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Does Windows have an equivalent of the kernel command line [0] and, if so, where can I find the documentation?
[0] https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.15/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.html
phg
Posted 2018-03-16T10:32:35.173
Reputation: 165
does windows have a kernel command line
Answers
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Yes.
Before Windows Vista, Windows was loaded by NTLDR - you could specify switches in the boot.ini file. These are essentially command line options passed to the kernel.
Starting with Vista, these options are pulled from the "BCD" - which is essentially a registry hive. However, if you press F10 while at the Windows Boot Manager (which you can get by pressing Space repeatedly at the manufacturer BIOS/UEFI screen), you can access a screen where you can edit the command line passed to the kernel before it boots.
Windows 10 is more convoluted - the equivalent menu is accessible only if you tell Windows to enter the blue "recovery options" screen on shut down, which can be problematic if Windows won't start to begin with, of course. Some info.
The F10 key may work in the old NTLDR "Windows Advanced Options Menu" where you select Safe Mode - it's been a long time since I've had to work with XP systems. Not 100% sure what happens when you press F10 on Windows 10 ...
But you can use BCDedit I believe to change these options in Windows 10.
Current documentation on switches is probably tied to the BCDedit utility.
LawrenceC
Posted 2018-03-16T10:32:35.173
Reputation: 63 487
So there’s no single method that works with all (post-XP) versions? I was thinking of setting the command line through GRUB chainloading or something like that. – phg – 2018-03-16T11:34:11.957
Nope. Windows 10's method was probably introduced due to Secure Boot. – LawrenceC – 2018-03-16T16:28:23.853
Have you tried googling "Windows kernel parameters" yet? – JRI – 2018-03-16T10:40:34.323
I don't think so. If windows has it, it will most likely be build into PowerShell. – LPChip – 2018-03-16T10:41:28.330
@JRI have you? I get no results. – LPChip – 2018-03-16T10:42:29.733
@LPChip Yes - Google said there were about 1,090,000 results, and the top hits looked relevant to me. Whether they are useful to the OP, I don't know, as they haven't said what they want to do. – JRI – 2018-03-16T10:54:44.983
@JRI those 1,090,000 results seemed to go about something completely different than what is presented in the link posted by OP. I'd say they are irrelevant. – LPChip – 2018-03-16T11:07:43.997
@JRI Googling “windows kernel command line” yields results that pertain to Linux or WSL. Neither is relevant. – phg – 2018-03-16T11:11:18.440
This looks like an XY problem. What are you actually trying to achieve?
– DavidPostill – 2018-03-16T11:34:48.6471@DavidPostill: I wish to know a) how to pass arguments to a Windows kernel, and b) what parameters there are. – phg – 2018-03-16T12:49:55.107
@phg Windows does not have a kernel command line you can pass commands to. – DavidPostill – 2018-03-16T13:01:25.817
1@DavidPostill: “Windows does not have a kernel command line you can pass commands to.” That would be a perfectly valid answer. – phg – 2018-03-16T13:46:05.277