Start your PC in safe mode in Windows 10

Safe mode starts Windows in a basic state, using a limited set of files and drivers. If a problem doesn’t happen in safe mode, this means that default settings and basic device drivers aren’t causing the issue. Observing Windows in safe mode enables you to narrow down the source of a problem, and can help you troubleshoot problems on your PC.

There are two versions of safe mode: Safe Mode and Safe Mode with Networking. Safe Mode with Networking adds the network drivers and services you’ll need to access the Internet and other computers on your network.

Select from the following sections to find out how to start your PC in safe mode from Settings, from the sign-in screen, or from a black or blank screen.

Press Windows logo key + I on your keyboard to open Settings. If that doesn’t work, select the Start button, then select Settings .

Under Advanced startup, select Restart now.

After your PC restarts to the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart. You may be asked to enter your BitLocker recovery key.

After your PC restarts, you’ll see a list of options. Select 4 or press F4 to start your PC in Safe Mode. Or if you’ll need to use the Internet, select 5 or press F5 for Safe Mode with Networking.

When you can’t open Settings to get into safe mode, restart your device from the Windows sign-in screen.

On the Windows sign-in screen, press and hold the Shift key while you select the Power > Restart .

After your PC restarts to the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart. You may be asked to enter your BitLocker recovery key.

After your PC restarts, you’ll see a list of options. Select 4 or F4 to start your PC in safe mode. Or if you’ll need to use the Internet, select 5 or F5 for Safe Mode with Networking.

Note: If you’ve encrypted your device, you’ll need your BitLocker key to start in safe mode.

Before you enter safe mode, you need to enter the Windows Recovery Environment (winRE). To do this, you will repeatedly turn your device off, then on:

Hold down the power button for 10 seconds to turn off your device.

Press the power button again to turn on your device.

On the first sign that Windows has started (for example, some devices show the manufacturer’s logo when restarting) hold down the power button for 10 seconds to turn off your device.

Press the power button again to turn on your device.

When Windows restarts, hold down the power button for 10 seconds to turn off your device.

Press the power button again to turn on your device.

Allow your device to fully restart. You will enter winRE.

Now that you are in winRE, you will follow these steps to take you to safe mode:

On the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart.

After your device restarts, you’ll see a list of options. Select option 5 from the list or press F5 for Safe Mode with Networking.

If you need more info on a black or blank screen error, see Troubleshoot black or blank screen errors.

Notes: If you need to exit safe mode, simply restart your device, or:

Press the Windows logo key + R.

Type msconfig in the Open box and then select OK.

Select the Boot tab.

Under Boot options, clear the Safe boot checkbox.

Windows 10 Pro Update — No Safe Mode Option available with boot-up USB when resolving Blank Screen with Cursor Issue

My problems started when i was updated to Windows 10 Pro (version 10.0.14393)

My system is as follows:

HP Z400 Workstation (which has no built-in Graphics)
ASUS Graphics Card with NVIDIA GeForce GTX560

From reading other posts i think that Windows has gone back to default settings and assumes that there is an in-build graphics card, which is not the case for my Workstation, so when i boot up i can only see a cursor with a black screen. I assume therefore that i must reinstall the graphics drivers.

I created a boot-up USB from another computer running Windows 10 Pro and discovered when booting up my Z400 Workstation, that i do not have ‘Safe Mode’ under ‘Advanced Option’ as was expected. i can only see ‘System Restore’, ‘System Image Recovery’, ‘Start-up Repair’, ‘Command Prompt’ and ‘Go back to Previous Build’.

I downloaded the latest version of the NVIDIA Graphics card updates and tried running the instillation from the Command Prompt, however this was unsuccessful.

I understand that although there is a blank screen, the workstation is booting up as normal, so i blindly signed in and blindly ran a small script file by typing the name into the ‘Cortana — Ask Me Anything’ box. I was able to confirm that this script file ran by searching for a text file that it had created from the boot-up Command Prompt. I then tried to run the NVIDIA graphics card updates using this method however this was unsuccessful.

Does anyone have any ideas on resolving any of my issues?

Steps to Boot Windows 10 in Safe Mode [with Pictures]

Last Updated: 1 year ago

In Windows 10, if you want to start Safe Mode with the F8 key, you have to set it up first. Read on to find out why and how, and to learn other ways to access Safe Mode in Windows 10.

Three other ways to access Safe Mode in Windows 10

1. Enter Safe Mode when Windows can’t boot normally
2. Enter Safe Mode from Normal Mode
3. Start Safe Mode from the login screen

TIP: If you’re tired of Windows problems that force you to start in Safe Mode, scroll down to this suggestion.

Why can’t you access the Safe Mode using F8?

On previous versions of Windows such as Windows 7, at the beginning of the boot, you’re able to press the F8 key to access the Advanced Boot Options menu, where you can enable Safe Mode. But on Windows 10, the F8 key doesn’t work any more. No matter how many times you’ve tried. You must be wondering why this happens. Is it removed from Windows 10?

Actually, F8 key is still available to access the Advanced Boot Options menu on Windows 10. But starting from Windows 8 (F8 doesn’t work on Windows 8, either.), in order to have faster boot time, Microsoft has disabled this feature by default. That is to say Windows 10 boots too fast to have any time to let anything interrupt. If you want to use the F8 key to access the Safe Mode, you need to enable the feature manually.

How can you get F8 work again?

F8 boot menu feature is disabled on Windows 10 by default. The good news is you can get it work again with the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) Edit command. BCD Edit is a tool written to control how the operating system is started. You can use it to enable F8 boot menu easily. Just follow these steps:

1) On your keyboard, press Windows logo key and R key at the same time to invoke the run command.

