As we know Windows 8 RTM is released to public. One of the new feature included in the Windows 8 is Metro Boot Menu. Which is completely different from old one’s. And it also allows the mouse pointer to select an operating system.
But the things that troubles users are :
1. It appears a loading screen before Boot menu :
2. For users with dual operating systems, If you are selecting an O.S other than Windows 8 it’ll boot only after restart.
Comparing to new Boot Menu, the old one is fast and simple. It might be better getting old boot menu for the users with dual O.S. Windows 8 Switch Boot is a solution for this problem.
You can bring back the Old Standard Windows 8 Boot Menu with NanWick Windows 8 Switch Boot. :
This tool will help you to switch between Metro Boot Screen and Standard boot screen. You can download this using the following link :
The users who are interested to what happens behind this tool and to do this manually check out the following steps:
1. First Goto %windir%\system32\ . (%windir% = C:\Windows if you have installed Windows in C drive)
2. Find cmd.exe. Once you find it Right click on cmd.exe and select Run as administrator.
3. Select any one of the following two commands and type it in the Command line window.
bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy -To get old Boot screen
bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard -To get Metro style Boot screen
Don’t forget to share your feedback about this tool 
One of the major changes in Microsoft’s latest offering is an all new Startup Menu (boot screen) that appears if you have dual-booted Windows 8 with another operating system. The redesigned light blue colored menu, for the first time, lets you interact with it using keyboard, mouse or touch gestures. The Startup Screen also offers some additional options, such as system Reset, Refresh, Repair, and command prompt access etc. Even though it looks great, it has a few nuisances that may plague the overall user experience. For instance, the new screen shows a loading screen before displaying the actual boot menu – which users may find bit of a hassle. More annoying, some times the boot screen either does not appear or hangs at a blank screen, leaving you with nothing other than rebooting the system. On the bright side however, you can switch to the old black and white Startup Menu which was found in Windows 7. NanWick Switch Boot is Windows 8 application that does that job.
Windows 8 also lets you switch to the old boot menu by heading to System Configuration (simply type msconfig on Start Screen to access this utility). But this procedure can be quite cumbersome for amateur users, and toggling any unrelated settings can even cause system malfunction. Power users can also use the bcedit command in CMD to make changes to the default boot screen. However, it again sounds quite tiresome and over-complicated if you’re not really sure what you’re doing. NanWicks Switch Boot is designed to switch between Standard (old) and Metro (new) boot menu requiring nothing more than a single click. This also keeps your original boot image file intact, as the utility isn’t actually replacing any system files, rather performing the bcedit command at the backend, for which the developer has provided a handsome explanation.
The procedure to change between the screens is quite simple. Just launch the application and click the Startup Menu you want to set as default (Standard/Legacy or Metro). The changes are instantaneously applied. This way you can switch between the screens anytime you want without a hitch.
NanWick Switch Boot is a portable application and works only on Windows 8. It’s also worth noting that it’s designed to work when you have dual-booted Windows 8 with another OS. Testing was carried out on Windows 8 Pro x64.
Download NanWick Switch Boot
UPDATE: This tutorial will also work in Windows 8.1 and later.
We have mentioned in many articles that Microsoft’s new OS Windows 8 comes with a new redesigned boot loader (aka boot manager or boot menu screen). Its different from the classic boot loader present in previous Windows versions such as Windows XP or Windows 7. Windows 8 boot loader comes with a new GUI to switch between OS, to customize boot options, to access safe mode and other advanced settings.
But there is one problem in this new boot loader. In previous Windows versions, the boot loader was used to show immediately right after the default BIOS screen so that users can select the OS to use. But in Windows 8, the new boot loader is shown after the boot screen when Windows 8 booting process is finished. It increases the waiting time if you don’t want to boot into Windows 8 but want to use the other OS installed in your computer system. In such scenario, you’ll need to first wait for Windows 8 to finish the boot process and when it shows the boot loader, then you’ll be able to select the other installed OS. Once you select the other OS, Windows 8 will restart your computer again and upon reboot, you’ll be able to boot into other installed OS.
This behavior might become very frustrating if you frequently switch between Windows 8 and other installed Windows versions. Today in this article, we are going to share a few easy and quick ways which will help you in switching between Windows 8 and other installed OS quickly and easily if you have a dual boot computer system.
So without wasting time, lets start the tutorial:
Table of Contents
- Method 1: Disable New Boot Loader in Windows 8
- Method 2: Use Advanced Startup Options to Quickly Switch to Other OS in Windows 8
- Method 3: Another Quick Way to Use Advanced Startup Screen to Switch to Other OS
- Method 4: Using DOS Command
- Method 5: Using Shortcut in Desktop Context Menu
Method 1: Disable New Boot Loader in Windows 8
If you find the new boot loader problematic, you can disable it permanently. Once you disable it, you’ll get Windows Vista or Windows 7 style classic boot loader which will be shown right after the BIOS screen and you’ll be able to select desired OS to use without first booting into Windows 8.
Following tutorial will help you in disabling the new boot loader in Windows 8:
How to Disable New Boot Loader and Bring Back Windows 7 Style Boot Loader in Windows 8?
Method 2: Use Advanced Startup Options to Quickly Switch to Other OS in Windows 8
Did you know Windows 8 comes with a new advanced startup feature which helps you in quickly accessing boot options such as use another installed OS, etc? We have already told you about this feature in following topic:
How to Access and Use Windows 8 Metro Boot Loader and Advanced Boot Options?
