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Modify Folder Options

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1. Right-click Start, and then click Explore.
   
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click View.
   
3. Under Advanced Settings, click Show hidden files and folders, click to clear the Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) check box, click Yes, and then click OK.
   
4. Locate the system partition, locate and right-click the Boot.ini file, and then click Properties.
   
5. Click to clear the Read-only check box, and then click OK.

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Save a Backup Copy of the Boot.ini File

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1. Right-click Start, and then click Explore.
   
2. Locate the system partition, locate and right-click the Boot.ini file, and then click Copy.
   
3. Locate and click the folder where you want to copy the Boot.ini file, and then click Paste on the Edit menu.

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Sample Boot.ini File

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The following is a sample of a default Boot.ini file from a Windows Server 2003-based computer:

[boot loader]

timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows .NET Standard Server" /fastdetect

				

[boot loader]

timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows .NET Standard Server" /fastdetect

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional"

				

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Edit the Boot.ini File

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1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Notepad.
   
2. On the File menu, click Open.
   
3. In the Look in box, click the system partition, in the Files of type box, click All Files, locate and click the Boot.ini file, and then click Open.
   
4. Make the changes that you want to the Boot.ini file, and then click Save on the File menu.
   
   Examples of changes that you can make are described in the following sections of this article.

Remove an Operating System from the Menu

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To remove an operating system from the menu, follow these steps:

1. In Notepad, select the line that contains information about the operating system that you want to remove, and then click Delete on the Edit menu. For example, select the following line:
   
   multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
   
   
2. On the File menu, click Save.

Modify the Operating System Menu Order

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To modify the operating system menu order, follow these steps:

1. In Notepad, select the line that you want to move, click Copy on the Edit menu, and then press DELETE.
   
2. Click where you want to insert the line, and then click Paste on the Edit menu.
   
3. Repeat step 1 and step 2 for each line that you want to move, and then click Save on the File menu.

Modify the Default Operating System

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The default operating system is the operating system that is started if no selection is made before the time-out occurs. (The time-out is the number of seconds in which you can select an operating system from the menu before the default operating system is loaded.) To modify the default operating system, follow these steps:

1. In Notepad, modify the following line to change the default operating system:
   
   default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
   For example, to change the default operating system from Windows Server 2003 to Windows XP Professional, modify the following line
   
   default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
   to the following:
   
   default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS
   
   
2. On the File menu, click Save.

Modify the Time-out

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To modify the time-out value, follow these steps:

1. In Notepad, edit the following line to change the time-out (where the value is 30 seconds):
   
   timeout=30
   
   
2. On the File menu, click Save.

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Troubleshooting

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If there is a problem with the Boot.ini file that you modified, copy the original Boot.ini file (the one that you backed up earlier) to the system partition.

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