home » Goods and services » Selecting boot options for Windows 10. How to enter the Boot Menu on a laptop and computer? #2 Special download options

Selecting boot options for Windows 10. How to enter the Boot Menu on a laptop and computer? #2 Special download options

If your operating system has stopped loading, errors or viruses have appeared in its operation, then only safe mode will help you cope with them (in English it sounds like Safe Mode). Use this boot option to debug the system. Unlike normal OS startup, in safe mode a number of functions are simply disabled, which allows you to access system files and find the problem. In this article we will look in detail at how to enable safe mode in Windows 10, what it is and why it is needed at all.

Safe mode is a special option for launching Windows operating systems. With its help, you can do things that cannot be done in normal mode, for example, fix problems with the system starting or its operation. Safe Mode provides only basic functions, services, and programs. Only the basic driver components that are needed for Windows to function are loaded. As soon as the system starts in safe mode, you will see the corresponding messages on the PC desktop. Sometimes the video driver does not load, as evidenced by incorrect monitor resolution.

What is it needed for

Using safe mode, you can often boot the system when the normal option no longer works. For example, one of your drivers is “broken.” The system tries to boot and when it comes to a non-working component, it crashes. In safe mode, this driver simply does not load - you can log into the system and fix it. You can look for a problem using the method of elimination. You need to turn off various components one by one and try to restart the PC in normal mode until the source of the failure is found. Just enable and disable various programs and drivers, and when it comes to the faulty one, Windows will boot again and the problem will be solved.

Activation methods

After we understood what safe mode is and why it is needed in general, it was time to move on to the instructions for activating it. In previous versions of Windows this was easier. Previously, to enter Windows Safe Mode (up to version 10), you just had to press the F8 key while the computer was turning on. In the latest version of Windows, this feature was disabled by the developers. Now it’s more difficult to get to the settings, but there are still 5 ways to do this. We will look at each of them in detail.

Options for running Windows 10 in SafeMode:

via reboot;
using the msconfig utility;
using the command line;
special download options;
using a flash drive or Windows disk.

Attention! At the very bottom of the article there is a video instruction describing the process of entering the mode we need.

Use the reset key to get into SafeMode

This method is the simplest and most convenient, which is why we put it in first place. The sequence of actions will be as follows:

We do everything as with a normal PC reboot: open the “Start” menu and select the restart item, but at the same time hold down the “Shift” button. After this, the picture on the screen will change color and a notification will appear indicating that you need to wait a little.

We will be offered several points. The first allows you to start the OS in normal mode, the second opens a new menu, and the third simply shuts down. We need exactly the second way. It's called: "Troubleshooting."

In the next step, select “Advanced options”.

Many different options will appear, but we need the download parameters. Click on the item indicated in the screenshot.

Everything is ready, you can now start Windows 10 in safe mode. All that remains is to restart our system. Click “Reboot”.

We will have a screen with a choice of options. There are 3 safe modes at once, these are: simply SafeMode, with network and command line support. To select the one you need, press the corresponding number on the keyboard.

Windows will reboot into Safe Mode.

Voila! SafeMode is running, as evidenced by the inscriptions in the corners of the desktop. You can move on to solving the problem that is bothering you.

Launch using msconfig

The msconfig utility is a very useful and functional tool included in Windows. It is she who will help us visit safe mode if the previous method did not work for some reason. Let's get started.

To launch the utility, we will use the “Run” tool included in Windows. This program is capable of launching many useful functions that many users are not even aware of. We launch “Run” by simultaneously pressing two Win + R buttons and enter “msconfig” in the window that appears, then press the key labeled “OK”.

Note: You can also find the Run tool through the Start menu or Windows search.

The system settings window opens. There are 5 tabs in total, each of which contains different functions. We need the “Boot” section - this is where you can activate safe mode the next time you start it.

First, let's select the operating system we want to run in easy mode. To do this, simply left-click on its name. In our case, this is just one record. In the “Boot Options” section, you need to check the box next to the “Safe Mode” entry. There are several variations of it, these are: minimal, another shell, Active Directory recovery and network.

Safe mode booting can be supplemented with some options, such as disabling the GUI, boot logging, basic video, or displaying OS information. A little to the right there is the ability to set the SafeMode launch delay time.

After you have finished setting up Safe Mode, you can click the “OK” button. The system will notify us that we need to restart the PC. This can be done later. We click "Reboot".

Windows 10 will begin to reboot, but we just have to wait a little.

Ready! Safe Mode is running and ready to troubleshoot your computer.

You can now exit Windows 10 Safe Mode. Reset your msconfig settings and start the system.

