System Change Boot Menu Time-out to Choose an Operating System in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to change the boot menu time-out value in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

If you have more than on operating system installed on your computer, you will see a boot options menu at startup to Choose an operating system.

You can change how long to wait idle on the Choose an operating system screen before the default operating system runs automatically. The default boot menu time-out value is 30 seconds.

Reference:




EXAMPLE: Boot menu time-out value on "Choose an operating system" screen







1 While on the Choose an operating system at boot, click/tap on the Change defaults or choose other options link. (see screenshot below)


2 Click/tap on Change the timer. (see screenshot below)


3 Click/tap on the time-out value you want. (see screenshot below)


4 Click/tap on the back arrow button. (see screenshot below)


5 Click/tap on the OS (ex: "Windows 11") you want to run. (see screenshot below)

You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

1 Open System Properties (SystemPropertiesAdvanced.exe).

2 Click/tap on the Advanced tab, and click/tap on Settings for "Startup and Recovery". (see screenshot below)


3 Check the Time to display list of operating systems box, enter or select (arrows) how many seconds (0-999) for the time-out value you want, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

To have no timeout period and instantly run the default OS at startup, you could either enter 0 (zero) for the time-out value or uncheck the Time to display list of operating systems box.

4 Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

1 Open System Configuration (msconfig.exe).

2 Perform the following actions: (see screenshot below)

1. Click/tap on the Boot tab.
2. Type a Timeout value between 3 to 999 seconds for what you want.
3. Check the Make all boot settings permanent box.
4. Click/tap on OK.

3 Click/tap on Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)


4 Click/tap on Exit without restart since a restart is not required to apply. (see screenshot below)






1 Open an elevated command prompt or command prompt at boot.

You must be signed in as an administrator to open an elevated command prompt.

2 Type the command below into the command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

Substitute <seconds> in the command above with how many seconds (0 to 999) you want.

Using 0 seconds will have no timeout and instantly run the default OS at startup.

For example: bcdedit /timeout 30

That's it,
Shawn Brink