surprising that you might need a long list of miscellaneous equipment, depending on what you plan to do with your system. Table 2.1 provides a rundown.
Preparing Your System: A Checklist
Installing a new operating system—especially one that makes relatively radical changes to your system, as Windows 10 does (assuming you’re upgrading from Windows 7 or earlier)—is definitely a “look before you leap” operation. Your computer’s operating system is just too important, so you shouldn’t dive blindly into the installation process. To make sure that things go well, and to prevent any permanent damage in case disaster strikes, you need to practice “safe” installing. This means taking some time beforehand to run through a few precautionary measures and to make sure your system is ready to welcome Windows 10. To that end, the next few sections run through a checklist of items you should take care of before firing up the Setup program.
Check Your System Requirements
Before getting too involved in the Setup process, you need to make sure your computer is capable of supporting Windows 10. Go back over the system requirements we outlined earlier to make sure your machine is Windows 10 ready.
Back Up Your Files
Although the vast majority of Windows 10 installations make it through without a hitch, there’s another law that software (particularly complex operating system software) always seems to follow: Murphy’s Law (that is, if anything can go wrong, it will). Windows 10 Setup has a feature that will reverse its changes and restore your system to its original state, and that should get you out of most jams, but you should still make backup copies of important files, in case Setup’s restore option fails. At the very least, you should back up your data files, which are both precious and irreplaceable.
Clean Up Your Hard Disk
To maximize the amount of free space on your hard disk (and just for the sake of doing some spring cleaning), you should go through your hard disk with a fine-toothed comb, looking for unnecessary files you can delete.
The easiest route here is to use the Disk Cleanup utility. In most recent versions of Windows, open Windows Explorer or File Explorer, display the Computer folder or This PC folder, right-click drive C (or whatever drive contains the Windows system files), click Properties, and then in the General tab, click Disk Cleanup. Chapter 25, “Managing Hard Disks and Storage Spaces,” offers more details about the Disk Cleanup utility.
To learn more about Disk Cleanup, see “Deleting Unnecessary Files,” p. 569.
Check and Defragment Your Hard Disk
Windows 10 Setup uses CHKDSK to give your hard disk a quick once-over before settling down to the serious business of installation. Sure, a “quick once-over” is better than nothing, but you should be more thorough. Specifically, use your version of the Windows Check Disk program to give your hard disk a “surface” scan. The surface scan checks your hard disk for physical imperfections that could lead to trouble down the road. In most recent versions of Windows, open Windows Explorer or File Explorer, display the Computer folder or This PC folder, right-click drive C (or whatever drive contains the Windows system files), click Properties, click the Tools tab, and then click Check Disk or Check. If you’re running the Windows 7 version, check the Scan For and Attempt Recovery of Bad Sectors check box. Click Start.
Don’t forget to do a virus check if you have antivirus software. Viruses have been known to wreak havoc on the Windows 10 Setup program (in addition to their other less-endearing qualities, such as locking up your system and trashing your hard drive).
When that’s done, you should next defragment the files on your hard drive. This action ensures that Setup will store the Windows 10 files with optimal efficiency, which will improve performance and lessen the risk of corrupted data. In most recent versions of Windows, open Windows Explorer or File Explorer, display the Computer folder or This PC folder, right-click drive C (or whatever drive contains the Windows system files), click Properties, click the Tools tab, and then click Defragment Now or Optimize.
Create a System Image Backup and a System Repair Disc
If you’re upgrading to Windows 10 from Windows 7, you should prepare for the worst by creating both a system image backup and a system repair disc.
The worst-case scenario for an operating system upgrade is a system crash that renders your hard disk or system files unusable. Your only recourse in such a case is to start from scratch with either a reformatted hard disk or a new hard disk. This usually means that you have to reinstall Windows 7 and then reinstall and reconfigure all your applications. In other words, you’re looking at the better part of a day or, more likely, a few days, to recover your system. However, Windows 7 has a feature that takes most of the pain out of recovering your system. It’s called a system image backup, and it’s actually a complete backup of your Windows 7 installation. Creating a system image takes a long time (at least several hours, depending on how much stuff you have), but it’s worth doing for the peace of mind. Here are the steps to follow to create the system image:
1. On your Windows 7 PC, select Start, type backup, and then click Backup and Restore in the search results.
2. Click Create an Image. The Create a System Image Wizard appears.
3. The wizard asks you to specify a backup destination. You have three choices. (Click Next when you’re ready to continue.)
