How to Remove “Earlier Version Of Windows” in Windows 7 Bootloader with “bcdedit” command line utility

Posted by Jonathan on May 16th, 2010, in How to, Tips & Tricks and tagged bootloader, bootmgr, OS

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If your computer has more than one OS installed natively on the system and Windows 7 is one of them, the chances are you will see the option to boot into other “Earlier Version Of Windows” option during the system startup.

So what if the previous Windows OS (doesn’t matter if it’s Windows Vista, XP, 2000 or even older edition) is already removed from the system but for some reason the boot loader didn’t get updated? You basically are seeing this option showing up every time when you turn on the machine.

Here’s how you can delete the unnecessary boot loader entries and straight boot into your Windows 7

First, you need to boot into Windows 7.

Open up the command prompt and type “bcdedit”. Make sure you are running the command line as Administrator.

bcdedit_remove_Windows_Legacy_OS_Loader

Here is an example, everybody might have different results when you type the command. Basically it lists out all the OS that has registered to the Windows Boot Manager. For instance, as you can see, there is an entry called “Windows Legacy OS Loader”, the identifier of which contains the value “{ntldr}”. From this, I can tell the Windows Legacy OS Loader used to load Windows XP on this system, since the value of ntldr is default for winxp bootloader.

Now type bcdedit /delete {ntldr} /f

delete bcdedit f 2

After you see the message “The operation completed successfully”, restart your computer. And you will not see this boot option anymore during the next startup.

“bcdedit” is a powerful command line utility that manages your Windows boot loader. You can not only clean out unnecessary boot entries, but also can create new boot entries manually as well. For more information about how to use the tool, simply type bcdedit /? for help. But be more careful about what you will be doing there, as any deletion operation will be extremely difficult to recover.

Jonathan

in short no, This will not work. If you try to type the command “bcdedit” in your Windows XP you will find its not a recognized command.

“bcdedit” is a utility that comes with Windows Vista and up

However that said, there is other ways you can edit the bootloader in Windows XP

Cheers

Milos

Thx man u solved my problem THX A LOT!

Jonathan

np glad it worked for you !

nismo

same here this is exactly what i needed thank you!
Dave Huntington

Great information. Followed the steps and it got rid of “Earlier Version of Windows”. Still boots to the same screen, but it appears there was a third alternative. Now the boot manager screen has two choices: “Windows 7″ and “Microsoft Windows Recovery Console”. Can you please tell me how to rid Boot Manager from the last entry so it boots straight into Windows 7? You are so appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Aaron

Works Great! Thank you!
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samer

ohhh u r my hero >>> but before i read it i did Right clik my computer-> properties-> advance seting-> advanced-> startup and recovery-> settings-> choose default operating system: windows 7 –> then change time to display list of operating system to zero >>> then i cant logon into windows 7 or xp(Earlier Version Of Windows) so what i have 2 do now>> plz give me the solution
John

Thanks for the info. Its people like you the make my day go well.
Tolga

Thank you. It works for me. OK.
Richard

I noticed that is on the same partition (D:) as . If I removed the entry and format drve D: will this screw up the boot of windows seven?

Tribinity

i did this too, what can i do to fix it?

leif mark

when i type “bcdedit” , it says that it cannot be opened and “Access denied” is written below.
what will i do???

Jonathan

make sure you (the user) have the administrator rights, your command prompt should say “Administrator” on the top left

George

Go to start type CMD and it will give you a screen to choice run as Administrator

http://www.simperija.lt Paulius

Thanx a lot, it helped!
macky.02

Thanks a lot… very helpful…
Trent harris

Great, works fine, and fast, and effective.
jonas

thankz it help me alot,,
http://www.windows7hacker.com deepak

the detail given that how to delete previous version of window is not helpful
me follow all the steps but at the end when i restart my computer it again shows two version ,,
plz tell me any another way to remove the previous version…

Jonathan

if you have issue using the command line, you can try to use this method a GUI way to add/remove bootloaders

Cheers

indar

Thanks BRo . it worked …
DoDong Gahi

thnx a lot…. it really works… god speed.
shiva

it says that it cannot be opened and “Access denied” is written below.

Jonathan

make sure you run cmd as administrator

Avinash

Thankq soooooo much
Vikky

Thank you so very much. It removed the other boot option. One thing i want to know is that weather the old windows is completely removed from my computer?

Jonathan

Good question, this all depends on how you have installed Windows 7.

Most of the time they are the left over Boot option from none existing Windows OS, but it could be that the OS does exists on your hard drive.

A good way to check is if you have multiple partitions on your Windows 7, and see if those partitions have /Windows folder under it, if not that means you don’t have an older Windows OS, if there is, chances are your computer got another OS potentially installed

Ron

Im having issues removing boot up xp that i had on a previous hdd. I have windows 7 installed and on automatic boot it still looking for windows xp.I got into bcdedit and its not showing in there either.Where would it be comming from?

Jonathan

sounds like you have 2 hard drive and each of them have one bootable OS installed.

If that’s the case, just go to BIOS and make sure to select first boot off the Windows 7 disk, this way your machine will never ask to boot to XP

sindeti

thanks alot. it worked for me. didnt expect it!!!
sai

Thank you Soooo Much. This really Works
Chris

Hi, mine is showing the device as:
“partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1″

Is it still safe to use this method?
poonam

thanku so much
sandesh

thanks a lotttttttttt it worked. was bugging me for months thanksssssssssssss
nag

When iam tried the “bcdedit” command .The command prompt showed “The boot configuration data could not be opened. Access is denied” this line. what is the error?
plz give replay
thankyou

Jonathan

the user that you are currently logged in is not “Administrator” please login with Admin. OR run CMD as Administrator

nag

Thanks BRo . it worked …!
Umar

i typed bcdedit and the command prompt window pops up and immidiately disappears…

anything i can do???

Burl

type cmd first and run as administrator, so the window is open. Then type bcdedit.

Yahia

Thanks man worked for me!!
http://www.linuxheaven.net ibrahim

Thanks man .. that’s really help me
John

Wow this really helped, it was as easy as opening a Word document and writing two sentences, thank you
Mostafa

It worked perfectly, thank you very much
Jake

it works!!! thanks
Arnel

Thanks dude it works with my netbook win 7 ulmate os
Jailson

Valeu meu irmãozinho… funfou legal aqui
Siddhant

after typing “bcdedit”….,
it says that the boot configuration data store coul not be opened.
What to do next…???
Plz Help…..
thanks…!!!
http://---- Siddhant

after typing bcdedit it shows that the boot configuration data store could not be opened….
what to do next…????