Safe mode is designed to help troubleshoot PC problems by starting windows with minimal drivers. Safe mode can help you narrow down a problem to determine if its a hardware or software related issue. Prior to Windows 10 and 11, F8 was used to enter safe mode during PC startup. By default the F8 function for safe mode is disabled in Windows 10 and 11. This article explains how to enter safe mode using the F8 key.
To enable safe mode with the F8 key:
1. Click the Start button and type the letters CMD.
2. When the Command Prompt App is displayed, click on the Run as administrator option as shown in the image below. You can also right click on Command Prompt and click Run as Administrator.
3. Copy and paste the following line after the command prompt, then press the Enter key:
bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy
4. A message stating The operation completed successfully should now be displayed. If not, double-check the entry above and re-paste it after the command prompt.
Conclusion
This article explained how to enter safe mode in Windows 10 and 11 with the traditional method using the F8 key. There are also other methods for entering safe mode in Windows that you can view here.
Thanks for reading.