Using the command line

Let's describe another method for rebooting a PC or laptop into safe mode. This time we will use a more sophisticated method, namely the command line.

You can launch it in different ways, but we will choose the simplest one. Left-click on the search button (the icon in the form of a magnifying glass on the taskbar) and enter the words “command line” into the search field. We should run the tool in administrator mode, otherwise we simply won’t have enough authority. To do this, call up the context menu and select “Run as administrator.”

The program we need opens. Enter the following command into it (copy the text and paste): bcdedit /copy (current) /d “Your name”. Instead of “Safe Mode”, write anything (a name that is clear to you).

This command will add a new parameter to the “Boot” section of the msconfig utility, which will be called as you wrote it in quotes when entering it into the command line.

Now you can reboot into safe mode through the entry you created. There is no need to change the boot option of the main system. Let's check how it works. Select the added mode and click “OK”. We will again be asked to restart Windows immediately or postpone the action.

The computer will reboot and the next time it starts it will show two operating systems at once, one of which will be the one we created via the command line. We select it and go to reboot again.

As you can see, everything works. We once again found ourselves in safe mode, which was activated via the command line.

This function will be present on your PC or laptop on an ongoing basis. Now it will be much more convenient for you to reboot into safe mode (this may often be needed when debugging Windows). But after we fix the system, we need to disable safe mode and the second OS. To do this, run the msconfig utility again and go to the “Download” section.

Select the entry we created and press the key labeled “Delete”.

After this, the unnecessary mode will disappear and the system will start automatically, without selecting it.

How to login via F8

The good thing about the described methods is that if one of them doesn’t work, the second one will help, the second one doesn’t work, then the third one. But how to fix this annoying misunderstanding and revive Windows 10 safe mode when booting using F8? Let's deal with this issue, and the command line will help us with this again, naturally running in administrator mode.

In order to return the launch of the mode we need using F8, we need to make some changes to the “Tens” registry.

Launch the command line with administrator privileges. To do this, enter the phrase “command line” into the Windows 10 search located on the left side of the taskbar. Click on the found entry and select “Run as administrator”.

Paste the following contents: “bcdedit /deletevalue (current) bootmenupolicy” (without quotes) and press Enter. If we did everything correctly, the message “Operation completed successfully” will appear.

Now you can close the window and restart your computer. As soon as the system starts, click the F8 key until you get into the Windows startup settings mode. From here we can select the safe mode we need. Select it using the arrow keys on your keyboard and press Enter.

To cancel booting Windows 10 into Safemode by pressing the F8 button, you need to open your favorite command line again and paste the code “bcdedit /set (current) bootmenupolicy standard” into it (don’t forget to remove the quotes). After pressing Enter, the system will no longer respond to the F8 key.

Special download options

To complete the picture, we will describe another option for starting Windows 10 in safe mode.

We need to open system settings. To do this, expand the notification center and click on the “All settings” item.

In the window that opens, look for the “Updates and Security” item and click on it.

Next, find and click “Recovery”.

Click the “Reboot Now” button. Be careful, the computer will restart, save all data and close the programs.

The computer will offer us a choice of boot mode, which we described in detail in the section “Using the reboot key.” Then simply select the item (activated by pressing the number button on the keyboard) and go to safe mode.

Using the installation distribution

If the system does not start, applying one of the above methods, naturally, will not work. But even in such a case, we have an option - you need to use Windows 10 installation media. Moreover, what it will be - a DVD or a flash drive - does not matter at all. Follow our instructions.

First you need to acquire the same carrier. You should not download Windows 10 via torrent or from third-party resources. The “Ten” image should be taken exclusively from the official Microsoft website. We will help you with this: a little lower you can download a program that will automatically download the image and create a bootable USB flash drive. After the media is ready, insert the flash drive into the USB port of the computer or, accordingly, the disc into the DVD and boot from it.

This is the first stage of Windows installation. Here we just need to click “Next”.

Now click on “System Restore”.

Next, select the “Troubleshooting” item (navigation is carried out using the arrows on the keyboard, selecting with the Enter button).

At the next stage, select the “Command Line” tool.

Enter an operator like this in the black window: “bcdedit /set (default) safeboot minimal” (don’t forget to remove the quotes) and press Enter.

Reboot the computer. You can use the mechanical reset button, there will be no harm. Our Windows 10 will start again, but in safe mode.

When the system is fixed, you can turn off safe mode and return the boot to its original state. To do this, again in the command line, enter “bcdedit /deletevalue (default) safeboot” without quotes and press Enter.

