Start by exporting your current BCD settings for backup. Boot into Windows 8.1 Log in with an administrator account Open up an elevated command prompt Type bcdedit /export c:\bcdbackup and press Enter This will create a file named bcdbackup on your C disk. Note that there is no fi le extension in the file name. No file extension is needed here. You can change this location or the name of the file if you like, but having it stored on the r oot of C will make it easy to find if needed. This will return a list of all the operating systems that the computer can boot from. Enter bcdedit and press Enter Enter bcdedit /v and press Enter By using the V switch the list will give you the UUIDs. You need to use the V switch to see the UUIDs for the different operating system s. Deleting the Windows XP entry Do you see any entry for Windows XP on the right side of the description headlin e? If so, then you need to delete it. And to delete it, you need to know its ide ntifier. The identifier is the UUID number you see on the right side of the identifier he adline, including the braces. Braces are the curly brackets at the start and the end of the number. If you have not done so yet, type bcdedit /v and press Enter Locate the identifier UUID for the entry that has "Windows XP" as descriptio n. To delete the entry type bcdedit /delete {UUID} and press Enter. Depending on how many operating systems you have installed, this could take anyw here from 4 minutes to 15 minutes. Just let it do its thing, you will see a conf irmation message when it's done. Warning! Make sure you type in the correct UUID! You need to type in the UUID fo r Windows XP. If you type in the UUID for Windows 8.1 then you will not be able to boot into Windows 8.1, at least not until you restore it using the backup fil e you created earlier. When you see ke sure that ke sure that r presenting
the confirmation message, type bcdedit /v again and press Enter. Ma
there is no entry for Windows XP anymore. Reboot the computer to ma you can boot into Windows 8.1, and that the boot loader is no longe the boot menu. If this is the case then you are all done now.
How to rebuild an existing BCD store using bootrec
If you still see the boot menu, or if you are unable to boot into Windows 7, the n you will have to do one of two things. A: Restore the BCD using the backup file you created earlier (see instructio ns below). B: You can rebuild the BCD using a tool called Bootrec. To do either one of these things you will need to enter the System Recovery Opti ons. Reboot the computer Press and hold the F8 key right after the POST, until you see the Advanced B oot Options menu. The POST is the power-on-self-test, this is the first screen t hat appears when you start the computer. Select the Repair Your Computer option and press Enter. This should take you to the System Recovery Options, also known as WinRE (Windows Recovery Environme nt). When you get to the System Recovery Options click on the Command Prompt link to open up a command prompt. To try to rebuild the existing BCD store as it is type bootrec /rebuildbcd and press Enter. Now it will scan hard disk drives for Wind ows installations. If the bootrec finds any Windows installations it will ask you whether or not yo u want to add it to the boot list. To say yes press Y, to say no press N, and to say yes to all press A