Safe Mode

Posts Tagged ‘Safe Mode’

Using the F8 Method:

Restart your computer.
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 your keyboard repeatedly until you are presented with the Windows 7 Advanced Boot Options screen as shown in the image below.

Figure 11. Windows 7 Advanced Boot Options screen
Using the arrow keys, select the Safe Mode option you want.
Then press the enter key on your keyboard to boot into Windows 7 Safe Mode.
When Windows starts you will be at a typical logon screen. Logon to your computer and Windows 7 will enter Safe mode.
Do whatever tasks you require, and when you are done, reboot to go back into normal mode.

Using the System Configuration Tool Method:

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.

Close any running programs and open Windows so you are back at the desktop.
Click on the Start () button.
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.
The System Configuration utility will open and you will see a screen similar to the one below.
Figure 13. Windows 7 System Configuration Utility

Click on the Boot tab.
You will now be at the Boot screen as shown below.
Figure 14. Windows 7 Boot tab in the System Configuration utility

Put a checkmark in the checkbox labeled Safe boot
Press the Apply button and then press the OK button.
You will now be presented with a prompt stating that you need to reboot the computer to apply the change.
Figure 15. Restart Prompt

Click on the Restart button to reboot your computer.
Your computer will now restart directly into Safe Mode. When you get to the Vista logon screen, log on to the computer and perform any necessary tasks.
When done with your tasks, from within Safe Mode, start msconfig.
When the program is open, and you are on the General tab, select the option labeled Normal Startup.
Then press the Apply button and then the OK button.
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 the System Configuration utility as described above. The program does this by changing your boot.ini file, the settings file that configures your computer’s boot sequence, 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=”Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /FASTDETECT /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN
After using MsConfig.exe	[operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /FASTDETECT /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /safeboot:minimal

When you are done using safe mode, you would then run the System Configuration utility 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 using is to delete certain Windows Registry keys so that your computer can not properly boot into safe mode. It is in these situations that using the System Configuration utility to boot into safe mode can cause the computer to become inoperable for many users.

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 is removed from the boot.ini. Since the malware is not allowing us to actually boot into safe mode, you have no way of getting to a point where you can run the System Configuration utility again to uncheck the /Safeboot option. Thus, you are stuck with a computer constantly attempting to get into safe mode and not being able to do so.

If a situation like this has happened to you it is possible to fix this problem by renaming your boot.ini file. The first step would be to use a boot disk to start your computer. If your computer does not have a floppy disk, then you can typically boot off the Windows CD that came with your computer in order to access the Windows Recovery Console. More information about the Windows Recovery Console can be found here. Once booted to a command prompt, you would simply rename your 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 your computer to get back to normal mode. When booting up after the rename, do not be 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 then rename 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 that they tell you to enter Safe Mode. With this tutorial you should now know how to enter Safe Mode when it is required.