System Configuration (msconfig) Shortcuts - Create

Brink · Jul 22, 2014

How to Create System Configuration (msconfig) Shortcuts in Windows

Information

System Configuration (msconfig) is a tool that can help identify problems that might prevent Windows from starting correctly.

This tutorial will show you how to download or create System Configuration (msconfig) shortcuts that open directly to the General, Boot, Services, Startup, or Tools tab in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.

Note

For more information about msconfig, see: Using System Configuration (msconfig) - Windows Help

Tab	Description
General	Lists choices for startup configuration modes: Normal startup = Starts Windows in the usual manner. Use this mode to start Windows after you're done using the other two modes to troubleshoot the problem. Diagnostic startup = Starts Windows with basic services and drivers only. This mode can help rule out basic Windows files as the problem. Selective startup = Starts Windows with basic services and drivers and the other services and startup apps that you select.
Boot	Shows configuration options for the operating system and advanced debugging settings, including: Safe boot: Minimal = On startup, opens the Windows graphical user interface (File Explorer) in safe mode running only critical system services. Networking is disabled. Safe boot: Alternate shell= On startup, opens the Windows command prompt in safe mode running only critical system services. Networking and File Explorer are disabled. Safe boot: Active Directory repair = On startup, opens File Explorer in safe mode running critical system services and Active Directory. Safe boot: Network = On startup, opens File Explorer in safe mode running only critical system services. Networking is enabled. No GUI boot = Doesn't display the Windows Welcome screen when starting. Boot log = Stores all information from the startup process in the file %SystemRoot%Ntbtlog.txt. Base video = On startup, opens File Explorer in minimal VGA mode. This loads standard VGA drivers instead of video drivers specific to the video hardware on the PC. OS boot information = Shows driver names as drivers are being loaded during the startup process. Timeout = Determines how long the boot menu is displayed before the default boot entry is automatically selected. The default is set to 30 seconds. Make all boot settings permanent = Doesn't track changes made in System Configuration. Options can be changed later using System Configuration, but must be changed manually. When this option is selected, you can't roll back your changes by selecting Normal startup on the General tab. Advanced options: Number of processors = Limits the number of processors used on a multiprocessor system. If the check box is selected, the system boots using only the number of processors in the drop-down list. Maximum memory = Specifies the maximum amount of physical memory used by the operating system to simulate a low memory configuration. The value in the text box is megabytes (MB). PCI Lock = Prevents Windows from reallocating I/O and IRQ resources on the PCI bus. The I/O and memory resources set by the BIOS or UEFI are preserved. Debug = Enables kernel-mode debugging for device driver development. Global debug settings = Specifies the debugger connection settings on this PC for a kernel debugger to communicate with a debugger host. The debugger connection between the host and target PCs can be Serial, IEEE 1394, or USB. Debug port = Specifies using Serial as the connection type and the serial port. The default port is COM 1. Baud rate = Specifies the baud rate to use when Debug port is selected and the debug connection type is Serial. This setting is optional. Valid values for baud are 9600, 19,200, 38,400, 57,600, and 115,200. The default baud rate is 115,200 bps. Channel = Specifies using 1394 as the debug connection type and specifies the channel number to use. The value for channel must be a decimal integer between 0 and 62, inclusive, and must match the channel number used by the host PC. The channel specified doesn't depend on the physical 1394 port chosen on the adapter. The default value for channel is 0. USB target name = Specifies a string value to use when the debug connection type is USB. This string can be any value.
Services	Lists all of the services that start when the PC starts, along with their current status (Running or Stopped). Use the Services tab to enable or disable individual services at startup to troubleshoot which services might be contributing to startup problems.
Startup	In Windows 8 and 8.1, you can now manage startup items in Task Manager.
Tools	Provides a convenient list of diagnostic tools and other advanced tools that you can run.

EXAMPLE: System Configuration (msconfig)

OPTION ONE