On Mon, 24 May 2021 18:14:37 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

Brandon wrote:

The settings under sysdm.cpl are for 30 seconds. I've never monkeyed
with them. I'm going to leave them as is.

You can also msconfig.exe with its BOOT.INI tab to ensure the same 30
seconds is specified there for the timeout.

Same 30" in the msconfig boot.ini

Is more than one OS listed in the list shown in the wizard mentioned
above? If not, no such list will be presented on boot since only one OS
is selectable.

Only Win XP. I've enuf problems with one OS. I don't more of them.

"Access anything" is vague. Is it a list of OSes that is missing during
boot, or is it that you cannot force display of the boot menu using F8
(F5 on some setups)?

I have no boot choices at all showing at boot. It goes right to
Windows. No chance to use any F8 key or any other.

It does take about a full minute to boot into Windows. That's a long
wait.

Have you enabled Hibernation mode? If your computer was put into
Hibernation on shutdown, it will naturally restore the same OS upon
boot. That's the point of hibernation: start up in the same state as
when shutdown. Disable hibernation, or make sure to do a full shutdown
and NOT into hibernation mode, and retest.

Never used Hibernation. Took a look at Power stuff - Hibernation
Unchecked.

Oh, in addition, some pre-built computers want tisplay and advertisement
banner on boot. They want to ensure the user, whoever that is at the
time, gets to see that, gee, it's a Dell, Acer, HP, or whatever computer
maker created the computer. The splash screen will obliterate the POS
(Power On Start) screens, and could even last long enough to obliterate
the boot menu. Go into the BIOS and make sure the boot banner screen
option is disabled. Then, on boot, you should first see the POS screen
showing memory size, devices detected, BIOS version, and possibly other
information, including any other BIOS that loads afterward (e.g., SCSI),
and then followed by the boot menu (hit F5 or F8 immediately when the OS
starts loading).

This comp was built in a shop nearby about 8 or 9 years ago. It never
had all that ad crap placed on it. It's one of the reasons I have my
boxes made by the local shop. I dictate what goes on them.

I have True Image incremental backups of the C: going back to Dec. of
'20. I wondering if I loaded one far enough back before this started
if that older image made before all this might straighten things out.

Does a True Image copy of the C: partition also contain the old boot
menu? It would mean installing a bunch of the newer programs all over
again.