On a Hard Disk—Select this option if you want to use a disk drive on your computer. If you have multiple drives, use the list to select the one you want to use.
On One or More DVDs—Select this option if you want to use DVDs to hold the backup.
On a Network Location—Select this option if you want to use a shared network folder. Either type the UNC address of the share or click Select, and then either type the UNC address of the share or click Browse to use the Browse for Folder dialog box to select the shared network folder. Type a username and password for accessing the share, and then click OK.
4. The system image backup automatically includes your internal hard disk in the system image, and you can’t change that. However, if you also have external hard drives, you can add them to the backup by activating their check boxes. Click Next. Windows Backup asks you to confirm your backup settings.
5. Click Start Backup. Windows Backup creates the system image.
6. When the backup is complete, click Close.
The second half of your Windows 7 recovery system is the system repair disc, which is a CD or DVD that enables you to boot to the disc and then restore your system using the system image backup you just created. Here’s how you go about creating a system repair disc:
1. On your Windows 7 PC, select Start, type system repair, and then click Create a System Repair Disc in the search results. The Create a System Repair Disc dialog box appears.
2. Insert a blank recordable CD or DVD into your burner. If the AutoPlay dialog box shows up, close it.
3. If you have multiple burners, use the Drive list to select the one you want to use.
4. Click Create Disc. Windows 7 creates the disc (it takes a minute or two) and then displays a particularly unhelpful dialog box.
5. Click Close, and then click OK.
Eject the disc, label it, and then put it someplace where you’ll be able to find it later.
Installing Windows 10
The installation process for Windows 10 is probably the easiest—and, certainly, the least interactive—Windows install to date. Upgrading takes just a few mouse clicks, and even a clean install is a simple affair, although it does come with some welcome tools for managing partitions.
After the Setup program boots from the install media, it copies a file named boot.wim (located in the sources subfolder on the Windows 10 install media) into RAM. This file is a scaled-down OS called the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) that boots after a few seconds, so the rest of the install takes place in GUI mode. Windows PE begins by displaying the Windows Setup dialog box shown in Figure 2.1, which acts as kind of a Welcome screen for Windows PE.
Figure 2.1 This dialog box is the first stop in the Windows 10 installation process, which uses a GUI for all user interaction.
Click Next, and then click Install Now to get the install underway. At this point, you are running in the Windows PE OS. The next major screen asks for your Windows 10 product key; then the installer displays the license agreement and asks whether you accept its terms. The install program next asks you what type of installation you want to perform. You have two choices, as shown in Figure 2.2:
Upgrade—Click this choice to upgrade Windows 10 over your existing operating system. Note, however, that this option does not preserve data such as your user accounts and Windows settings. If you want to preserve your data, you must run the upgrade from within your current Windows installation. See the next section for more details.
Tip
When Windows PE is running, you can display the command line at any time by pressing Shift+F10.
Custom—Click this choice to install a clean version of Windows 10. This is the install that we cover in this section.
If you choose the Custom option, you come to the most interesting part of the setup process. The installer begins by showing you a list of your system’s available partitions, and you click the one on which you want to install Windows 10. The real install fun begins if you click the Drive Options (Advanced) link, which appears for only unformatted partitions. It displays a few extra commands, as you can see in Figure 2.3.
Figure 2.3 The installer gives you a number of options for manipulating the partition on which you want to install Windows 10.
Depending on the partition, one or more of the following commands become available:
Delete—Click this command to delete the selected partition.
Format—Click this command to format the selected partition. Note that the installer formats the partition using NTFS.
