[prashant]

The System Configuration Tool in Windows Vista

The System Configuration tool is a problem-solving tool. It includes some great settings for configuring the startup of your system.

You start the System Configuration tool by clicking your Start orb, typing msconfig in your Search bar, and then pressing Enter. You can also open the Run dialog box and type msconfig. You will see five tabs and the description on how to use each one is as follows:

General

The General tab has one heading, called Startup Selection, and three options to choose:

1) Normal: Boots the system without any diagnostic services. If you are trying to identify a problem, you should select one of the other two options. When you are sure the problem is resolved, just click this setting to boot your system normally again.

2) Diagnostic: This mode starts your system with basic services and drivers. With only the minimum services and drivers running, you can proceed with troubleshooting confident that your system is stable on a basic level, so the problem must be coming from higher up.

3) Selective: This option allows you to start your system with basic services and drivers (just like diagnostic), but it also allows you to specifically configure the use of additional services and startup applications so you can slowly determine what is causing the problem in your boot process. You can go through and turn on items one at a time from the Service or Startup tabs and see how your system reacts when you reboot.

Boot

The Boot tab lets you configure boot options, including timeout settings and advanced settings, such as:

1) Safe Boot: Minimal: Boots to the Windows GUI but only running critical services. Networking functions are also disabled. If you find your system is working at this level then you might want to try turning on services to see if they cause any further issues.

2) Safe Boot: Alternate Shell: Boots to a command prompt. Critical services are running, but networking and the GUI are disabled. From here you can perform command-line diagnostics.

3) Safe Boot: Active Directory Repair: Boots to the Windows GUI running critical services and Active Directory.

4) Safe Boot: Network: Boots to the Windows GUI, running critical services and networking. If you don’t think your problem is in the networking services then having the network turned on for your system will allow you to access resources you might need on the network or Internet for diagnosis.

5) No GUI Boot: Does not display the Windows Vista splash screen when you are booting.

6) Boot Log: Stores information from the boot process in a log located in %systemroot% called ntbtlog.txt. These logs can be sent to other technicians for their opinion on what might be causing your system to crash.

7) Base Video: Just like VGA mode in times past, this mode loads the system with standard VGA drivers instead of those that specially relate to your hardware. This option is good for removing problems with video drivers.

8) OS Boot Information: Shows all the drivers during the boot process as they load up.

9) Make All Boot Settings Permanent: Usually when you make changes, you can undo them simply by selecting the Normal boot process from the General tab (as mentioned above). But if you select this option, those changes can still be undone; however, the warning is you have to manually go back and uncheck the options you have checked.

10) Timeout Settings: You can configure different countdowns for your multi-boot systems. You can try to type in what you like, but it will ask for a number between 3 seconds and 999 seconds.

11) Advanced Settings: These advanced options enable you to configure such things as the number of processors, the amount of memory, and Global Debug settings. Keep in mind that these options are last-resort choices to diagnose your systems and are usually used under the direction of Microsoft support services.

Services

The Services tab shows a list of all the services that start with the computer when it boots. You can see the current status of these services i.e., running or not, and can enable or disable them from here. You can also deselect the checkbox to prevent that service from starting up the next time you boot the system. In disabling services, however, you are forced to use the Selective Startup in the General tab.

You can also select Hide All Microsoft Services to show only the services from third parties. Be careful when you decide to disable a service because you might cause other problems while attempting to search for the one causing your original problem. Some services are required for your system to operate properly. Other services, if disabled, may throw off your diagnostic approach because you may be affecting other aspects of your operating system.

Startup

It provides a list of applications that start up with the boot. You can see the name of the application, the manufacturer, the location of the executable, and the Registry key for the startup application. You can also see a date when you might have disabled the application.

From here, you can deselect the checkbox to stop the application from running on the next boot. If you feel there is a problem with a specific application, you can also confirm from here the location of the application.

Another way to disable these options is to locate the path for their startup in the Registry and remove the link for the application. The path is HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run .

Tools

The Tools tab provides a list of diagnostic and informational tools and shows the location of these tools. From within this tab, you can literally “Launch” any tool, or you can note the location or name of the tool itself.

Additional Information

A great third-party tool is called the MSCONFIG Cleanup tool. Sometimes you have to disable certain applications in the Startup menu, such as certain spyware and malware applications you find. Disabling these applications from MSCONFIG does prevent them from running, but it doesn’t remove them from your system or, more specifically, from your system’s Registry. The goal of the cleanup tool is to go into the Registry and remove these items.