Unbranded Boot

Unbranded Boot is a Windows feature that allows you to suppress Windows elements that appear when Windows starts. It can also suppress the crash screen when Windows encounters an error that it can't recover from. This feature is useful for devices that are used in public spaces, such as kiosks and digital signs, where a clean and professional appearance is important.

Windows edition requirements

The following list contains the Windows editions that support Unbranded Boot:

✅ Enterprise / Enterprise LTSC
✅ Education
✅ IoT Enterprise / IoT Enterprise LTSC

Enable Unbranded Boot

Unbranded Boot is an optional component and isn't enabled by default in Windows. To configure it, you must first enable it.

There are different ways to enable Unbranded Boot, select the method that best fits your needs to learn more.

Control Panel

To enable Unbranded Boot using the Control Panel, follow these steps:

1. Open Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off or use the command optionalfeatures.exe
2. Expand Device Lockdown and select Unbranded Boot
3. Select OK to enable Unbranded Boot
4. Restart your device to apply the changes

PowerShell

To enable Unbranded Boot using PowerShell, follow these steps:

1. Open a PowerShell window with administrator privileges
2. Run the following command:

   Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -FeatureName Client-DeviceLockdown,Client-EmbeddedBootExp -Online
   

3. Restart your device to apply the changes

Important

The first user to sign in to the device must be an administrator. This ensures that the RunOnce registry settings correctly apply the settings. Also, when using auto sign-in, you must not configure auto sign-in on your device at design time. Instead, auto sign-in should be configured manually after first signing in as an administrator.

Configure Unbranded Boot

The following instructions provide details about how to configure your devices. Select the option that best suits your needs.

Note

If Windows is already installed, you can't apply a provisioning package to configure Unbranded Boot. Instead, you must use the command prompt to configure Unbranded Boot.

Command prompt

You can use the bcdedit.exe command to configure Unbranded Boot settings at runtime.

Note

Bcdedit.exe is a command-line tool for editing the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) of Windows. Administrator privileges are required to use BCDEdit to modify the BCD.

1. Open a command prompt as an administrator

2. Run the following command to disable the F8 key during startup to prevent access to the Advanced startup options menu

   bcdedit.exe -set {globalsettings} advancedoptions false
   

3. Run the following command to disable the F10 key during startup to prevent access to the Advanced startup options menu

   bcdedit.exe -set {globalsettings} optionsedit false
   

4. Run the following command to suppress all Windows UI elements (logo, status indicator, and status message) during startup

   bcdedit.exe -set {globalsettings} bootuxdisabled on
   

5. Run the following command to suppress any error screens that are displayed during boot. If noerrordisplay is set to on and the boot manager hits a WinLoad Error or Bad Disk Error, the system displays a black screen

   bcdedit.exe -set {bootmgr} noerrordisplay on
   

Unattend

You can configure the Unattend settings in the Microsoft-Windows-Embedded-BootExp component to add Unbranded Boot features to your image during the design or imaging phase. You can manually create an Unattend answer file or use Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM) to add the appropriate settings to your answer file.

Unbranded Boot settings

The following table lists Unbranded Boot settings and their values.

Setting	Description	Value
DisableBootMenu	Contains an integer that disables the F8 and F10 keys during startup to prevent access to the Advanced startup options menu.	- Set to 1 to disable the menu - The default value is 0
DisplayDisabled	Contains an integer that configures the device to display a blank screen when Windows encounters an error that it can't recover from.	- Set to 1 to display a blank screen on error - The default value is 0
HideAllBootUI	Contains an integer that suppresses all Windows UI elements (logo, status indicator, and status message) during startup.	- Set to 1 to suppress all Windows UI elements during startup - The default value is 0
HideBootLogo	Contains an integer that suppresses the default Windows logo that displays during the OS loading phase.	- Set to 1 to suppress the default Windows logo - The default value is 0
HideBootStatusIndicator	Contains an integer that suppresses the status indicator that displays during the OS loading phase.	- Set to 1 to suppress the status indicator - The default value is 0
HideBootStatusMessage	Contains an integer that suppresses the startup status text that displays during the OS loading phase.	- Set to 1 to suppress the startup status text - The default value is 0

For more information about the Unbranded Boot settings and XML examples, see the settings in Microsoft-Windows-Embedded-BootExp.

PPKG

Customize the boot screen using Windows Configuration Designer and Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM).

You must enable Unbranded Boot on the installation media with DISM before you can apply settings for Unbranded Boot using either Windows Configuration Designer or applying a provisioning package during setup.

Use the following settings to create a provisioning package:

Path	Value
Runtime settings/SMISettings/HideAllBootUI	TRUE or FALSE
Runtime settings/SMISettings/HideBootLogo	TRUE or FALSE
Runtime settings/SMISettings/HideBootStatusIndicator	TRUE or FALSE
Runtime settings/SMISettings/HideBootStatusMessage	TRUE or FALSE

Tip

For more information, see SMISettings in the Windows Configuration Designer reference.

Once you finish to configure the settings and building the package or image, use DISM to apply the settings:

1. Open a command prompt with administrator privileges

2. Copy install.wim to a temporary folder on the hard drive (for example, c:\wim)

3. Create a new directory to mount the image:

   md c:\wim
   

4. Mount the image:

   dism /mount-wim /wimfile:c:\bootmedia\sources\install.wim /index:1 /MountDir:c:\wim
   

5. Enable the feature:

   dism /image:c:\wim /enable-feature /featureName:Client-EmbeddedBootExp
   

6. Commit the change:

   dism /unmount-wim /MountDir:c:\wim /Commit
   

In the following image:

1. BootLogo is outlined in green
2. BootStatusIndicator is outlined in red
3. BootStatusMessage is outlined in blue

Replace the startup logo

The only supported way to replace the startup logo with a custom logo is to modify the Boot Graphics Resource Table (BGRT) on a device that uses UEFI as the firmware interface. If your device uses the BGRT to include a custom logo, it's always displayed and you can't suppress the custom logo.