2) Type cmd then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to open an administrator command prompt. (Don’t just press Enter or click OK as that won’t open the command prompt in an administrator mode.)

3) Copy the following command and paste it in the Command Prompt. Then on your keyboard, press the Enter key.

bcdedit /set bootmenupolicy legacy

4) Reboot your PC. Before the Windows logo appears, press F8 to access the Boot Options menu (see below screenshot). Then select Safe Mode.

Note: You can get F8 work again only when you’re able to access Windows. If you can’t start Windows normally, you need to use other effective way.

How to boot into Safe Mode in Windows 10?

Except F8, there are other numerous ways to boot into Safe Mode in Windows 10. In this post, you’ll learn the easiest ways. If you run into a serious problem (for example, blue screen) and can’t start Windows normally, please use Way 1 to enter Safe Mode. If you’re in Windows Normal Mode, please use Way 2. If you boots to the login screen (you may call it sign-in screen), please use Way 3.

Way 1: Enter Safe Mode when you can’t boot normally

Safe Mode loads with a minimum set of drivers, software and service. Usually, when Windows doesn’t start normally, Safe Mode starts with no problem. It’s useful for you to troubleshoot the problem there.

This way works effectively when you can’t boot Windows 10 normally.

Ensure your PC is off

Ensure your PC is off. If your PC is on, turn it off.

Enter Preparing Automatic Repair screen

Press the power button to turn on your PC, then hold the power button down until PC shuts down automatically (about 5 seconds) . Repeat this more than 2 times until you see the Preparing Automatic Repair (see below screenshot).

Note: This step is aim to bring up Preparing Automatic Repair screen. When Windows doesn’t boot properly, this screen pops up and Windows attempts to fix the problem by itself. If you’ve seen this screen at the first time when you power up the computer, skip this step.

Diagnose your PC

Wait for Windows to diagnose your PC.

Advanced Options button

Click Advanced options, then the system will bring up the Windows RE (Recovery environment.) screen.

On the Windows RE (Recovery environment) screen, click Troubleshoot.

On the Troubleshoot screen, click Advanced options.

Advanced options screen

Click Startup Settings to continue.

Click Restart. The computer restarts and another screen opens showing a list of different startup options.

Enable Safe Mode

On your keyboard, press the 4 number key to enter Safe Mode without network. (If you need to do some online research after boot into the safe mode, press the 5 number key to enter Safe Mode with network access.)

Way 2: Enter Safe Mode from Normal Mode

If you’ve started Windows normally, you can boot into the safe mode using the System Configuration tool. The System Configuration tool allows you to configure how your PC starts, the boot procedure, the startup items, etc.

Follow below instructions to open the System Configuration tool and set Windows starts in Safe Mode. Just 4 steps:

1) On your keyboard, press the Win+R (Windows logo key and R key) at the same time to invoke the Run box.

2) Type msconfig and click OK. Then the System Configurations will open.

3) When System Configuration opens, click the Boot tab. Under Boot options, check Safe boot then click OK.

4) When you’re prompted to restart your computer to apply these changes, click Restart then you will boot into the Safe Mode.

IMPORTANT: If you want to start Windows 10 in Normal Mode, ensure Safe boot is unchecked.

Way 3: Start Safe Mode from the login screen

If you can boot to the login screen, you can enter Safe Mode from the login screen. The steps are similar with the steps of Way 1.

1) On your keyboard, hold down the Shift key.

2) While holding down the Shift key, on the login screen (you may call it sign in screen), at the bottom right of the corner, click the power button then select Restart. Then Windows will bring up the Windows RE (Recovery environment) screen.

3) On the Windows RE (Recovery environment) screen, click Troubleshoot.

4) On the Troubleshoot screen, click Advanced options.

5) Click Startup Settings.

6) Click Restart. The computer restarts and another screen opens showing a lot of different startup options.

7) On your keyboard, press the 4 number key to enter Safe Mode without network. (If you need to do some online research after booting into the safe mode, press the 5 number key to enter Safe Mode with network access.)

Hope the instructions in this post help you boot into Safe Mode. If you have any ideas or questions, please leave a comment below. Thanks for your reading.

Tired of having to start in Safe Mode?

Windows is a very old technology. Sure, Windows 10 is relatively new, but it’s still just the latest iteration of a decades-old operating system, designed for a bygone era (pre-internet).

Now that we have the internet, fast connection speeds, free cloud storage, and endless web apps (like Gmail, Google Docs, Slack, Facebook, Dropbox and Spotify), the entire Windows way of doing things – with locally installed programs and local file storage – is totally outdated.

Why is that a problem? Because when you’re constantly installing uncontrolled third-party programs, you’re constantly opening the door to viruses and other malware. (And Windows’ insecure permission system compounds this problem.)

Plus the way Windows manages installed software and hardware has always been a problem. If your computer shuts down unexpectedly, or a program installs, uninstalls or updates incorrectly, you can get ‘registry’ corruptions. That’s why Windows PCs always slow down and become unstable over time.

Also because everything’s installed and saved locally, it doesn’t take long before you run out of disk space, and your disk gets fragmented, which makes everything even slower and more unstable.

For most people, the simplest way to solve Windows problems is to ditch Windows altogether, and switch to a faster, more reliable, more secure, easier to use and cheaper operating system…

ChromeOS feels much like Windows, but instead of installing heaps of programs to email, chat, browse the internet, write documents, do school presentations, create spreadsheets, and whatever else you normally do on a computer, you use web apps. You don’t need to install anything at all.

That means you don’t have virus and malware problems, and your computer doesn’t slow down over time, or become unstable.