How To Boot Windows 10 To Safe Mode

Jason Moore

Windows operating systems are popular for the masses. However, sometimes things go wrong. I will show you how to get into safe mode so Windows can be worked on.

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How To Boot Windows 10 To Safe Mode

When Windows 10 or 11 stops working for some reason, getting into safe mode can help. Very often, a driver, graphics setting, or program is malfunctioning. Safe mode lets Windows run using the most basic functionality. Once you are in, you can start diagnosing the issue.

 

Getting Into Safe Mode

First, I will just list the steps to get you in. If you are curious, you can read the more elaborate description afterwards.

 

  • Open setting by pressing the Windows button + I
  • Select Update & Security
  • On the left, select Recovery
  • Under Advanced Startup, select Restart now
  • On the blue screen, select Troubleshoot
  • Next, select Advanced Options
  • Under this screen, select Startup Settings
  • Select Restart
  • Press 4 to enter safe mode

 

After it restarts, you should be in safe mode. From here, you can see what works and what does not to eliminate possible causes.

 

Exiting Safe Mode

To exit, you can just restart your computer again.

 

Working In Safe Mode

Now that you are in safe mode, it is time to check some things. The first thing I would check is the device manager. You can open settings and search for it there. Once it is open, look to see if there are any yellow or red indicators. If so, you will need to update the driver for whatever it is. 

The next thing I would try is checking your graphics card. If you have a separate graphics card, Nvidia or AMD, it should have a diagnostic program built into its software. Run this and see if there are any issues with it. 

After that, you will want to check your data drive. You will need to make sure it still has sufficient room on it and that your operating system is not corrupted. This used to be a bad problem with mechanical drives but the issue has got a lot better with SSD and newer drives. 

 

Conclusion

In this guide, I have shown you how to get into safe mode. I listed the steps with any pertinent information required. Then we talked about some of the steps you can do to check things out. This list is not exhaustive but I listed the most common issues. Hopefully, it helps anyone that has trouble getting into your computer. 

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