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FolderRisk: Do not touch

Boot C:\Windows\Boot

Reference copies of the Windows boot files (BIOS and UEFI), used to create or repair the system partition.

Updated on By AltF4 Formation

What it’s for

C:\Windows\Boot keeps the reference copies of the boot files: the boot manager, fonts and resources for the boot menu, and files for booting from a DVD. bcdboot draws on them to create or recreate the files of the system partition, at installation and during a repair.

What it contains

  • One subfolder per boot mode: PCAT (BIOS, legacy boot manager), EFI (UEFI, including bootmgfw.efi), DVD, Fonts and Resources.
  • The active files are on the system partition (EFI or System Reserved), not here. On a UEFI machine, the boot manager in use is \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\Bootmgfw.efi on that partition, and this folder keeps only the reference copy.

Risks and best practices

  • Boot repair from WinRE (bcdboot C:\Windows) draws on this folder, so if it is damaged the repair fails.
  • The content is owned by TrustedInstaller. Do not take ownership of the folder to “tidy up”.
  • Before any low-level boot operation, export the BCD store with bcdedit /export.

Useful commands

Fenêtre de terminal
# Reference subfolders
Get-ChildItem "$env:windir\Boot" -Directory | Select-Object Name


# As administrator: current boot configuration
bcdedit /enum


# As administrator: back up the BCD store
bcdedit /export C:\Temp\bcd-backup

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