If you are currently logged in Windows 8 and want to switch to other installed OS, with the help of this feature you’ll not need to boot into Windows 8 again to select the other OS. You can directly restart your system into other OS.
1. Move your mouse cursor to top-right corner of screen to access Charms Bar. Alternatively, you can access it by pressing Win+C keys together.
2. Now click on Settings and then click on “Change PC settings” option.
3. It’ll open PC setting screen. Then,
For Windows 8 Users: Click on General tab.
For Windows 8.1 Users: Click on “Update and recovery” and then “Recovery” tab.
Now in right-side section scroll down to bottom and click on “Restart now” button given in Advanced startup section.
4. That’s it. It’ll take a few seconds and will show you a new screen containing various boot options. Click on “Use another operating system” option and then you’ll be able to select the other installed OS to use.
As soon as you click on the other OS entry, your computer will restart and upon reboot it’ll directly boot into other OS instead of booting into Windows 8.
Method 3: Another Quick Way to Use Advanced Startup Screen to Switch to Other OS
If you don’t want to go to PC settings screen to access advanced startup feature, you can directly access it using following way:
1. Move your mouse cursor to top-right corner of screen to access Charms Bar. Alternatively, you can access it by pressing Win+C keys together.
2. Now click on Settings and then click on Power button. It’ll show boot options such as restart, shut down, hibernate, etc.
3. Now press and hold SHIFT key and click on Restart option.
4. That’s it. Similar to method 2, it’ll show you a new screen having various boot options where you can click on “Use another operating system” option to restart your computer directly into other installed OS.
Method 4: Using DOS Command
Microsoft has introduced a new parameter for built-in shutdown command in Windows 8. This new parameter is /o which works in conjunction with /r parameter which is used to restart the system.
So you can execute following command in Command Prompt to access new boot options screen to select other installed OS:
shutdown.exe /r /o
Now you can select the other OS to use similar to previous methods. If you want, you can create a shortcut for this command and place it on Desktop or pin it to Taskbar or Start Screen for quick and easier access.
You can also add a direct shortcut to access advanced startup screen in Desktop context menu (right-click menu). In this way, you’ll only need to right-click on Desktop and then you can click on the option to access boot options screen.
Check out following tutorial to add this and other power options in Desktop context menu:
Add Restart, Shut Down and Other Power Options in Desktop Context Menu of Windows 8
So these were the quick and easy ways to switch to other installed OS without starting Windows 8 again in a dual-boot environment. We have told about most of them in previous topics but this separate topic should help some Windows 8 users…
You are here: Home » Troubleshooting Guides » [Tip] 5 Easy Ways to Switch from Windows 8 and Later to Other Installed OS in Dual Boot Environment
If you are using the Windows 8 boot Manager (UEFI), you can easily change the Boot order. How this works, we will show you in this practical tip.
Order in the Windows 8 boot Manager change
If you are setting up Windows 8 on your Computer will also automatically installs its own boot Manager. This normally starts automatically Windows 8, even if you have installed other operating systems. The order of the Boot Manager but you can change them easily.
- Restart your Computer normally and boot Windows 8.
- You switch to the Desktop mode.
- Press the key combination [WINDOWS] + [R]. The «Run Dialog» should appear.
- Enter in the new dialogue box «msconfig» and confirm the entry with the [Enter] key.
- You can switch to the «startup»tab.
- In the table, you can find all the operating systems, which can detect the Windows 8 boot Manager.
- Select the desired operating system from the list and then click on «set As default».
- Save the settings with a click on «Apply» and close the window. The next time you Start the boot Manager will automatically start your chosen operating system.
Boot sequence in msconfig
The graphical boot menu or boot options menu is one of the new features introduced with Windows 8. Unlike the old black and white style boot menu, the boot options menu looks elegant and is compatible with keyboard, mouse, and also touch.
The boot options menu lets you quickly access various advanced options such as Command Prompt, startup settings, system restore, Refresh PC & Reset PC, and automatic repair.
Users who have installed Windows 8 in dual boot with previous Windows version see the new boot menu every time they turn on the machine. If have installed Windows 8 in dual boot with Windows 7 and you have set Windows 7 as default OS, you’ll see the old style boot menu. Users who are running only Windows 8, can go to PC settings, general, and then click or tap Restart now button (under Advanced startup) to see the new boot options menu.
We have previously shown you how to enable or disable the graphical boot menu with the help of a command. Since not every user is comfortable with the command line, a Windows enthusiast has developed a small tool that enables you turn on or off the new boot options menu.
Windows 8 Switch Boot is a portable utility to quickly enable or disable the graphical boot options menu. The tool simply execute a command to enable or disable the new boot options menu. In other words, it doesn’t edit or replace original system files. So, you can use it safely.
Windows 8 Switch Boot is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 8. Visit the developer’s page to download the program.
The users who are interested to what happens behind this tool and to do this manually check out the following steps:
1. First Goto %windir%\system32\ . (%windir% = C:\Windows if you have installed Windows in C drive)
2. Find cmd.exe. Once you find it Right click on cmd.exe and select Run as administrator.
3. Select any one of the following two commands and type it in the Command line window.
bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy -To get old Boot screen
bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard -To get Metro style Boot screen