Member Avatar for Dragennd

So I realise my title may be rather vague but I honestly don't know how else to word it. Essentially what happened was I was having difficulty installing Ubuntu onto my new server rig I built, so I plugged the HDD into a dock on my Win10 rig and installed Ubuntu that way. The problem is that the only way I was able to get it to work was to use a program called Unetbootin and essentially "install" the ISO for Ubuntu directly to my Win10 root directory. This allowed me to install Ubuntu onto the HDD I was using for my server rig. The issue now is that I'm stuck with a dual-boot screen every time I turn on my computer as it thinks that the ISO for Ubuntu is a separate OS and I can't get rid of it. I've gone through and deleted every file and folder that I could see that was created by Unetbootin the day that I did the install and I've also checked msconfig to make sure there wasn't a separate boot option in there (of which there wasn't). So I'm pretty much stuck. There isn't anything else I can find that references it, I've even uninstalled Unetbootin from my OS with no success in removing this secondary (if not fake) boot option. Any help would be much appreciated. This isnt a major issue for me but it does get annoying having to pick my OS every time I turn on my computer.

Regards,
Dragennd

Edited by Dragennd
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What you are seeing is not a second OS; it is a leftover boot menu entry that UNetbootin added when you used the Hard Disk (frugal) mode. In that mode UNetbootin writes a BCD entry named "UNetbootin" and drops GRUB4DOS stubs at C:\ubnldr and C:\ubnldr.mbr, which makes Windows Boot Manager show a second choice even after you delete the files or the app. was right that this lives in the bootloader layer before Windows. UNetbootin’s own docs confirm the BCD edit and the ubnldr/ubnldr.mbr files. How UNetbootin Works.

Quick, safe cleanup (no third‑party tools):

  1. Open an elevated Command Prompt.
  2. Back up the BCD store.
  3. Find the UNetbootin entry and remove it.
  4. Optional: set the timeout to skip the menu.
bcdedit /export C:\bcd-backup
bcdedit /enum all

Look for the entry with description "UNetbootin" (often shows path \ubnldr.mbr). Copy its identifier GUID, then run:

bcdedit /delete {GUID}
bcdedit /displayorder {GUID} /remove
bcdedit /timeout 0

The Microsoft docs show how to list, remove, and control menu order and timeout with BCDEdit. Adding/Removing Boot Entries. BCDEdit command reference. BCDEdit options (/timeout, /displayorder, etc.).

If the menu persists, you might also have a UEFI firmware boot entry. List and delete firmware entries from Windows:

bcdedit /enum firmware
bcdedit /delete {firmware-entry-guid}

BCDEdit supports the FIRMWARE view to manage those entries. BCDEdit /enum.

Last resort: run Windows Startup Repair, or from WinRE use bootrec /fixmbr, bootrec /fixboot, and bootrec /rebuildbcd to rebuild the boot files. Bootrec in Windows RE.

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Member Avatar for Dragennd

Ok so I went to http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Install (I checked the config page too but didn't see anything that looked like it was windows related) and tried to read over the windows part but I don't fully understand what all this is gonna let me do. The command line options down where it talks about installing it on Windows doesn't talk about how to remove the settings I've apparently enabled or at least how to disable them. I could be missing something but I don't really see a way to undo what I've done to my computer short of formating and reinstalling windows (which I can't do all that easily as I'm using the free win10 upgrade they gave out a couple years ago).

If you could explain this to me I would be greatly appreciative. I haven't really messed around with this stuff before and don't exactly know what I'm doing here.

-Dragennd

Edited by Dragennd
Member Avatar for rproffitt

And that's the confuser to most. I looked into what bootloader Unetbootin installs and it looks like Syslinux. You went looking for related Windows and if you or I did that, we would walk away confused.

I'm not there to dive any deeper but write that it's a boot loader that runs before Windows and that is what you want to work on.

To edit the boot configuration file you may have to boot another Live OS (I use so many today with names likde TAILS, Puppy, Ubuntu and others that I can't tell you which to use. All of them have GUI file managers and text editors so you get to dive in and find that file to edit to make it do what you want.

If you want to replace the bootloader your FIRST STEP is to clone the drive in case something goes wrong. Then use the boot repair for Windows 10. Try W10's own startup troubleshooter first and maybe http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/ which has a free version.

Member Avatar for Dragennd

Hmm. Ok I think I understand at least where I need to start. I appreciate the info and when I am able to get it to work I'll update this thread as a note (and maybe a warning not to duplicate my own stupidity lol).

commented: Finding which direction to go in can be hard. +12
Member Avatar for isrjs


I have to say that rproffitt, suggested exactly went though my mind when I read your case.

  1. absolutely clone/image the drive you will be working on.
  2. the 1st thing that popped into my head was EasyBCD from NeoSmart.
    I believe EasyBCD will be the easiest, least invasive solution.
  3. my 2nd choice would have been to use the OS installation CD
    I have successfully used the Win7 installation CD to restore access to a boot drive.
    I would hope the Win10 installation CD would accomplish the same.
    However, I haven't used either ver CD for this particular purpose.
    I still think EasyBCD is your best bet.
    @rproffitt
    good job, I definitely concur with your recommendations.
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