How to boot windows 8 in safe mode

The way in which to start safely has changed significantly with the arrival of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. Mainly given the incorporation of UEFI. Before that, the usual way to boot into safe mode was to press the F8 key. But, this is different now. It is no longer enough to use the F8 key to boot into safe mode.

Index of contents

How to boot Windows 8 in safe mode

Therefore, we explain below various ways that exist to boot in safe mode in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. These ways are valid both for those who want to start the computer normally and for those whose only solution is to boot in safe mode. So they all work both ways.

Reset button

This is possibly the simplest way to start Windows 8 in safe mode. Just follow these steps:

On the Start screen we look for the restart option We press this option at the same time that we press the shift key (just below Caps Lock)

In this way, our computer will restart. Doing so will automatically enter safe mode. So we can start the computer in this mode directly.

msconfig

The second way also stands out for being very simple. Although it seems that it is a somewhat less known option. On this occasion the steps to follow are as follows:

We open the search for Windows 8 (Windows Key + Q) and we search for msconfigOnce in msconfig we open the boot tab We activate the safe boot option Restart Windows

When we do the last step, we will see that our team will automatically enter safe mode.

CD / DVD or system recovery flash drive

Windows 8 provides us with the option of creating a recovery CD / DVD or pendrive. In this way we can repair the system or enter it in safe mode. We can create one on our Windows 8 computer or also on another computer.

We recommend reading " How to speed up the operation of your Windows PC"

If we already have one created, we can configure BIOS / UEFI to boot from the CD in question. There we find the options to access the safe mode. In case you don't have one, the original Windows 8 CD / DVD works for this, too. In it, before doing an installation we have an option called repair equipment, which gives us access to safe mode.

F8

Finally, it may be the case that there are computers for which it is still possible to start the safe mode by pressing the F8 key. We can test since there are manufacturers who decided to enable this option. It may be just pressing F8. Also the F8 + shift combination is possible.

In those computers that we have updated to Windows 8 and that do not have UEFI, it is very likely that we will have this option still available.

These are the four ways currently available to start safe mode on our Windows 8 computer. We hope that all four have been helpful to you. So you can start safe mode if necessary.