New—Click this command to create a new partition out of the selected unallocated disk space. This displays a spin box that you can use to set the partition size. Click Apply to create the new partition.
Extend—Click this command to increase the size of the selected partition by extending it into adjoining unallocated disk space.
Load Driver—Click this command to load a third-party device driver for the selected partition. Note that Windows 10 can install the drivers from a CD, DVD, or USB Flash drive.
Clicking Next ends the interactive portion of the installation. From here on, the installer handles everything from copying files to rebooting the machine without prompting you.
When the installation is complete, you’re asked whether you want to use Express settings, which set up Windows 10 with defaults chosen by Microsoft. Going this route is, in our opinion, a really bad idea. For example, one of the defaults is to connect to any unsecured wireless network within range! Other defaults also send private information (such as your location) to Microsoft and “trusted partners.” No thanks.
Click Customize Settings to run through a set of screens that cover the following:
Selecting the type of Personalization and Location information you want to send to Microsoft (and those trusted partners), as shown in Figure 2.4.
Figure 2.4 Customize install settings to control the information sent to Microsoft and its partners.
Selecting browsing options, such as using SmartScreen (the Windows 10 antiphishing tool), and page prediction, which helps preload pages but has the downside of sending your browsing history to Microsoft (we always turn off the latter, as shown in Figure 2.5).
Figure 2.5 Take the customize settings route to override some of the Windows 10 installer’s less welcome defaults.
Deciding how Windows 10 connects to networks (for example, you can turn off automatic connections to open networks; see Figure 2.5) and whether you want to send problem reports to Microsoft.
After the customized settings section is done, you’re taken through a few screens to configure Windows 10. Configuration chores include the following:
Specifying whether your PC is owned by you or your company
Signing in to an existing Microsoft account or creating a new Microsoft account
An introduction to Cortana, the voice-activated Windows 10 assistant
Deciding whether you want to activate network discovery and file and printer sharing (this is a good idea on your home network)
Upgrading to Windows 10
Talking about upgrading from an older version of Windows to the latest version is always a litany of bad news: restrictions, exceptions, time sucks, and big bucks. So it is with real pleasure that we can write that at least a couple of lanes of the upgrade road to Windows 10 offer none of those negatives. If you’re currently running either Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (all versions except Enterprise) or Windows 8/8.1, upgrading to Windows 10 couldn’t be simpler: Microsoft is going to handle such upgrades through Windows Update (so you don’t have to install anything) and the update will be free (so you don’t have to pay anything). One caution, though: This “update” is actually a 2GB+ package, so downloading and installing will take awhile.
The road to Windows 10 is decidedly less pleasant if you’re looking to upgrade your Windows Vista or Windows XP PC. The only way to get Windows 10 on those machines is to install a fresh operating system, and that will cost you either $119 for Windows 10 or $199 for Windows 10 Pro.
Tip
Microsoft doesn’t offer an easy upgrade path to Windows 10 for pre-Windows 7 machines, but there are third-party tools that will do the job. For example, Zinstall Migration Kit Pro (zinstall.com/products/zinstall-migration-kit-pro) can transfer your old user account files, settings, and more. The idea is that you run a clean install of Windows 10, then run the utility, which uses the Windows.old folder (where the Windows 10 Setup saved your old system files) to extract your user data and settings.
Dual- (and Multi-) Booting Windows 10
The last thing you need to mull over before getting down to the nitty-gritty of the Setup program is whether you want to run Windows 10 exclusively or dual-boot with another operating system. Dual-booting means that when you start your computer, you have the option of running Windows 10 or some other operating system, such as Windows 7 or XP. It’s even possible to multiboot, which means having the choice of three or more operating systems at startup.
Windows 10 keeps track of which operating systems are installed on your PC by using a data store called the Boot Configuration Data (BCD). Earlier Windows versions that are compatible with the BCD are Windows 8/8.1, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. This means that if you have a system currently running any of these versions of Windows, when you install Windows 10, the BCD will automatically set up a dual-boot configuration. Actually, we should say that Windows 10 sets up the automatic dual-boot provided you do two things:
Install Windows 10 to a separate partition on your hard disk or to a separate hard disk connected to your PC.
