how to start windows in safemode

8/7/2019 how to start windows in safemode

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction2. Windows 953. Windows 98/ME4.

Windows 20005. Windows XP

6. Windows Vista7. Windows 78. Problems that can occur by forcing Safe Mode using the System

Configuration Utility9. Conclusion

Introduction

Windows Safe Mode is a way of booting up your Windows operating system inorder to run administrative and diagnostic tasks on your installation. When you

boot into Safe Mode the operating system only loads the bare minimum of softwarethat is required for the operating system to work. This mode of operating isdesigned to let you troubleshoot and run diagnostics on your computer. WindowsSafe Mode loads a basic video drivers so your programs may look different than

normal.

For Win98/ME, XP, Vista and Windows 7 there are two methods of booting intoSafe Mode, while 95 and 2000 only have one. We will describe these methods

below:

F8 - By pressing the F8 key right when Windows starts, usually right after you hear

your computer beep when you reboot it, you will be brought to a menu where youcan choose to boot into safe mode. If it does not work on the first try, reboot andtry again as you have to be quick when you press it. I have found that during bootup right after the computer shows you all the equipment , memory, etc installed onyour computer, if you start lightly tapping the F8 key you will usually be able to getto the desired menu.

System Configuration Utility - You can use the System Configuration Utility, orMSCONFIG, found in Windows 98, ME, XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 to makeWindows boot into Safe Mode on the next reboot. We will go into specific details inthe sections below. Please note, that you should not force your computer to bootinto Safe Mode using the System Configuration Utility if you suspect you areinfected with malware as the malware may corrupt keys required to boot into Safe

Mode. You can read more about thishere.

Windows 95

Windows 95 can only boot into Safe Mode using the F8 method as it does not havea System Configuration Utility.


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Using the F8 Method:

1. Restart your computer.2. When the machine first starts it will generally list some equipment that is

installed in your machine, amount of memory, hard drives installed etc.When it is finished with that it will say "Starting Windows 95". Immediatelyafter seeing "Starting Windows 95" press the F8 key.

3. You will now be presented with a menu. Select the option for Safe Modeusing the arrow keys.

4. Then press enter on your keyboard to boot into Safe Mode.5. Do whatever tasks you require and when you are done reboot to boot back

into normal mode.

Windows 98/ME

NOTE: Windows ME may look slightly different than what is shown in the

images below. You should still have no problem following along.


1. Restart your computer.2. When the machine first starts again it will generally list some equipment that

is installed in your machine, amount of memory, hard drives installed etc. Atthis point you should gently tap the F8 key repeatedly until you arepresented with a menu.

3. When you have the menu on the screen. Select the option for Safe Modeusing the arrow keys.

4. Then press enter on your keyboard to boot into Safe Mode.5. Do whatever tasks you require and when you are done reboot to boot backinto normal mode.

Using the System Configuration Tool Method:

Step 1: Close all programs so that you have nothing open and are at the desktop.

Step 2: Click on the Start button then click on Run.

Step 3: In the Run field type msconfig as shown in the image below.


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Figure 1. Starting Msconfig

Step 4: Press the OK button and the System Configuration Utility will start up. You

will then see a screen similar to Figure 2 below.

Figure 2. SCU Startup Screen

Step 5: You should now press the Advanced button designated by the red box in

the figure above and you will see a screen similar to figure 3 below.


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Figure 3. Advanced Options

Step 6: Place a checkmark in the checkbox labeled "Enable Startup Menu"designated by the red box in Figure 3 above. Then press the OK button and thenthe OK button again. Windows 98/ME will now prompt if you would like to reboot asshown in Figure 4 below.

Figure 4. Confirm Reboot

Step 7: Press the Yes button and your computer will restart into Safe Mode.

Step 8: When the computer boots up perform what diagnostic or troubleshootingtasks you require.

Step 9. When you are finished with these tasks, complete steps 1-7 again, but in

Step 6 this time uncheck the checkbox labeled "Enable Startup Menu".

Step 10: Reboot the computer back into normal mode.


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Windows 2000

Windows 2000 can only boot into Safe Mode using the F8 method as it does not

have a System Configuration Utility.



is installed in your machine, amount of memory, hard drives installed etc.When that is completed it will start loading Windows.

