Is there a way to get Windows Boot loader to start without hitting esc?

Is there some way to get Windows Boot loader to start automatically without hitting the esc key?
It's annoying having to hit the esc key over and over to get the bootloader to come up on startup.

 

Run this in a command prompt with admin privileges:

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu yes

 

I did it but the only option that shows up is Windows 8 (which starts my Windows 10 since I upgraded) but the Windows 7 in my USB drive doesn't show up (I still have to hit the esc key to get the full list of options).

 

It seems to me the installation of the second OS is not done in a proper way or the driver letter of the USB stick change or something..
On which OS did you perform the change?
When the bootloader show up is the W10 or the W7 one(you can tell the apart because the style is different)
Can you tell me if in System->Advanced->Startup & Recovery both OS are available in the default OS tab? Check this on both W10 and W7.

Not sure how conforable are you with modifying the boot loader but check the answer part here:
http://superuser.com/questions/927844/get-boot-partition-to-recognize-a-second-operating-system

 

Windows doesn't really like being on a USB drive. You can load the boot menu for your system, it is different from the Windows boot loader and boot from USB from there, but that is what requires you to hit a key. The issue with your config is that one of your Windows install is on a USB drive. Assuming the disk ID associated to it doesn't change, then you could likely use the method suggested by ATG. If you can have the Windows 7 Install on another partition on the drive or on another SATA drive that is in the laptop (assuming your laptop can take more than one drive), then it should tell you during the install process that there is more than one installation of Windows and it should be smooth sailing from there. That's how it was for my M6700 at least where one SSD has a windows 8.1 install and the other has a Windows 7 install. The boot loader displays the menu asking me which OS I want to boot from like it should and after 30 seconds will boot the OS I chose as the default one.

 

Yeah I installed Windows 7 on the USB using Win2USB, the laptop only has room for one internal HDD, so I guess I'll just have to keep hitting the esc key to boot from the USB drive?

 

If it's possible, you could set your computer to boot from the USB first and then the hard drive. If there is no usb drive plugged in, it would go down the list of boot devices and boot from the HDD instead. It might try to boot from USB if a drive other than the one that has Windows on it is plugged in and give you an error message or proceed to boot from the HDD so if you opt for that and you see a message saying it can't boot from the device with something else plugged through the USB port, you'll know what's wrong at least.