Install Windows 10 after you install the earlier OS.
For versions of Windows prior to Vista that aren’t compatible with the BCD store, the BCD lumps everything together under the rubric “Earlier Version of Windows,” and it uses the legacy BOOT.INI file to store the boot data from these older operating systems.
You might be surprised to hear that the BCD is actually quite configurable. We show you the details a bit later in this chapter (see “Customizing the Boot Configuration Data”).
The next two sections show you how to dual- and multiboot Windows 10 with various other systems.
Dual-Booting Windows 10
Assuming your PC has the earlier version of Windows already installed, follow these steps to install Windows 10 for dual-booting with the other OS:
1. Boot to the Windows 10 install media, and then follow the initial prompts to launch the installation, enter your product key, and accept the license agreement.
2. When you get to the Which Type of Installation Do You Want? dialog box (see Figure 2.2, earlier in this chapter), be sure to click the Custom option.
3. Click the partition you want to use to install Windows 10. Be sure to choose a partition other than the one where your current version of Windows is installed. This will be the partition with System shown in the Type column, as you can see in Figure 2.6.
Figure 2.6 When installing Windows 10, be sure to select a partition other than the one where your current version of Windows is loaded.
Caution
You must boot to the install media to set up a dual-boot. Otherwise, the Windows 10 installer will upgrade your existing version of the Windows instead of creating a separate version.
4. Follow the install steps we outlined earlier to complete the Windows 10 installation (see “Installing Windows 10”).
Multibooting with Three or More Operating Systems
For maximum OS flexibility, you want to have three or more systems available on your machine so that you can multiboot among them. Depending on the operating systems you want to use, this isn’t all that much more work than setting up a dual-boot system.
If you’re installing only Windows operating systems, you need only keep the following two points in mind for foolproof multibooting:
Install each operating system to its own partition on your hard disk or to its own hard disk connected to your PC.
Install the operating systems in release date order, with the oldest operating first and Windows 10 last. For example, if you want to multiboot Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows 10, you should install Windows XP, then Windows 7, and then Windows 10.
If you want to multiboot other operating systems, such as Linux, your best bet is a third-party boot manager program or the boot manager that comes with the OS (such as any of the boot managers that come with Linux distributions).
Using Windows Boot Manager
Now that your system can boot to one or more operating systems other than Windows 10, you need to know how to control your OSs. You do this using the Windows Boot Manager, which is a menu of the operating systems installed on your PC.
By default, Windows Boot Manager appears automatically when you start your PC. However, you can also invoke Windows Boot Manager from within Windows 10 itself by following these steps:
1. Click Start and then click Settings to launch the Settings app.
2. Click Update & Security and then click the Recovery tab.
3. Under the Advanced Startup heading, click Restart Now. The Choose an Option screen appears.
4. Click Use Another Operating System. The Choose an Operating System screen appears, which is the Windows 10 version of Windows Boot Manager.
The screen you see depends on your dual-boot setup. For example, if you’re dual-booting with Windows 8/8.1, Windows 7, or Windows Vista, you see a screen similar to the one shown in Figure 2.7.
Figure 2.7 If you’re dual-booting Windows 10 with Windows 8/8.1, Windows 7, or Windows Vista, you use this startup screen to choose which operating system you want to load.
If you’re dual-booting with Windows XP or earlier, you see a screen similar to the one shown in Figure 2.8. Again, notice that the BCD simply refers to the legacy OS as “Earlier Version of Windows.”
Figure 2.8 If you’re dual-booting Windows 10 with Windows XP or earlier, you use this startup screen to select an operating system to boot.
If you invoke Windows Boot Manager at startup and you do nothing at this point, Windows Boot Manager will automatically boot the default OS—usually Windows 10—after 30 seconds. Otherwise, you click the operating system you want to boot.
Customizing the Boot Configuration Data
As we mentioned earlier, the specifics of the Windows Boot Manager menu are determined by the BCD, which offers the following features:
It can be used with both BIOS-based systems and Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)-based systems. BCD creates a common store for both types.
