How to access and use Advanced Startup options in Windows 10 to fix problems

In this post, we will show you how to access Windows Startup Settings or Advanced Startup Options in Windows 10 and also discuss how to use the advanced troubleshooting tools to fix Windows 10 problems.

Earlier, it was the Hardware Interrupts – pressing DEL for BIOS, F8 or F2 for boot menu – that helped computers take the necessary action. Now it is the software that boots so fast – making the use of advanced technologies – that your chances of making use of hardware interrupts are very low.

Advanced Startup Options Windows 10

To access the Advanced Startup Options settings screen in Windows 10, you have the following ways to do it:

1. Shift > Restart using WinX Menu
2. Via Context Menu
3. Via Settings
4. Using CTRL+ALT+Del > Restart
5. Using Lock Screen > Restart
6. Using shutdown.exe
7. Using bcdedit.exe command line.

1] Using Restart option of WinX Menu

To boot into the Advanced Startup Options in Windows 10, you can hold down the Shift key and then click Restart from the Power Menu in Start. On restart, you will see the Advanced Startup Options screen.

If you need to troubleshoot problems with your Windows computer, you can click on Troubleshoot. When you do this, you are offered:

1. Reset This PC option
2. Advanced options.

If you wish to reset your PC, select Reset the PC option.

If you need to access other troubleshooting and repair tools, click on Advanced Options, to arrive at the following screen.

Here you will see:

1. System Restore: Useful if you want to restore your Windows 10 PC.
2. System Image Recovery: Lets you recover your Windows using a system image file.
3. Startup Repair: Fixes startup problems
4. Command Prompt: Using the CMD you can access the more advanced built-in Windows tools
5. Startup Settings: It lets you change Windows startup options
6. Go back to the previous build.

2] Using Context Menu

3] Reboot PC into Advanced Startup Options via Settings

If you wish to directly access these Advanced startup options when working on your Windows 10, you can do so via the Settings app of Windows 10 > Update & Security > Recovery > Advanced startup and click the Restart now button.

Clicking on Startup Settings will let you change the preset startup settings and options.

Here you can:

1. Enable low-resolution mode
2. Enable debugging mode
3. Enable boot logging
4. Enable Safe Mode
5. Disable driver signature enforcement
6. Disable early-launch anti-malware protection
7. Disable automatic restart on system failure.

Windows 10 users may want to especially note that this is where you can enable Safe Mode.

Clicking on the Restart button will bring you to the following Startup Settings screen:

You have to press the keys to bring up the options.

Clicking on F10 will show you some more options including Launch recovery environment.

Pressing Enter will bring you back to your operating system.

4] Using CTRL+ALT+Del > Restart option

• Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to open the Switch User screen
• Click the Power button in the bottom-left side
• Press the Shift key and select Restart.

You will boot to the Advanced Startup Options screen.

5] Using Lock Screen > Restart option

• Open the Lock screen
• Click the Power button in the bottom-left side
• Press the Shift key and select Restart.

You will boot to the Advanced Startup Options screen.

6] Reboot into Advanced Startup Options using shutdown.exe

The third method is a bit tough to remember. You have to open the command prompt and type the following:

Hit Enter and see.

7] Reboot into Advanced Startup Options using bcdedit.exe command line

These settings are useful to know as, not only can you change your boot defaults here, but they can also be very useful to you if your computer will not start or you need to troubleshoot and fix other Windows problems.

How to change your Windows 10 login screen to display any image when your computer turns on

The login screen is the first thing you see each time you start your Windows 10 computer, so you may want to customize it.

You can set it to show a picture from your photo library, a stock photo selected by Windows, or choose a set of photos to use as a slideshow.

There’s only one caveat: In order to customize the Windows 10 login screen, you need to make it the same as the lock screen. You can’t configure them separately. This means, however, that if you’re looking to change the sign-in screen, you can just follow the same directions.

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How to change the Windows 10 login screen

1. Click the Start button and then click the Settings icon (which looks like a gear).

2. Click «Personalization.»

3. On the left side of the Personalization window, click «Lock screen.»

4. In the Background section, choose the kind of background you want to see. You can choose Windows Spotlight (Windows will choose a stock photo), Picture (you choose a photo from your photo library), or Slideshow (you choose a folder that contains the photos you want to see rotate through the login screen).

5. Turn on «Show lock screen background picture on the sign-in screen» by sliding its button to the right.

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

How to change your background on a Windows 10 device using your settings or a shortcut

How to invert or change the colors on your Windows computer, to make icons and links easier to see

How to change the font size on a Windows 10 computer, to make it easier to read text displayed on your screen

How to change your screensaver on a Windows 10 computer to a custom animation or slideshow

How to set a default printer in Windows 10 so that it’s easier and quicker to print documents

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How to change startup programs in Windows 10, to make your computer start faster

• You can change startup programs in Windows 10 — the applications that start when you turn on your computer — by adjusting your settings.
• You can also disable startup programs in Windows 10, as having too many can slow down your computer, and even cause Windows to crash upon startup.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Having programs open on startup can save you a lot of hassle if you use them frequently. When they open by default, after all, you won’t have to spend time searching for them on your computer. Popular programs like Skype, Spotify, and f.lux will usually be set to startup by default.

However, having too many startup programs can make turning on your Windows 10 computer an incredibly slow process. This is especially true for older computers with less processing power.

It’s possible to turn this function off for individual programs, as well as enable it for other programs. This means that you can set it so only the programs that you need will start up right away.

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How to change startup programs in Windows 10

1. Click the Windows logo at the bottom left of your screen, or press the Windows key on your keyboard. Then search and select «Startup Apps.»

