How to boot into Safe Mode from Pwered OFF state

wiganken · 22 Aug 2019

I have just thought of an oddity re the F8 and F10 keys on start-up from the powered OFF state: -
I previously stated that "I have a SSD which, coupled with Fast Startup, is too fast I believe for any key presses to work." This is not true because I can press the F8 key repeatedly after switch-on and this will display the "Boot Options" screen where I can select my plugged-in bootable USB device. The F8 key does not however display the options to get into Safe Mode. The F10 key, which used to display the options to get into Safe Mode with my Windows 8.1 OS, does not work with Windows 10 OS. So F8 works as before but the F10 key doesn't. Odd behaviour and it changes nothing re the subject of this thread but I Just thought I would mention it for clarity.

Ztruker · 22 Aug 2019

sportsfan148 said:

I know that you can hold down the shift key and press restart and it takes you into the Advanced Boot options and you get to Safe Mode there. I read somewhere that powering up the PC while holding down the shift key does the same thing

Did you try it?

wiganken · 23 Aug 2019

Yes I tried it but it did not work. I am trying the other 'Function' keys when switching ON just in case Windows 10 works differently to Windows 8.1. I don't hold out much hope since I think function keys (on bootup) are a BIOS thing which means F10 should still work as it did with Windows 8.1, but it doesn't. I have tried F1 and F2 so now I will go through the rest (except F8 and F10) and report back.

- - - Updated - - -

I have now tried all the 'F' keys and only F8 works from the powered OFF state. This means I can plug-in a bootable USB device and boot from it so thank goodness that the F8 key works. I have given up on trying to boot into safe mode from the powered OFF state but thanks for your input. I'll stop monitoring this thread now.

zbook · 23 Aug 2019

Booting into safe mode from a powered off state can be accomplished using command line.

dalchina · 23 Aug 2019

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy
Given in link in my post #2

Ztruker · 23 Aug 2019

zbook said:

Booting into safe mode from a powered off state can be accomplished using command line.

Only if you know in advance you need to do so. I still don't understand why Microsoft removed support for F8 in the boot code. Being able to boot to Safe mode or the Advanced Boot Options Menu from a power off condition at any time can be very usefull. Now the directive is to power up and kill the system 3 times with the power button then on the 4th boot it should give you the ability to get to Advanced Boot Options Menu (as long as those power cycles/crashes don't kill the boot drive).