It supports boot applications, which refers to any process that runs in the boot environment that the Windows Boot Manager creates. The main types of boot applications are Windows 10 partitions, legacy installations of Windows, and startup tools. In this sense, Windows Boot Manager is a kind of miniature operating system that displays an interface (the Windows Boot Manager menu) that lets you select which application you want to run.
Note
We don’t discuss the BCD WMI provider in this book. To get more information, see the following page: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa362639(v=vs.85).aspx.
Boot options are scriptable. The BCD exposes a scripting interface via a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) provider. This interface enables you to create scripts that modify all aspects of the BCD.
Windows 10 gives you five methods to modify some or all the data in the BCD store:
Windows Boot Manager
The Startup and Recovery feature
The System Configuration Utility
The BCDEDIT command-line utility
The BCD WMI provider
Using Windows Boot Manager to Modify the BCD
You can use the Windows Boot Manager to modify just a couple of BCD options: the default operating system and the maximum time the Windows Boot Manager menu is displayed. Here are the steps to follow:
1. Display the Windows Boot Manager, either at startup or from within Windows 10.
2. Click Change Defaults or Choose Other Options. (If you invoked Windows Boot Manager from within Windows 10, this command is called Change Defaults.)
3. To change the time that elapses before Windows Boot Manager selects the default OS, click Change the Timer and click the time you want to use (5 Minutes, 30 Seconds, or 5 Seconds).
4. To change the default OS, click Choose a Default Operating System, and then click the OS you want to use as the default.
5. Click the Back arrow to return to the Choose an Operating System screen.
6. Click the operating system you want to boot.
Using Startup and Recovery to Modify the BCD
You can modify a limited set of BCD options using the Startup and Recovery dialog box: the default operating system, the maximum time the Windows Boot Manager menu is displayed, and the maximum time the Windows 10 startup recovery options are displayed. Here are the steps to follow:
1. In the taskbar’s Search box or the Run dialog box (press Windows Logo+R), type systempropertiesadvanced and then press Enter. The System Properties dialog box appears.
2. In the Advanced tab, click the Settings button in the Startup and Recovery group. Windows 10 displays the Startup and Recovery dialog box, shown in Figure 2.9.
Figure 2.9 Use the Startup and Recovery dialog box to modify some aspects of the Boot Configuration Data.
3. In the Default Operating System list, click the operating system that Windows Boot Manager highlights by default at startup. (In other words, this is the operating system that runs automatically if you do not make a choice in the Windows Boot Manager screen.)
4. Use the Time to Display List of Operating Systems spin box to set the interval after which Windows Boot Manager launches the default operating system. If you don’t want Windows Boot Manager to select an operating system automatically, uncheck the Time to Display List of Operating Systems check box.
5. If Windows 10 is not shut down properly, Windows Boot Manager displays a menu of recovery options at startup. If you want the default options selected automatically after a time interval, check the Time to Display Recovery Options When Needed check box and use the associated spin box to set the interval.
6. Click OK in all open dialog boxes to put the new settings into effect.
Using the System Configuration Utility to Modify the BCD
For more detailed control over the BCD store, you can modify the data by using the System Configuration Utility. To start this program, follow these steps:
1. In the taskbar’s Search box or in the Run dialog box (press Windows Logo+R), type msconfig and then press Enter.
2. If you see the User Account Control dialog box, either click Continue or type an administrator password and click Submit. The System Configuration window appears.
3. Select the Boot tab, shown in Figure 2.10.
The large box near the top of the tab displays the operating systems on the current computer. You see “Current OS” beside the operating system you’re running now; you see “Default OS” beside the operating system that’s set up as the default. (Note, however, that the Boot tab does not include an entry for any legacy OS—that is, Windows XP or earlier—that you have installed.) There are four main tasks you can perform:
Click the Set as Default button to set the highlighted operating system as the default for the Windows Boot Manager menu.
Use the Timeout text box to set the maximum time that Windows Boot Manager waits before selecting the default OS.