2. Windows will sort the applications that open on startup by their impact on memory or CPU usage. If you’re experiencing slow startups, start by disabling the programs at the top and work down.

3. If you don’t recognize a program on this list, then it might be a good idea to search its name in your internet browser to see if it’s important. Either you’ll find out what it’s there for, or realize that it’s unwanted software that you should consider uninstalling.

For information on how to uninstall programs in Windows 10, see our article here.

How to disable startup programs in Windows 10

You can also disable startup programs via the Task Manager.

1. Open the Task Manager by right-clicking the Windows icon, or by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete.

2. Click «More Details» at the bottom of the Manager, and then select the Start-up tab at the top.

3. You can disable options in this list by right clicking them.

You can sort programs in this list by how many resources they take up when they start.

How to set a program to launch at startup in Windows 10

1. Click the Windows logo at the bottom left of your screen, or press the Windows key on your keyboard, and then type the name of the application you want to run at startup.

2. Right-click the application and select «More.»

3. Select «Open file location.» If you don’t see that option in the More menu, then you can’t set it up to open at startup.

4. In the folder that opens, right-click the program’s icon and select «Copy.»

5. Either click the Windows logo in the bottom left again and search for the Run application, or hit the Windows key + R on your keyboard.

6. In the Run window, type «shell:startup» and then press Enter.

Paste the shortcut into the new folder that appears by right-clicking on an empty space and selecting «Paste.»

Startup settings in Windows Terminal

The properties listed below affect the entire terminal window, regardless of the profile settings. These should be placed at the root of your settings.json file.

Default profile

Set the default profile that opens by typing ctrl+shift+t , typing the key binding assigned to newTab , running wt new-tab without specifying a profile, or clicking the ‘+’ icon.

Property name: defaultProfile

Necessity: Required

Accepts: GUID or profile name as a string

Default value: PowerShell’s GUID

Launch on machine startup

When set to true , this enables the launch of Windows Terminal at startup. Setting this to false will disable the startup task entry.

Note: if the Windows Terminal startup task entry is disabled either by org policy or by user action this setting will have no effect.

Property name: startOnUserLogin

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: true , false

Default value: false

Launch mode

This defines whether the terminal will launch as maximized, full screen, or in a window. Setting this to focus is equivalent to launching the terminal in the default mode, but with focus mode enabled. Similarly, setting this to maximizedFocus will result in launching the terminal in a maximized window with focus mode enabled.

Property name: launchMode

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: «default» , «maximized» , «fullscreen» , «focus» , «maximizedFocus»

Default value: «default»

New instance behavior

This setting controls how new terminal instances attach to existing windows. This property is only used if the —window,-w window command line argument is not provided. This setting accepts the following possible values:

• useNew : Create a new window, always. This is how the terminal always behaved prior to version 1.7.
• useExisting : Create new tabs in the most recently used window on this desktop. If there’s not an existing window on this virtual desktop, then create a new terminal window.
• useAnyExisting : Create new tabs in the most recently used window, regardless of which virtual desktop the window is on.

Property name: windowingBehavior

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: «useNew» , «useExisting» , «useAnyExisting»

Default value: «useNew»

Launch size

Columns on first launch

This is the number of character columns displayed in the window upon first load. If launchMode is set to «maximized» or «maximizedFocus» , this property is ignored.

Property name: initialCols

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: Integer

Default value: 120

Rows on first launch

This is the number of rows displayed in the window upon first load. If launchMode is set to «maximized» or «maximizedFocus» , this property is ignored.

Property name: initialRows

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: Integer

Default value: 30

Launch position

This sets the pixel position of the top left corner of the window upon first load. On a system with multiple displays, these coordinates are relative to the top left of the primary display. If an X or Y coordinate is not provided, the terminal will use the system default for that value. If launchMode is set to «maximized» or «maximizedFocus» , the window will be maximized on the monitor specified by those coordinates.

Property name: initialPosition

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: Coordinates as a string in the following formats: «,» , «#,#» , «#,» , «,#»

Default value: «,»

Center on launch

When set to true , the terminal window will auto-center itself on the display it opens on. The terminal will use the «initialPosition» to determine which display to open on.

This interacts with the other launch settings in the following ways:

• «initialPos»: x,y , «centerOnLaunch»: true , «launchMode»: «default» : center on the monitor that x,y is on.
• «initialPos»: x,y , «centerOnLaunch»: true , «launchMode»: «maximized» : maximized on the monitor that x,y is on ( centerOnLaunch adds nothing).
• «initialPos»: , «centerOnLaunch»: true , «launchMode»: «default» : center on the default monitor.
• «initialPos»: , «centerOnLaunch»: true , «launchMode»: «focus» : center and enter focus mode on the default monitor.
• «initialPos»: , «centerOnLaunch»: true , «launchMode»: «maximized» : maximized on the default monitor ( centerOnLaunch adds nothing).

Property name: centerOnLaunch

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: true , false

Default value: false

Disable dynamic profiles

This sets which dynamic profile generators are disabled, preventing them from adding their profiles to the list of profiles on startup. For information on dynamic profiles, visit the Dynamic profiles page.

Property name: disabledProfileSources

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: «Windows.Terminal.Wsl» , «Windows.Terminal.Azure» , and/or «Windows.Terminal.PowershellCore» inside an array

Default value: []

Startup actions

This sets the list of actions to execute on startup, allowing the terminal to launch with a custom set of tabs and panes by default. These actions will be applied only if no command line arguments were supplied. The list of actions is represented by a string with the same format as commands in the command line arguments. For more information about the commands format, visit the Command line arguments page.

Property name: startupActions

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: String representing a list of commands to run