3. When you see the screen that has a black and white bar at the bottomstating "Starting Windows", tap the F8 key repeatedly until you get to theWindows 2000 Advanced Options Menu

4. At this menu use the arrow keys to select the Safe Mode option, which isusually the first in the list.

5. Press the enter key.6. Your computer will continue booting, but now will boot into Safe Mode.7. Do whatever tasks you require and when you are done reboot to boot back

into normal mode.

Windows XP



is installed in your machine, amount of memory, hard drives installed etc. At

this point you should gently tap the F8 key repeatedly until you arepresented with a Windows XP Advanced Options menu.

3. Select the option for Safe Mode using the arrow keys.4. Then press enter on your keyboard to boot into Safe Mode.5. Do whatever tasks you require and when you are done reboot to boot back

into normal mode.


Note: If you are having trouble entering Safe Mode via the F8 method, you should

not use this method to force it to startup into safe mode. For reasons why, you

should read this.

Step 1: Close all programs so that you have nothing open and are at the desktop.

Step 2: Click on the Start button then click on Run.

Step 3: In the Run field type msconfig as shown in the image below.


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Figure 4. Starting Msconfig

Step 4: Press the OK button and the System Configuration Utility will start up. You

will then see a screen similar to Figure 5 below.

Figure 5. Starting the System Configuration Utility

Step 5: Click on the tab labeled "BOOT.INI" which is designated by the red box inFigure 5 above. You will then be presented with a screen similar to Figure 6 below.


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Figure 6. BOOT.INI Tab

Step 6: Put a checkmark in the checkbox labeled "/SAFEBOOT" designated by thered box in Figure 6 above. Then press the OK button. After pressing the button you

will be presented with a confirmation box as shown in Figure 7 below.

Figure 7. Confirm Reboot

Step 7: Press the Restart button and let the computer reboot. It will now boot up

into Safe Mode.

Step 8: When the computer boots up do what diagnostic or troubleshooting tasksthat you need to do.

Step 9. When are finished with your tasks, complete steps 1-7 again, but in Step 6this time uncheck the checkbox labeled "/SAFEBOOT". Then click on the General tab

and set it for Normal startup.

Step 10: Reboot the computer back into normal mode.

Windows Vista



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1. Restart your computer.2. When the computer starts you will see your computer's hardware being

listed. When you see this information start to gently tap the F8 keyrepeatedly until you are presented with the Windows Vista Advanced BootOptions.

3. Select the Safe Mode option using the arrow keys.4. Then press the enter key on your keyboard to boot into Vista Safe Mode.5. When Windows starts you will be at a typical logon screen. Logon to your

computer and Vista will enter Safe mode.6. Do whatever tasks you require, and when you are done, reboot to go back

into normal mode.


Note: If you are having trouble entering Safe Mode via the F8 method, you shouldnot use this method to force it to startup into safe mode. For reasons why, you

should read this.

1. Close any running programs and open Windows so you are back at thedesktop.

2. Click on the Start ( ) button.3. In the Start Menu Search Box ( ) type msconfig and

press enter on your keyboard.

4. The System Configuration utility will open and you will see a screen similar tothe one below.


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Figure 8. Vista System Configuration Utility

Click on the Boot tab.

5. You will now be at the Boot options screen as shown below.


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Figure 9. Vista Boot tab in the System Configuration utility

Put a checkmark in the checkbox labeled Safe boot

6. Press the Apply button and then press the OK button.7. You will now be presented with a prompt stating that you need to reboot the

computer to apply the change.

Figure 10. Restart Prompt


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Click on the Restart button to reboot your computer.

8.Your computer will now restart directly into Safe Mode. When you get to theVista logon screen, log on to the computer and perform any necessary tasks.

9. When done with your tasks, from within Safe Mode, start msconfig.10.When the program is open, and you are on the General tab, select the

option labeled Normal Startup.

11.Then press the Apply button and then the OK button.

12.When the programs prompts you to reboot, allow it to do so, and you will

boot back into Windows Vista in normal mode.

Windows 7


1. Restart your computer.2. When the computer starts you will see your computer's hardware being

listed. When you see this information start to gently tap the F8 key on yourkeyboard repeatedly until you are presented with the Windows 7 AdvancedBoot Options screen as shown in the image below.