Use the check boxes in the Boot Options group to set the following startup options for the currently highlighted Windows 10 install:
Safe Boot: Minimal—Boots Windows 10 in Safe mode, which uses only a minimal set of device drivers. Use this switch if Windows 10 won’t start, if a device or program is causing Windows 10 to crash, or if you can’t uninstall a program while Windows 10 is running normally.
Safe Boot: Alternate Shell—Boots Windows 10 in Safe mode but also bypasses the Windows 10 GUI and boots to the command prompt instead. Use this switch if the programs you need to repair a problem can be run from the command prompt or if you can’t load the Windows 10 GUI.
Safe Boot: Active Directory Repair—Boots Windows 10 in Safe mode and restores a backup of the Active Directory service (this option applies only to domain controllers).
Note
The shell loaded by the /safeboot:minimal(alternateshell) switch is determined by the value in the following Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetSafeBootAlternateShell.
The default value is CMD.EXE (the command prompt).
Safe Boot: Network—Boots Windows 10 in Safe mode but also includes networking drivers. Use this switch if the drivers or programs you need to repair a problem exist on a shared network resource, if you need access to email or other network-based communications for technical support, or if your computer is running a shared Windows 10 installation.
Note
%SystemRoot% refers to the folder into which Windows 10 was installed. This is usually C:Windows.
No GUI Boot—Tells Windows 10 not to load the VGA display driver that is normally used to display the progress bar during startup. Use this switch if Windows 10 hangs while switching video modes for the progress bar or if the display of the progress bar is garbled.
Boot Log—Boots Windows 10 and logs the boot process to a text file named ntbtlog.txt that resides in the %SystemRoot% folder. Move to the end of the file and you might see a message telling you which device driver failed. You probably need to reinstall or roll back the driver (see Chapter 26, “Troubleshooting and Repairing Problems”). Use this switch if the Windows 10 startup hangs, if you need a detailed record of the startup process, or if you suspect (after using one of the other Startup menu options) that a driver is causing Windows 10 startup to fail.
Base Video—Boots Windows 10 using the standard VGA mode: 640×480 with 256 colors. This is useful for troubleshooting video display driver problems. Use this switch if Windows 10 fails to start using any of the Safe mode options, if you recently installed a new video card device driver and the screen is garbled, if the driver is balking at a resolution or color depth setting that’s too high, or if you can’t load the Windows 10 GUI. After Windows 10 has loaded, you can reinstall or roll back the driver, or you can adjust the display settings to values that the driver can handle.
OS Boot Information—Displays the path and location of each device driver as it loads, as well as the operating system version and build number, the number of processors, the system memory, and the process type.
Click the Advanced Options button to display the BOOT Advanced Options dialog box shown in Figure 2.11:
Number of Processors—In a multiprocessor system, specifies the maximum number of processors or cores Windows 10 can use. Check this check box if you suspect that using multiple processors is causing a program to hang.
Note
If you check the Make All Boot Settings Permanent check box and then click Apply, you see a scary message saying that “you will not be able to undo the changes at a later time.” This is, to say the least, misleading. What it should say is, “you will not be able to undo the changes at a later time simply by selecting the Normal Startup option in the General tab.” Instead, you must manually reverse the individual changes you made (for example, if you checked the Safe Book check box, then you must manually uncheck that check box).
Maximum Memory—Specifies the maximum amount of memory, in megabytes, that Windows 10 can use. Use this value when you suspect a faulty memory chip might be causing problems.
PCI Lock—Check this check box to tell Windows 10 not to dynamically assign hardware resources for PCI devices during startup. The resources assigned by the BIOS during the POST are locked in place. Use this switch if installing a PCI device causes the system to hang during startup.
Debug—Enables remote debugging of the Windows 10 kernel. This sends debugging information to a remote computer via one of your computer’s ports. If you use this switch, you can use the Debug Port list to specify a serial port, IEEE 1394 port, or USB port. If you use a serial port, you can specify the transmission speed of the debugging information using the Baud Rate list; if you use an IEEE 1394 connection, activate Channel and specify a channel value; if you use a USB port, type the device name in the USB Target Name text box.