If the process will be carried out from the command line under running Windows, do not forget to run the utility as an administrator.

This concludes our story about how to launch Safe Mode in Windows 10. We tested all the methods described in this manual on our PC and each of them worked for us. Depending on the situation, the hardware, or the degree of damage to the system, everything may be different, but in any case, one of the methods we have described will definitely help you.

Video

Do you want to boot your computer from a flash drive or disk? To do this, it is not necessary to go into the BIOS settings. Especially if you don’t understand much about it. After all, there is an easier way. In this case, just enter the Boot Menu and change the device boot priority. This is done in about 10 seconds. And most importantly, there is no shamanism in the BIOS.

Boot Menu - what is it?

What do users usually do to reinstall Windows? As a rule, they record a licensed digital copy on, and then execute.

Boot Menu (or boot menu) is an extremely useful BIOS option. With its help, you can quickly set the boot priority of devices. Simply put, launching the Boot Menu opens a small window in which you can immediately put the flash drive (or DVD) in first place, and the hard drive in second. In this case, you do not need to enter the BIOS.

In addition, changing settings in the Boot Menu does not affect the BIOS settings. That is, this option works once - for one activation. And when you restart your PC, Windows will boot from the hard drive (as usual). If you need to start installing Windows from a flash drive again, call the Boot Menu again.

If you remember, when changing the settings in the BIOS, you had to go into it again and change the device boot priority back (i.e. put the hard drive in first place). But in the case of the Booth Menu, you don’t need to do this.

How to call Boot Menu

It's very simple - click one key when Windows boots. Which one? It depends on the:

BIOS version;
motherboard;
laptop models.

That is, the situation is exactly the same as with the BIOS. For example, in order to, you need to press the Del or F2 button, and to open the Boot Menu you need to click another one.

Most often this is Esc or F12. Although, as mentioned above, the call button may differ on different PCs.

Therefore, below we will look at how to launch the Boot Menu on popular brands of laptops and personal computers.

How to enable Boot Menu on Lenovo laptops

Owners of Lenovo laptops should not have any difficulties. After all, the Boot Menu on Lenovo is launched very simply - by pressing the F12 key when loading Windows.

Plus, on the body of many models there is a special button with a curved arrow. You can press it if you want to select additional. download options.

Launch Boot Menu on PC with mat. Asus board couldn't be easier

You need to press the F8 key when it boots (at the same time that you would normally enter the BIOS).

And there is a little confusion with Asus laptops. It seems that the manufacturer is the same, but there are several buttons to launch the Boot Menu. After all, the Boot Menu on Asus laptops is launched using one of two keys:

Most often this is the Esc button, although it can also be F8. However, there are only 2 keys.

The boot menu on Acer opens by pressing the F12 button

But there is one small nuance here. The fact is that the Boot Menu is usually disabled on Acer laptops. And when you press F12, nothing will happen. To make it work, you need to do the following:

Go to the BIOS (when booting the laptop, press the F2 button).
Go to the “Main” tab.
Look for the line “F12 Boot Menu” and change the value “Disabled” to “Enabled”.
Save the changed settings and exit the BIOS.

The system will reboot and you can enter the boot menu on your Acer laptop using F12.

How to enable Boot Menu on Samsung laptops

On Samsung you need to press the Esc key. But owners of Samsung laptops need to know one feature. The fact is that to call the Boot Menu you need to click the Esc button once! If you click twice, the window will simply close.

Therefore, you will have to get used to it to know when exactly to press the Esc key. Although there is nothing complicated here - just a couple of attempts.

HP also has its own specifics

Launching the Boot Menu on HP also has its own specifics. After all, opening the Boot Menu is done a little differently.

When you turn on Windows, immediately press the Esc key.
The launch menu will be displayed - press the F9 button.
Ready.

After this, the boot menu of the HP laptop will open, and you can set the priority for turning on devices (using the arrows).

Boot menu on Windows 10 or 8

If Windows 8 or Windows 10 is installed on your PC or laptop, then you most likely will not be able to enable the Boot Menu.

The fact is that these OSs have a small peculiarity - by default they have “Quick Start” enabled, so they are not completely turned off. This is called hibernation (something like sleep mode). Therefore, when you boot your PC or laptop, you will not be able to open this menu on Windows 10.

There are three ways to fix this:

Hold Shift when turning off your laptop or PC. After this, it will turn off normally (in the usual sense of the word). And then you can launch it on Windows 10 by pressing the desired key.
Instead of turning off your PC, you can restart it. And at the moment of turning on, just press a specific key corresponding to your laptop brand or motherboard.
Disable the Quick Start feature. For this:

That’s it – now you can easily access the Boot Menu on Windows 10 or Windows 8.

