Safe ModeWhen booted into
Safe Mode ...
- Only a limited set of drivers and files will load, which are just enough to boot Windows.
- Startup programs do not generally auto load in Safe Mode.
Devices and drivers that start in Safe Mode ...- Floppy disk drives (internal and USB)
- Internal CD-ROM drives (ATA, SCSI)
- External CD-ROM drives (USB)
- Internal DVD-ROM drives (ATA, SCSI)
- External DVD-ROM drives (USB)
- Internal hard disk drives (ATA, SATA, SCSI)
- External hard disk drives (USB)
- Keyboards (USB, PS/2, serial)
- Mice (USB, PS/2, serial)
- VGA display cards (PCI, AGP)
Windows services that start in Safe Mode ...- Windows event log
- Plug and Play
- Remote procedure call (WPC)
- Cryptographic Services
- Windows Defender
- Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
Safe Mode is useful for troubleshooting problems where Windows may not boot properly into Normal Mode ...
- If a problem doesn't appear when you start in Safe Mode, you can eliminate the default settings and basic device drivers as possible causes of that problem.
- If a recently installed program, device, or driver prevents Windows from running in Normal Mode, in Safe Mode you can remove the program that's causing the problem.
- If your computer is infested with Malware which cannot be removed when booted into Normal Mode, or which prevents you from booting into Normal Mode, then you may be able to remove it in Safe Mode.
Warning ... it is also possible to boot into Safe Mode using
MSConfig, but
you should not use this method because
doing so can render your computer unbootable.
A computer that is having problems is not stable, and by using the
SAFEBOOT option in
MSCONFIG you are altering your boot instructions to make it boot
ONLY in Safe Mode. If your computer fails to boot into Safe Mode, as it may well do, then you will be left in a position where you cannot boot at all.
Because your Safe Mode Registry Entries may have been damaged, your computer cannot boot into Safe Mode. You cannot boot to Normal Mode (because of the alterations you made to your boot instructions), so now you are left with a computer that will neither boot into Safe Mode nor Normal mode which is not a situation you want to be in.
Using the
BOOTSAFE option in
Super Anti-Spyware can also have the same outcome, as can using
BOOTSAFE by
SUPERAdBlocker.
If F8 doesn't work (Vista/W7) or Shift+Restart (W8, W8.1, W10) TELL YOUR HELPERThere are tools we can use to repair your faulty Safe Mode condition, but these can only be used so long as your computer is bootable.