Using BCDEDIT to Customize the Startup Options
The System Configuration Utility makes it easy to modify BCD store items, but it doesn’t give you access to the entire BCD store. For example, the Boot tab doesn’t list any legacy boot items on your system, and there are no options for renaming boot items or changing the order in which the boot items are displayed in the Windows Boot Manager menu. For these tasks, and indeed for every possible BCD task, you need to use the BCDEDIT command-line tool.
Note that BCDEDIT is an Administrator-only tool, so you must run it under the Administrator account (not just any account in the Administrators group). The easiest way to do this is to run a Command Prompt session with elevated privileges, as described in the following steps:
1. Press Windows Logo+X (or right-click the Start button). A menu of power user commands appears.
2. Click Command Prompt (Admin). The User Account Control dialog box appears.
3. Either click Yes or type an administrator password and click Yes. The Command Prompt window appears.
Table 2.2 summarizes the switches you can use with BCDEDIT.
To help you understand how BCDEDIT works, let’s examine the output that appears when you run BCDEDIT with the /enum switch on a system that dual-boots Windows 10 and Windows 8.1:
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=DeviceHarddiskVolume1
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
integrityservices Enable
default {current}
resumeobject {14d214f2-caf4-11e1-b73a-83d46d071b71}
displayorder {current}
{14d214ef-caf4-11e1-b73a-83d46d071b71}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path Windowssystem32winload.exe
description Windows 10
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {14d214f4-caf4-11e1-b73a-83d46d071b71}
integrityservices Enable
recoveryenabled Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot Windows
resumeobject {14d214f2-caf4-11e1-b73a-83d46d071b71}
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {14d214ef-caf4-11e1-b73a-83d46d071b71}
device partition=D:
path Windowssystem32winload.exe
description Windows 8.1
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {14d214f0-caf4-11e1-b73a-83d46d071b71}
recoveryenabled Yes
osdevice partition=D:
systemroot Windows
resumeobject {14d214ee-caf4-11e1-b73a-83d46d071b71}
nx OptIn
Here’s another example from a system that dual-boots with Windows 10 and Windows XP:
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=D:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
integrityservices Enable
default {current}
resumeobject {bdf44e81-cad5-11e1-b38b-cbbdd9e7fb08}
displayorder {ntldr}
{current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30
Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {ntldr}
device partition=D:
path
tldr
description Earlier Version of Windows
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path Windowssystem32winload.exe
description Windows 10
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {bdf44e83-cad5-11e1-b38b-cbbdd9e7fb08}
integrityservices Enable
recoveryenabled Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot Windows
resumeobject {bdf44e81-cad5-11e1-b38b-cbbdd9e7fb08}
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard
As you can see, this BCD store has four entries: one for Windows Boot Manager, one for a legacy Windows install (on partition C:), and two for Windows 10 installs (on our test machine, partitions D: and G:). Notice that each entry has an Identifier setting, and these IDs are unique to each entry. All IDs are actually 32-digit globally unique identifiers (GUIDs), such as the one shown earlier for the first Windows Boot Loader item:
14d214f4-caf4-11e1-b73a-83d46d071b71
The other entries have GUIDs as well, but by default BCDEDIT works with a collection of well-known identifiers, including the following (type bcdedit id /? to see the complete list):
bootmgr—The Windows Boot Manager entry
ntldr—An entry that uses a legacy operating system loader (NTLDR) to boot previous versions of Windows
current—The entry that corresponds to the operating system that is currently running
default—The entry that corresponds to the Windows Boot Manager default operating system
memdiag—The Windows Memory Diagnostics entry (deprecated in Windows 10)
If you want to see the full GUIDs for every entry, add the /v (verbose) switch:
bcdedit /enum /v
Running through all the BCDEDIT switches would take dozens of pages, so we’ll just give you a few examples so you can get a taste of how this powerful utility operates.
