Although accessing the safe mode in Windows 10 is not as easy as Windows 7 or Vista, there are a couple of ways out there to start Windows 10 in safe mode. You can go through our 5 ways to Start Windows 10 in Safe mode guide to know all four ways out there to open Safe mode on a bootable Windows 10 PC.
Usually, we need to access the Safe when the PC is not booting or when there is a problem with the Windows operating system. Since Windows 10 doesn’t support booting into Safe mode by pressing the traditional F8 key, it’s important to know how to boot into Safe mode when Windows 10 PC is not booting.
If your Windows 10 PC is not booting in the normal mode, you can refer to the given below directions to boot your unbootable PC in Safe mode.
Method 1 – boot Windows 10 in Safe mode using bootable USB/DVD
Method 2 – boot Windows 10 in safe mode using a recovery drive
Method 1 of 2
Start Windows 10 in Safe mode using Windows 10 bootable USB/DVD
When the Windows 10 PC is not booting, you can use the Windows 10 bootable media or Windows 10 recovery drive to boot into Safe mode.
Step 1: Download Media Creation Tool and run the same to download Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft. Of course, you can skip this step as well as the next step if you already have a bootable Windows 10 USB/DVD.
Step 2: Once you have the ISO file, refer to our how to create Windows 10 bootable USB or bootable DVD guide to prepare the bootable media.
Step 3: Connect your bootable media to your Windows 10 PC, turn on or restart the PC, open BIOS/UEFI settings, make necessary changes to boot from USB/DVD (please search the web for step-by-step directions) and then restart your PC again to boot using the connected Windows 10 bootable USB or DVD.
Step 4: Once your PC is booted from the bootable media, you will see the following screen where you can select your language and keyboard or input method before clicking the Next button.
Step 5: Next is the Install now screen. Here, click the Repair your computer link to open Choose an option screen.
Step 6: At the Choose an option screen, click the Troubleshoot tile to see the Troubleshoot screen.
Step 7: Once you see the Troubleshoot screen, click Advanced options tile.
Step 8: At the Advanced options screen, you will see many options, including Startup Settings.
Step 9: When you see the following Startup settings screen, click the Restart button to restart your PC.
Step 10: Once your PC reboots, you will see the following screen where you need to press 4 or F4 key to boot into the normal Safe mode. Safe mode with networking and Safe mode with Command Prompt are also available. Press the appropriate keys to start Windows 10 in the respective Safe mode.
Method 2 of 2
Boot Windows 10 in Safe mode using a recovery drive
In addition to Windows 10 install DVD/USB, you can also use the Windows 10 recovery drive to start Windows 10 in Safe mode. Here is how to use the recovery drive to boot Windows 10 in Safe mode.
Step 1: Connect your Windows 10 recovery drive to the unbootable PC.
Step 2: Power on your PC and make necessary changes to BIOS/UEFI settings to boot from USB. Please refer to the user manual if you’re not sure how to change the boot priority.
Step 3: Once your PC boots from the recovery drive, you will see a black screen with the Windows logo at the center.
Step 4: Next, you will see Choose your keyboard layout screen. Click on the keyboard layout that you want to use to see Choose an option screen.
Step 5: When you at the Choose an option screen, click on the Troubleshoot tile.
Step 6: At the Troubleshoot screen, click Advanced options tile.
Step 7: When you see the Advanced options screen, click Startup settings tile.
Step 8: Finally, at the Startup settings screen, click the Restart button.
Step 9: Once the PC restarts, you will see the following screen where you need to press 4 or F4 key to start your Windows 10 in Safe mode. Press 5 or F5 key to open Safe mode with networking and press 6 or F6 key to start Safe mode with Command Prompt.
Let us know if you have any queries by leaving a comment below.
Our 4 ways to access advanced startup options in Windows 10 guide might also be of interest to you.
Steve says
U can tuts what ever u like but still win boot loader wont boot properly from USB stick coz it is crippled somehow from design out code (the way it is coded)! Win versions 21H1,2 & Win 22H1,2 wont boot on some expensive and exotic motherboard Boot Loader hangs despite having all the settings and procedure in place properly ! All the tuts wont help either ! If MS doesn’t include “FAIL SAFE INSTALL BOOT PROCEDURE” (memory mode boot) this problem might get bigger and bigger ! In compare to WinXP install i can’t remember when it was failing at install boot (Linux at that time had huge problems with that) and nova-days it’s opposite, Linux boots every god damn time but Microsoft Fails to boot !? OS that u cant install u cant use – its so simple. At the end we are users some of us ordinary, some advanced, but ins’t ours to fix something that isn’t ours to fix, developers keep forgetting that. Tech should be easier to use and not stepwise harder. People fail to use it and at the end they let it be. What u cant use u don’t use ! At the end no tuts can help if tech has bugs, is faulty in operation or incompatible.
Shawn Crafford says
My laptop is not booting up its trying to and then …just failing. The principle you have shown is similar to downloading a game and then taking the iso out and placing it on a usb or disk except for the other details.. I made the mistake of switching my laptop off after an update took forever to finish. I can login with my user account but then nothing seems to kick in can’t use the mouse the pointer works but nothing else does..? Am then to assume that the operating system (windows 10) has crashed? lastly will I succeed with your step by step tutorial.
Marlene says
I can not log into Windows 10 keep saying my password or security key is incorrect!