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Figure 11. Windows 7 Advanced Boot Options screen

3. Using the arrow keys, select the Safe Mode option you want.4. Then press the enter key on your keyboard to boot into Windows 7 Safe

Mode.5. When Windows starts you will be at a typical logon screen. Logon to your

computer and Windows 7 will enter Safe mode.

6. Do whatever tasks you require, and when you are done, reboot to go backinto normal mode.


Note: If you are having trouble entering Safe Mode via the F8 method, you shouldnot use this method to force it to startup into safe mode. For reasons why, you

should read this.


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1. Close any running programs and open Windows so you are back at thedesktop.

2. Click on the Start ( ) button.3. In the Start Menu Search Box type msconfig as shown in Figure 12 below.

Figure 12. Windows 7 Search box

Then press enter on your keyboard.

4. The System Configuration utility will open and you will see a screen similar tothe one below.


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Figure 13. Windows 7 System Configuration Utility

Click on the Boot tab.

5. You will now be at the Boot screen as shown below.


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Figure 14. Windows 7 Boot tab in the System Configuration utility

Put a checkmark in the checkbox labeled Safe boot

6. Press the Apply button and then press the OK button.7. You will now be presented with a prompt stating that you need to reboot the

computer to apply the change.

Figure 15. Restart Prompt


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Click on the Restart button to reboot your computer.

8.Your computer will now restart directly into Safe Mode. When you get to theVista logon screen, log on to the computer and perform any necessary tasks.

9. When done with your tasks, from within Safe Mode, start msconfig.10.When the program is open, and you are on the General tab, select the

option labeled Normal Startup.

11.Then press the Apply button and then the OK button.

12.When the programs prompts you to reboot, allow it to do so, and you will

boot back into Windows Vista in normal mode.

Problems that can occur by forcing Safe Mode using the System

Configuration Utility

It is possible to make your computer continuously boot up into safe mode using theSystem Configuration utility as described above. The program does this bychanging yourboot.ini file, the settings file that configures your computer's bootsequence, and adding the /safeboot argument to your operating systems startup

line. An example of this can be seen below.

Original

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="MicrosoftWindows XP Professional" /FASTDETECT /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN

After usingMsConfig.exe

[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="MicrosoftWindows XP Professional" /FASTDETECT

/NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /safeboot:minimal

When you are done using safe mode, you would then run the System Configurationutility again and uncheck the /Safeboot option, thus removing the /safeboot

argument from the boot.ini file, and allowing your computer to boot up normally.

On a computer that is operating properly this is normally not a problem.Unfortunately, though, a new trick that some of the more recent malware are usingis to delete certain Windows Registry keys so that your computer can not properlyboot into safe mode. It is in these situations that using the System Configurationutility to boot into safe mode can cause the computer to become inoperable formany users.


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This is because once you set the computer to boot into Safe Mode using /Safeboot,it will continuously attempt to start Safe Mode until the /safeboot argument isremoved from the boot.ini. Since the malware is not allowing us to actually bootinto safe mode, you have no way of getting to a point where you can run theSystem Configuration utility again to uncheck the /Safeboot option. Thus, you arestuck with a computer constantly attempting to get into safe mode and not beingable to do so.

If a situation like this has happened to you it is possible to fix this problem byrenaming your boot.ini file. The first step would be to use a boot disk to start yourcomputer. If your computer does not have a floppy disk, then you can typically bootoff the Windows CD that came with your computer in order to access the WindowsRecovery Console. More information about the Windows Recovery Console can befound here. Once booted to a command prompt, you would simply renameyour C:\Boot.ini file to another name like C:\Boot.ini.bak. The command to

rename the file at the command prompt is:

ren C:\Boot.ini Boot.ini.bak

Once the file is renamed, you can then remove the boot disk and reboot yourcomputer to get back to normal mode. When booting up after the rename, do notbe surprised if you see an error stating that you do not have a valid Boot.ini file.When you get back to normal Windows mode, you can thenrename C:\Boot.ini.bak to C:\Boot.ini and run Msconfig again to remove the

/safeboot flag.

Conclusion

It is not uncommon when people are helping you troubleshoot your computer thatthey tell you to enter Safe Mode. With this tutorial you should now know how toenter Safe Mode when it is required.If you have any questions please feel free to post them in our computer helpforums.

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