Making a Backup Copy of the BCD Store
Before you do any work on the BCD store, you should make a backup copy. That way, if you make an error when you change something in the BCD, you can always restore the backup copy to get your system back to its original state.
You create a backup copy using the /export switch. For example, the following command backs up the BCD store to a file named bcd_backup in the root folder of drive C:
bcdedit /export c:cd_backup
If you need to restore the backup, use the /import switch, as in this example:
bcdedit /import c:cd_backup
Tip
GUIDs are 32-character values, so typing them by hand is both time-consuming and error-prone. To avoid this, first run the bcdedit /enum command to enumerate the BCD entries, and then scroll up until you see the GUID of the entry with which you want to work. Pull down the system menu (click the upper-left corner of the window or press Alt+Spacebar), select Edit, Mark, click-and-drag over the GUID to select it, and then press the Enter key to copy it. Begin typing your BCDEDIT command, and when you get to the part where the identifier is required, pull down the system menu again and select Edit, Paste.
Renaming an Entry
The names that Windows Boot Manager assigns to the boot applications leave a lot to be desired. For a legacy operating system entry, for example, the default Legacy (pre-Longhorn) Microsoft Windows Operating System name is overly long and not particularly descriptive. A simpler name, such as Windows XP Pro or Windows 2000, would be much more useful. Similarly, all Windows 10 installs get the same name: Microsoft Windows, which can be quite confusing. Names such as Windows 10 Home Premium and Windows 10 Ultimate would be much more understandable.
To rename an entry using BCDEDIT, use the following syntax:
bcdedit /set {id} description "name"
Here, replace id with the entry identifier (the GUID or the well-known identifier, if applicable) and replace name with the new name you want to use. For example, the following command replaces the current name of the legacy operating system entry (ntldr) with Windows XP Pro:
bcdedit /set {ntldr} description "Windows XP Pro"
Changing the Order of the Entries
If you’d prefer that the Boot Manager menu entries appear in a different order, you can use the BCDEDIT tool’s /displayorder switch to change the order. In the simplest case, you might want to move an entry to either the beginning or the end of the menu. To send an entry to the beginning, include the /addfirst switch. Here’s an example:
bcdedit /displayorder {a8ef3a39-a0a4-11da-bedf-97d9bf80e36c} /addfirst
To send an entry to the end of the menu, include the /addlast switch instead, as in this example:
bcdedit /displayorder {current} /addlast
To set the overall order, include each identifier in the order you want, separated by spaces:
bcdedit /displayorder {current} {a8ef3a39-a0a4-11da-bedf-97d9bf80e36c} {ntldr}
Installing Windows 10 Components
Like a hostess who refuses to put out the good china for just anybody, Windows 10 doesn’t install all of its components automatically. Don’t feel insulted; Windows is just trying to go easy on your hard disk. The problem, you see, is that some of the components that come with Windows 10 are software behemoths that will happily usurp acres of your precious hard-disk land. In a rare act of digital politeness, Windows bypasses these programs (as well as a few other nonessential tidbits) during a typical installation. If you want any of these knickknacks on your system, you have to tell Windows 10 to install them for you.
The good news about installing features is that Windows 10 makes it easy to add any of those missing pieces to your system without having to dig out the installation media (wherever it may be) or (shudder) trudge through the entire Windows installation routine. The reason is that when Windows 10 was foisting itself upon your PC, it was thoughtful enough to also deposit the files necessary to install the features on your hard drive. They reside in a special folder in a compressed format so they don’t take up much room. You must tell Windows 10 to decompress them, which sounds hard, but it’s not. You just have to follow these steps:
1. In the taskbar’s Search box, type features, and then click Turn Windows Features On or Off. The Windows Features dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 2.12.
Figure 2.12 The Windows Features dialog box helps you add the bits and pieces that come with Windows 10.
2. If a component has a plus sign (+), it means it has multiple subcomponents. Click the plus sign to see those subcomponents.
3. Check the box beside the component you want to install. (We should also mention that if there’s a Windows feature you no longer need, you can uncheck its box to uninstall it.)