How to Enter Safe Mode in Windows 10 – 4 Ways
How to Enter Safe Mode in Windows 10: Safe Mode in Windows 10 is necessary for debugging and troubleshooting the operating system and software: problems with drivers, for removing viruses, fixing errors, etc. In Safe Mode, only standard programs and drivers that are necessary are loaded with the system for the system to operate in safe mode.
In Windows 7, to enter safe mode, at the very beginning of the system boot, you need to press the “F8” key. On Windows 10, this method does not work. According to Microsoft representatives, starting with the Windows 8 operating system, to speed up the computer boot, the use of the F8 key was disabled, because this key did not have time to work.
How to enter safe mode in Windows 10? You can start Safe Mode in Windows 10 using other methods. In this article, I will talk about the four easiest ways to get into Windows 10 Safe Mode (there are even more complicated ways).
Three methods for booting Windows 10 in safe mode can be used on a healthy operating system, and the fourth method will help when the Windows operating system does not boot at all on the computer.
How to Enter Safe Mode in Windows 10
The first way is to enter Safe Mode using the system tool that works on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 operating systems.
Press the key combination “Win” + “R” on your keyboard. In the Run window, type: “msconfig” (without quotes) and then click on the “OK” button.
In the System Configuration window, open the Boot tab. At the bottom of the window, activate the “Safe Mode” item. By default, the minimum load is selected. Therefore, if you need network connections in safe mode, check the “Network” item to load network drivers.
Next, click on the “OK” button, and then restart your computer.
After that, the Windows 10 operating system will start in safe mode. Before exiting Safe Mode, enter Computer Configuration as described above to disable Safe Mode.
How to Enable Safe Mode in Windows 10
The second method is suitable for users of Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8 operating systems. A new item “Safe Mode” (or something like that, at your discretion) will be added to the boot menu that opens before starting Windows 10.
Right click on the start menu. In the menu that opens, click on “Command Prompt (Admin)”. In the command line interpreter, enter the command:
bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Safe Mode"
This text must be entered with spaces where they are, quotation marks from the English keyboard layout. After entering the first quotes, switch to the Russian keyboard layout, enter the text: “Safe Mode” (or something similar), then switch to the English layout, enter the second quotes.
Next, press the “Enter” key. After the command completes successfully, close the utility.
After that, simultaneously press the “Win” + “R” keys on the keyboard. In the “Run” window, enter: “msconfig”, click on the “OK” button
In the “System Configuration” window, in the “Boot” tab, you will see that a new entry “Safe Mode” has appeared among the list of operating systems. Here you can choose the minimum safe mode boot, or boot with the network. In the “Timeout” field, you can change the time the boot menu is displayed. By default, the menu will be displayed for 30 seconds, you can choose a different period of time, for example 10-15 seconds.
Next, click on the “OK” button, and then restart your computer.
Before starting the operating system, the “Select an operating system” window will open. This window offers a choice of two options: “Windows 10” and “Safe Mode”. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to highlight “Safe Mode” and then press the “Enter” button.
If you do not select anything in this window, then after a certain period of time, Windows 10 (Windows 8.1, Windows 8) will be launched.
This window will open before every start of the operating system.
To remove the system selection menu, enter System Configuration, highlight Safe Mode, and then click the Remove button. After the reboot, Windows 10 will be loaded immediately.
Booting Windows 10 in Safe Mode
The third way is to boot into safe mode using a special boot option. Press and hold the “Shift” key on the keyboard, enter the “Start” menu, click on the “Shutdown” button, and then in the context menu that opens, click on the “Restart” item.
This will open the Choose an Action window in the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE). Click on “Troubleshooting”.
Next, the “Diagnostics” window will open. Here click on “Advanced Options”.
In the Advanced Options window, select Boot Options.
In the Boot Options window, click the Restart button.
In the next window, you will need to select one of the following Safe Mode options:
- Enable Safe Mode (F4).
- Enable safe mode with network driver loading (F5).
- Enable safe mode with command line support (F6).
To select boot options, use the number keys, or the function keys “F4”, “F5”, “F6”.
After selecting the appropriate mode, the Windows 10 operating system starts in safe mode.
Entering Windows 10 Safe Mode if the system does not boot
The previous methods work with a working operating system: Windows 10 boots first, and then you enter Safe Mode. If the operating system does not boot at all, then you can enable safe mode in Windows 10 using a bootable USB flash drive, or an installation DVD with an image of the operating system.
Boot your computer from a bootable USB flash drive, or from a DVD. After that, “Installing Windows” will begin (do not be alarmed, we will not install the system).
In the first window, click on the “Next” button, in the next window, in the lower left corner, click on “System Restore”.
Next, the “Select Action” window will open (see image #6 for the previous method above, the images are identical for both methods). Next, in the “Diagnostics” window (image No. 7), click on “Advanced options”. In the “Advanced Options” window (image #8), select “Command Prompt”.
The computer will restart. In the Command Prompt window, select the user account. To do this, click on the account name.
In the next window, you will be prompted to enter a password for the account. If your computer is logged in without entering a password, do not enter anything. Next, click on the “Continue” button.
A command line interpreter window will open. Enter the following command at the command line:
bcdedit /set{globalsettings}advancedoptionstrue
After entering the command, press the “Enter” key. Close the command prompt window when the operation is complete.
In the Select Action window, click Continue.
After restarting your computer, you will see the Boot Options window (see image #10 above for the previous method). Here, using the keyboard keys, you need to select the appropriate item to boot the system in safe mode: “Enable safe mode”, “Enable safe mode with network driver loading”, “Enable safe mode with command line support”.
Next, you can enter Windows 10 Safe Mode.
With every new Windows boot, you will see the Boot Options window. For a normal system boot, you need to press the “Enter” key (Enter).
In order to remove the “System Settings” window every time you boot Windows, you must boot again from a bootable USB flash drive or DVD, and then select “System Restore” in the “Install Windows” window. Alternatively, press and hold the Shift key, enter the Start menu, click the Power button, and then click Restart.
Further for both options: after opening the “Select action” window, go through the path again before launching the command line. At the command line, run the following command:
bcdedit /deletevalue {globalsettings} advancedoptions
Close Command Prompt, and then turn off your computer. Now after starting Windows, you will no longer see the “Startup Options” window.
Article Conclusions
Windows 10 Safe Mode can be entered using the system tool. After adding an additional item to the boot menu, you can choose to boot into safe mode when you start Windows 10. Using the special boot methods in the Windows RE recovery environment, you can start various options for Windows 10 safe mode. Using a bootable USB flash drive or installation DVD, you can boot Windows 10 in safe mode when the system does not boot.