Safe Mode starts Windows with only the drivers and services it absolutely needs. No third-party startup programs, no vendor drivers, basic display. If a problem disappears in Safe Mode, something you installed is causing it, that alone narrows the search enormously.

The right method depends on one thing: can you still get to the desktop?

The three Safe Mode options explained

Whichever route you take, you’ll land on a screen with these choices. Pick the right one:

  • Safe Mode (F4 or 4): the standard choice. No networking.
  • Safe Mode with Networking (F5 or 5), same, plus internet access. Use this when you need to download a driver or run an online scan. Note that malware can also use the network, so for suspected infections, prefer plain Safe Mode.
  • Safe Mode with Command Prompt (F6 or 6), no desktop, just a command line. Use it when the Explorer shell itself is broken.

Method 1: From Settings (easiest)

  1. Press Win + I to open Settings
  2. Go to System → Recovery
  3. Next to Advanced startup, click Restart now
  4. Confirm Restart now
  5. After the restart: Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart
  6. When the list appears, press 4 or F4 for Safe Mode

Method 2: Shift + Restart (fastest)

  1. Hold Shift on the keyboard
  2. Click Start → Power → Restart while still holding Shift
  3. Release when the blue recovery screen appears
  4. Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart
  5. Press 4

This also works from the login screen and from the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen.

Method 3: From the login screen

If Windows boots but you can’t sign in, or the desktop crashes immediately:

  1. At the login screen, click the power icon in the bottom-right
  2. Hold Shift and click Restart
  3. Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart
  4. Press 4

Method 4: Force the recovery menu

When Windows won’t start at all, you can make it drop into recovery by interrupting the boot three times. This is deliberate behaviour, not a trick.

  1. Press the power button to start the PC
  2. The moment you see the Windows logo or the spinning dots, hold the power button for 10 seconds to force it off
  3. Repeat twice more
  4. On the third start, Windows shows Preparing Automatic Repair, then Automatic Repair
  5. Click Advanced options → Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart
  6. Press 4

This is safe, but only use it when Windows genuinely won’t boot — repeatedly cutting power mid-write can corrupt files.

Method 5: msconfig (for repeated visits)

If you need to boot into Safe Mode several times while troubleshooting, this saves a lot of clicking.

  1. Press Win + R, type msconfig, press Enter
  2. Go to the Boot tab
  3. Tick Safe boot and choose Minimal (or Network for networking)
  4. Click OK and restart

Important: Windows will now boot into Safe Mode every time until you undo it. To get back to normal, open msconfig again in Safe Mode and untick Safe boot.

If you forget and you’re stuck in a Safe Mode loop, open Command Prompt as administrator and run:

bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot

Then restart.

Method 6: From a USB installation drive

For a machine that won’t boot at all and won’t reach Automatic Repair:

  1. Create a Windows 11 USB with the Media Creation Tool on another PC
  2. Boot from the USB (tap F12, F11, Esc or F2 at startup for the boot menu)
  3. Choose your language, then click Repair your computer at the bottom-left, not Install
  4. Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Command Prompt
  5. Run:
bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal
  1. Close, and restart without the USB

Remember to reverse it later with bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot.

Why Shift+F8 doesn’t work any more

Older guides tell you to tap F8 or Shift + F8 during boot. On Windows 8 and later this generally doesn’t work, and it’s not a bug — boot got fast enough (particularly with SSDs and Fast Startup) that there’s no longer a reliable window to catch the keypress.

You can re-enable the old menu. Open Command Prompt as administrator:

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

This adds a small delay to every boot, which is the trade-off. To undo:

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard

What to actually do once you’re in Safe Mode

Getting there is the easy part. Safe Mode is a diagnostic tool, so use it:

Confirm the problem is software. If the crash, freeze or error doesn’t happen in Safe Mode, it’s a driver or startup program, not failing hardware.

Uninstall the recent change. Settings → Apps → Installed apps, sort by install date, and remove whatever arrived just before the trouble started.

Roll back a driver. Device Manager → right-click the device → Properties → Driver tab → Roll Back Driver. Graphics drivers are the usual suspect.

Run a clean boot next. Safe Mode disables everything. A clean boot lets you re-enable things in batches to find the culprit: msconfig → Services tab → tick Hide all Microsoft services → Disable all, then Task Manager → Startup apps → disable everything. Re-enable half at a time.

Scan for malware. Use Safe Mode with Networking, then run a full Windows Security scan plus Malwarebytes. Many infections can’t load their persistence in Safe Mode, which is what makes them removable there.

Run system repairs. These work in Safe Mode:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
sfc /scannow
chkdsk C: /f /r

Uninstall a broken update. Settings → Windows Update → Update history → Uninstall updates.

Use System Restore. Type rstrui in the Start menu and pick a restore point from before the problem started.

How to tell you’re actually in Safe Mode

The words Safe Mode appear in all four corners of the screen. The resolution will be low and the desktop background black. If you don’t see those markers, the boot didn’t take, try again.

Getting out of Safe Mode

Normally, just restart. If it keeps booting back into Safe Mode, you left msconfig set — open msconfig, Boot tab, untick Safe boot, restart. If msconfig won’t open, use the bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot command above.

Common questions

Does Safe Mode delete anything? No. It’s a different way of starting the same Windows install. Your files, apps and settings are untouched.

Why is there no internet in Safe Mode? Standard Safe Mode doesn’t load network drivers by design. Choose Safe Mode with Networking (option 5) if you need to get online.

Why does my screen look wrong in Safe Mode? Windows uses a basic display driver instead of your graphics card driver, so you get low resolution and huge icons. It’s normal and returns to normal on a regular restart.

Can I use Safe Mode to reset a forgotten Windows password? Not on a Microsoft account, reset that at account.live.com/password/reset. For a local account, Safe Mode with Command Prompt can help if another administrator account exists, but Windows 11 blocks the older offline tricks by default.

Windows 11 keeps starting in Safe Mode on its own. Either msconfig has Safe boot ticked, or Windows is failing its normal boot and falling back. Clear the msconfig setting first. If it still happens, run the DISM and SFC commands, and check your drive’s health: a failing SSD often shows up this way.

One thing worth knowing: if a problem still happens in Safe Mode, you’ve learned something valuable. Safe Mode removes almost all third-party software from the equation, so a fault that survives it points at hardware, at Windows itself, or at the drive, and that’s a different repair path entirely.