Time after time your copy of Windows 10 can become laggy, unresponsive, or completely shut down altogether without no warning. With Windows 10 safe mode you can make your computer loads the bare essentials of the windows components needed to get it up running. Booting into Windows 10 in safe mode gives you the ability to scan for viruses and malware, plus uninstall any software or games that you think could be conflicting with your version of Windows 10.
By now if you’ve been using Windows 10 for a while, you’ve probably noticed that the traditional way of getting Windows into safe mode no longer works. Like pressing “F8” or “Shift+ F8” but Windows 10 has become so faster than older versions that there really isn’t a chance to press a key. That doesn’t mean you can’t put Windows 10 in safe mode, here are some methods to access Windows 10 in safe mode.
Booting Windows 10 into Safe Mode
1. System Configuration Tool (msconfig.exe)
My easiest way to boot Windows 10 into safe mode is by using Windows 10’s built-in system configuration tool. Most users will probably know the tool by “msconfig”. The fastest way to launch “msconfig” is through the run command.
To do that, simply press the “Windows Key + R” on your keyboard, and then write “msconfig” in the text field and hit “OK.
Another way to get into the Windows 10 System Configuration Tool is by using Cortana. To do this, in the Cortana search box and type “msconfig”, and select System Configuration from the menu.
Once into System Configuration window, select the Boot tab from the top. Highlight your Windows 10 operating system from the list, then select “Safe boot” option. Hit Apply and then hit OK.
Windows 10 will tell you that your computer needs to be restarted for the new settings to take effect. Windows 10 does give you the option to “Exit without restart” if you haven’t finished doing something on your PC. Once restarted your Windows 10 device will automatically boot into Safe Mode.
2. Boot Using “Shift + Restart” Combination
Another alternative way to start safe mode is to use the “Shift + Restart” combination. Open up the Start menu and click on the power button. Now holding the Shift button down, select Restart. You can also use this key combination from the Windows 10 login screen.
Windows 10 will reboot and ask you to select an option, choose Troubleshoot.
Then, on the Troubleshoot screen, select Advanced options.
Now, on the Advanced options screen, choose Startup Settings.
Windows will now say that you can restart your PC to change advanced boot options, including enabling Safe mode, Hit Restart.
When Windows 10 reboots your PC, you can then choose which type of boot option you want. For Safe Mode, you have three different options.
For the basic version of Safe Mode press “4” or hit “F4” on your keyboard. To enable Safe Mode with Networking, press “5” or hit “F5”. And to enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt, press “6” or hit “F6”.
3. Boot Safe Mode With A Recovery Drive
Windows 10 gives you the ability to create a system recovery USB drive so that you can use the Recovery Drive app to boot into Safe Mode.
Create a USB recovery drive
Once you have created a USB recovery drive, insert it into your PC and boot your Windows 10 device, when it asks to boot from USB, do so.
During the process, the first screen you will come to will ask what type of keyboard layout you currently use. Select your current layout to move on, if you don’t see your keyboard layout, you can select “See more keyboard layouts”.
Next screen will be the “Choose an option” screen, here select Troubleshoot.
This will take you to the menu in the previous method, just follow the path as before: “Troubleshoot –> Advanced options –> Startup Settings –> Restart”. Then choose from the list if you want to boot Windows 10 into Safe Mode, Safe Mode With Networking, or Safe Mode With Command Prompt.