Sharon wants to know of another way to book into Safe Mode
Hi guys. I love your newsletters. In the past couple weeks I’ve had to boot into safe mode. Pressing the F8 key either holding it down or tapping the F8 key when my computer is booting doesn’t always work for me. Sometimes I have to do it two or three times. It’s so frustrating!!! Please tell me is there another way to get to safe mode without using the F8 key? Thanks or all you guys do for us. Sharon.
Our answer
Thanks, Sharon. The surest way to boot into Safe Mode is by tapping the F8 key as soon as you turn on your computer – and keep tapping it until you see you’re booting into Safe Mode.
But yes, there’s another way to get to Safe Mode and it works every time. You have to be careful when you this method, though – there are several other boot options that you should not use unless you’re sure of what you’re doing.
Here’s the other way to boot into Safe Mode. This works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 although they all have slightly different options.
On Windows XP, press the Windows Key + R and type MSCONFIG into the run dialog. When the Windows Configuration Utility opens click on the Boot tab and choose any of the items in the boot configuration section.
The following screen shot is from Windows 7 (it looks somewhat different in Windows XP):
For those of you using Vista and Windows 7 – you’ll need to run MSCONFIG with elevated privileges. To do this, type MSCONFIG in the start menu search (click the “Start” button or press the Windows key to open the start menu). When MSCONFIG appears at the top, right-click it and choose “Run as administrator”
In Windows XP the only option you should check is “SAFEBOOT”. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, the only two options you should need to check are “Safe boot” and “Network” (only if you need Internet access). You should never check “Make all boot settings permanent”. Use the other boot options only if you’re sure of what you’re doing. You can cause serious problems if you select any other options and you don’t understand their function.
After you run the Windows Configuration Utility (MSCONFIG) to boot into safe mode, you’ll see MSCONFIG opens on boot. This is so you can then remove the check marks from the items you checked to boot into safe mode, and return to a normal boot sequence.