# Tech question. How do I turn off the boot start-up menu?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tech-question-how-do-i-turn-off-the-boot-start-up-menu/84929>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 2, 2001, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tech-question-how-do-i-turn-off-the-boot-start-up-menu/84929 "2001-10-02T06:41:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Leap\_the\_net\_will\_appear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Leap\_the\_net\_will\_appear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leap_the_net_will_appear)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tech-question-how-do-i-turn-off-the-boot-start-up-menu/84929/1 "2001-10-02T06:41:43Z")

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Tech question. How do I turn off the boot start-up menu?

I was having trouble (Windows 98) and decided to turn the boot menu on using “hidden” Microsoft tool TweakUI.

Great. Now I have a stable system again, but I can’t get the menu to go away. It adds a countdown from 10 for every boot up.

I’ve tried several tools to undo it, and none seem to work.

It can’t be a setting in the Registry, because it appears before that is referenced. Same with Autoexec.

It seems to appear when the Config is loading, but I see nothing in my config file.

Any ideas?

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**Author:** ![pmh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@pmh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmh)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tech-question-how-do-i-turn-off-the-boot-start-up-menu/84929/2 "2001-10-02T06:51:53Z")

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It’s in MSDOS.SYS  
Usually in the C:\ or C:\Windows directory

BootMenu=X  
X=1 on  
X=0 off

BootMenuDelay=Y  
Y=number of seconds to display menu

or just delete both entries.

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**Author:** ![Leap\_the\_net\_will\_appear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Leap\_the\_net\_will\_appear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leap_the_net_will_appear)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tech-question-how-do-i-turn-off-the-boot-start-up-menu/84929/3 "2001-10-02T07:00:05Z")

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My MSDOS.SYS file looks like this

```auto

;FORMAT
[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C
UninstallDir=C:\

[Options]
BootGUI=1
DoubleBuffer=2
AutoScan=1
WinVer=4.10.1998

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pmh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@pmh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmh)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tech-question-how-do-i-turn-off-the-boot-start-up-menu/84929/4 "2001-10-02T07:26:08Z")

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Look for another one in the root directory.  
It may be hidden.

I have one like your version in C:\Windows, and another, with the lines from above in C:\

The second one (C:\MSDOS.SYS) is the one that is used.

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**Author:** ![Leap\_the\_net\_will\_appear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Leap\_the\_net\_will\_appear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leap_the_net_will_appear)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tech-question-how-do-i-turn-off-the-boot-start-up-menu/84929/5 "2001-10-02T07:27:00Z")

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I used your tip and searched for “bootmenu” within files in c:\ and c:\Windows

This led me to a file called MSDOS.SYS.FIXED  
and a utility called xteq.exe

So, now I can boot up without the menu.

But 😕 I got a side effect - much of the text on the board now appears as little squares. I guess a font died.

Well, at least I have a new thing to worry about. I may actually have to read the instructions for xteq.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Leap\_the\_net\_will\_appear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Leap\_the\_net\_will\_appear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leap_the_net_will_appear)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tech-question-how-do-i-turn-off-the-boot-start-up-menu/84929/6 "2001-10-02T07:37:37Z")

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I remembered that TweakUI had a Font Repair tab, so now I’m back in business all around.

Thanks!