For your convenience, below is a screenshot showing the keys to launch the Boot Menu for popular laptops and PCs

For example, for computers running on a mat. MSI board is the F11 button. And the Boot Menu on Sony VAIO laptops is launched using F12. In general, you can figure it out for yourself - the table is simple and understandable.

Also, for convenience, buttons for entering the BIOS are written. If for some reason you are unable to open the Boot Menu, you can always change the boot priority of devices in the standard way - through the BIOS.

You can launch the System Configuration utility using the search built into the taskbar. Just enter your request and click on the topmost line in the search results. In the window that appears, go to the “Download” tab and check the “Minimal” option. Confirm your choice by clicking on the “OK” button. A dialog box will appear asking you if you want to restart your computer right now. After you agree, the Windows 10 operating system will boot into safe mode.

Method 2: Command Line

Experienced users should remember that you can boot the system in safe mode by holding down the F8 key when starting the computer. However, in Windows 10 this feature was disabled to speed up system startup. To fix this “improvement”, you need to enter just one command at the command line.

Right-click on “Start” on the taskbar and select “Command Prompt (Admin)” from the menu that appears.
Enter the following command in the command prompt window: bcdedit /set (default) bootmenupolicy legacy
Press Enter. Close the terminal window and restart your computer. Now, when you press the F8 key during system startup, the boot method selection dialog should appear again.

If in the future you want to return everything as it was, you can do this using the following command:

Bcdedit /set (default) bootmenupolicy standard

Method 3: Special download options

This method does not require any tricks from you and seems to lie on the surface. However, how many can boast that they independently discovered this useful feature in the jungle of Windows 10 settings? Therefore, I decided to include this download method in the article too.

So, open the Start menu, click on the Settings link, and then follow the address: Update and Security → Recovery → Special boot options. Click the “Reboot Now” button. You will then be taken to the Select Action screen. It offers three options, of which we are interested in the “Diagnostics” item.

On the next screen, click the “Advanced options” button, and then “Boot options”. At the end of this long path, the desired option called “Enable Safe Mode” awaits us. By the way, you can significantly shorten this journey if you simply hold down the Shift button while clicking on the “Shut Down” command in the “Start” menu.

Any OS, including Windows 10, is not immune to sudden malfunctions. Only often they “treat” such problems solely by reinstalling, without even worrying about more loyal solutions. Needless to say, the classification of such “thousand programmers” leaves much to be desired.

It’s much easier to go into Windows 10 safe mode and try to solve everything differently. This option will fix many problems:

reinstalling/uninstalling the problematic driver;
rollback to last known known configuration
virus cleaning;
reset user password;
account activation;
fight against BSoD.

There are several ways to call safe mode in the top ten. The simplest is to reboot and then press “F8”, but in Win10 it, alas, no longer works. But there is one trick. For now we will choose from the following:

options;
command line;
System Restore.

The last method works even if the system does not boot. True, you need a boot flash drive with the system, but more on that later.

Launch via "special boot options"

This method can be interpreted in two ways. To enter the settings, your Windows must be running, or at least starting. The overall picture looks like this. To get started, click on the icon with notifications and click “All settings”.

Here you need to enable “recovery”, and on the right, where the “special boot options” field is located, you need to start a reboot.

After the system has restarted and entered the menu with parameters, you can do 3 operations:

exit the menu and start Windows in normal mode;
find and eliminate faults (required parameter);
turn off the PC.

You need to select the second item, and then click “advanced options”. After this, click on item 5 (2 in column 2), which is responsible for the system boot parameters on a PC or laptop.

Now you have access to a full-fledged safe mode, which will appear when you turn it on after a restart. Here we are interested in teams 4,5 and 6. Select one of them by pressing keys F4-F6 respectively.

Login via command line

The second method is somewhat simpler than the previous one, since it does not require lengthy fiddling with parameters, settings and numerous sub-options. The configurator will help here msconfig" To activate it, click " Start", or a combination Win+R, write in the line “ msconfig" and click OK.

Here we are waiting for another dialog box with 5 tabs. We are interested in the second one, which is called “Loading”. We do the following:

select the OS that should start in safe mode;
check the box next to this item;
select the desired configuration (minimal, with shell, network).

The same principle applies here as with the keys. F4-F6. "Another shell" - command line support.

Next, we reboot in normal mode by selecting the desired item through “ Start" Remember that to exit this option you need to follow the same steps. In other words, until you uncheck the “safe mode” box, you will not return to normal mode.

