Windows, like all operating systems, has a boot manager that allows us to choose which operating system we want to boot when we turn on the PC. If we only have one operating system installed, then we will not see this screen on startup. However, if we have two, or more, systems installed at the same time, then we can see it just before starting to load Windows. We select the system we want, and this will be the one that starts. The problem comes when we remove a system and the Windows 10 boot is not updated.
If we remove an operating system from our PC, it will continue to appear in the boot menu every time we start the PC. It is not bad, nor dangerous, but it is annoying. Seeing operating systems that do not exist in the bootloader can make us make a mistake when selecting one, and even make our computer take longer, unnecessarily, to be ready.
Normally, each time an operating system is installed, it will scan the partitions and generate a new boot loader . But if traces of other operating systems are left on other hard drives (for example, on the MBR), then they will be added back, even though they are not actually installed.
Windows 10 allows us to edit, more or less easily, the entries of its boot loader. Thus, if we have invalid entries in it, we can repair them to have this boot screen organized. Here’s how to do it.
Remove operating systems from Windows 10 boot from msconfig
When executing the msconfig command in Windows, we can open a system configuration window from which we can, among other things, control everything related to starting the operating system. To do this, we will simply write “msconfig” in the search bar of the taskbar and execute the tool linked to this command.
Now, the next step will be to choose the “Startup” tab in this window.
As we will see, here we will see a list of all the operating systems that are registered at the start of Windows 10. It can be several versions of Windows, Linux systems, a Hackintosh … whatever we have on our hard drives.
What we must do is locate the entries that we do not want not to appear in the PC’s boot menu, select it and click on “Delete”. Windows, obviously, will not let us delete the system that we have loaded right now, so there will be no problem in this regard.
We apply the changes and that’s it. The next time we start the computer, the old operating systems will no longer appear on our PC.
Speed up Windows startup from here
The Windows boot manager gives us several seconds to choose the system we want to load. However, we can change this time to prevent the PC from spending so long on the boot screen. To do this, from the previous section, we must reduce the number of seconds of the “wait time” to zero. In this way, the bootloader will not appear and will always load in the default operating system.
If instead of 0 we put 1 second, we will be able to see for an instant the operating system selection screen. If we do not touch anything, in a second the default will start. But if we press a key, we can take control to change the operating system.
Edit Windows startup from advanced settings
Another way to carry out this change is to do it from the Windows 10 startup and recovery options. To get to them, what we must do is type in the task bar ” Advanced system configuration ” to open the window from which we will be able to enter this configuration.
In the window that will appear we can a series of advanced options that will allow us to configure the operation of Windows. The option that interests us is ” Startup and Recovery “.
Within this section we will be able to find a series of options. In the ” System startup” section, we can choose the default operating system to load every time we turn on the PC and, in addition, the option to show, or not, the list of operating systems.
Although from here we cannot eliminate the entries that we do not use, we will be able to hide the boot screen when we turn on our PC so that the default operating system is always running.
Easily edit Windows boot
The editing options that Windows offers us to modify the boot of your operating system are very limited, and even complicated. Therefore, if we do not want to complicate ourselves and we do not mind depending on a program to carry out this task, we can count on EasyBCD. This simple program will allow us to configure the Windows boot manager, add or remove operating systems and improve it to be able to use it more comfortably.
Thanks to this program we will be able to easily change the default operating system that we want to start, eliminate those that we no longer use, and even add new systems that do not appear in the list. We will also be able to manually edit the “boot.ini” of our Windows so that we can see, in text mode, all the entries in the Windows BCD and edit them (for example, to change the name).
Undoubtedly, it is an essential program for any user who wants to Dual-Boot on their PC, both with different versions of Windows and with other operating systems such as macOS or Linux.
We can download it for free from this link . It is only free for personal, non-commercial use.