Questions[bcdedit](server)

We're setting up some systems to PXEboot via iPXE and, depending on a master server state, either boot normally or reimage via wimboot and MDT. The systems are configured to boot from the network first. iPXE and wimboot are both running under UEFI.

It works great, except at the end of the windows installation, the BIOS has been modified to point to the new Windows Boot Manager as the primary boot device. So it can't be imaged again without entering the bios and changing settings.

I understand why the boot order gets changed as the wimboot/MDT process involves multiple restarts. But I really would like to either keep PXE as the primary boot throughout or manipulate the boot order back to have network first when done. (My PXE server will pass on the network boot opportunity to allow the install to work or leave the system alone when no imaging is needed.)

Update - I see two possibilities:

1. Figure out how the windows installer tells UEFI to boot from the destination install disk, and do the same thing when the windows install is done to set back to PXE boot.
2. Play with the Windows Boot Manager and BCDEdit after installation of windows to place the PXE booting option above booting from local disk (question found at superuser is basically the same question as here. The end result discussed there isn't quite what I really want (PXE first in UEFI settings) but might yield the same behavior (PXE boot always getting a chance to act before windows starts).

I'm trying to create a system that will use native boot VHDs, as described on Technet.

I followed that entire whitepaper throughout, making modifications for my system (I have three VHDs to boot from). I completed Step 13 and pulled the flash drive before rebooting. After booting I got an error: BOOTMGR Missing. Press CTRLALTDEL to reboot your system.

The only thing remaining on my system are the three VHD files I copied over. All the BCD entries I made are gone, the VDISKs I created in DISKPART are gone, etc.

Is there an implicit "save your work by typing this command" step that I'm missing? I went over everything again and I don't see that I'm missing anything.

Rather than playing the F8 game on startup, is there a way (command line etc.) of configuring windows so that shutting down Window and rebooting will always come up with the advanced boot menu or alternatively is there a way of shutting down windows so that it will always come up with the Windows Recovery environment. I'm thinking of some kind of command line tool which sets a registry setting or somesuch so that on reboot Windows kicks into the advanced boot menu.

If neither of these are possible how can I add the Windows Recovery environment (WinRE) to the boot menu - can this be done with BCDEdit or Easy BCD?

This is with Windows 7 64 bit by the way.

Thanks,

Matthew.

BCDEdit allows for editing the bcd store of the current system drive (C: drive). Is there also a way to create and edit the bcd store of a secondary drive, so the system can boot from it later on? (For instance, by physically moving the drive to another machine as the primary disk)

I've installed Wubi onto a Windows Vista computer. I've also set the boot timeout to 0:

bcdedit /timeout 0

However, now I can't figure out how to get the menu to come up at all! I read on the internets that I had to hold F8 or space when starting up, but they doesn't seem to do anything. Is there a different key or setting I've overlooked?

The computer itself is a Dell that's a few months old. The keyboard is USB, but I don't think that's the problem as I can get into the BIOS just fine. Maybe I'm doing it wrong? Am I supposed to hold the keys or rapidly tap them (I've tried both)?

If it helps, here's the output from bcdedit:

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=C:
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {5460d9d2-d391-11dc-9d9f-aba67a8797c5}
displayorder            {current}
                        {e2484fe7-5e97-11de-84d4-0024e8074422}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 0
resume                  No

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows Vista
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {572bcd55-ffa7-11d9-aae0-0007e994107d}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {5460d9d2-d391-11dc-9d9f-aba67a8797c5}
nx                      OptIn

Real-mode Boot Sector
---------------------
identifier              {e2484fe7-5e97-11de-84d4-0024e8074422}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \ubuntu\winboot\wubildr.mbr
description             Ubuntu