System Restore

The last method in the list will only work if you have a bootable USB flash drive with the system. You can create it yourself, but this is the topic of a separate article. To begin, do the following:

We go through bios and reconfigure the device startup priority. The USB-HDD should start first, then the HDD;
We follow all the instructions for starting Windows until we reach the option with a single “Install” button.

You need to enter one of two commands to choose from:

bcdedit /set (default) safeboot minimal– normal mode;
bcdedit /set (default) safeboot network– network support.

Returning F8

Why was the old way of selecting boot and restore commands removed? Windows developers say that the system has started to start up so quickly that it simply does not have time to react to clicking a button. But the process is reversible and the command can be returned. A small drawback is the sacrifice of a few seconds of OS startup time.

To return you will need a working Win10. Right-click on the “ Start" In some versions, you can select "Command Prompt (Administrator)". If there is none, then open Start and enter “ CMD", then right-click on the search result and click "as administrator".

Next we write the command bcdedit /set (current) bootmenupolicy legacy and press Enter. Now we are back to the classic version, familiar from previous versions of Windows. There is one caveat: the “Last Known Good Configuration” item is not provided here, since all the parameters are a text variation of the graphical representation, which is the default in Win10.

To return to the original mode, a reverse command is provided, which is also entered exclusively under the administrator: bcdedit /set (current) bootmenupolicy standard.

Option “for the lazy”

Few people know that safe mode can be displayed as a separate boot menu item. If you use the function often, you will like this upgrade. Wherein F8 won't be needed anymore.

First, you should go to the command line, and only as an administrator. Required command bcdedit /copy (current) /d “Safe Mode”. In other words, the entry will copy an existing account in safe mode. By the way, the inscription in quotation marks can be changed at your discretion.

Here we go to “Download” and we already see 2 entries:

our "safe mode";
standard Windows 10.

We are interested in the newly made copy. In the parameters, set the “safe…” mode and additionally specify a timeout for choosing between two options (minimum 3 seconds).

Save changes and reboot. Now you will see 2 OS (formally). During the timeout, you can switch between 2 accounts. Windows 10 sends you to Standard Boot. Well, “safe” calls the mode that we set in the configurator.

If you want to remove your own modification, re-enter msconfig via Win+R and delete the additional line.

The downside is that the loading time increases in direct proportion to the timeout you set initially.

Installing multiple operating systems on a computer negates the efforts of computer device manufacturers who have achieved faster Windows launch by equipping modern PCs and laptops with motherboards and SSD drives as an alternative to slow HDDs. The launch of Windows, if at least two of them are installed on the computer, without user intervention when selecting an operating system in the boot loader list, will be delayed by 30 seconds - the preset timer value before starting the system that is the first in the boot list. How can I edit the boot menu of multiple Windows and set my own options? Including so that when starting the computer you will not be distracted by choosing the system to be used primarily, while maintaining the ability to access a second (or several) Windows.

1. Editing the Windows 8.1 and 10 boot menu in the bootloader window

The Windows 7 boot loader menu only provides for the selection of one or another system to launch; all operations to edit this menu can only be carried out within the system.

But if the latest versions of Windows 8.1 and 10 were installed on the computer, we will get both a more attractive appearance and a more functional bootloader menu. Some boot parameters for multiple systems can be changed directly in the bootloader window.

By opening the boot menu parameters, we will be able to launch, as well as change the value of the timer before booting the default system and select the default system itself - Windows, which is the first in the boot list and starts automatically after the timer expires.

True, the choice of values for the timer is small.

You can more flexibly configure the boot menu of several Windows only within one of the systems.

2. Editing the boot menu of several Windows within the system

Editing the Windows boot menu is done in system properties. Press the Win+Pause keys and select “Advanced options”.

A system properties window will appear; here you need to click the “Options” button at the very bottom, in the “Boot and Recovery” column.

What is offered to us? We can select Windows, which will boot by default.

We can set a different timer value, but this time enter an arbitrary number of seconds during which the multi-Windows boot loader menu will be displayed on the screen.

To reduce the boot time of the main Windows, you can completely remove the boot loader menu for several systems. To do this, you need to uncheck the option to display a list of OS.

In this case, the bootloader menu will disappear and the main Windows will boot immediately. At the same time, the second system is not going anywhere. To get into it, you just need to check the box back, and the next time you start the multi-system bootloader menu will appear again. This option is convenient for cases where the second system is rarely used.

When you finish editing the bootloader menu, click “Ok” at the bottom.