Definition of Boot Loader Menu in the Network Encyclopedia.
What is Boot Loader Menu?
Boot Loader Menu is a menu that appears when you boot a computer with the Microsoft Windows NT operating system installed. The boot loader menu appears during the boot loader phase of Windows NT startup, and it is displayed by the Windows NT loader program called ntldr.
The boot loader menu allows you to:
- Select the particular operating system you want to run on a dual-boot system
- Boot Windows NT using optional boot-time switches for troubleshooting reasons
There are always two boot loader menu entries for each copy of the Windows NT operating system installed on a computer—for example, “Windows NT Server Version 4.0” and “Windows NT Server 4.0 [VGA mode]”.
Use the VGA mode option if you have changed your video display driver settings and cannot access the desktop after a normal boot. Once you have booted in VGA mode, reconfigure your video driver.
The boot.ini file
The boot loader menu is created by the boot.ini file, which can be edited using a text editor such as Microsoft Notepad, but this should be done with care. A safer way of modifying boot.ini is to use the System utility in Control Panel.
