PC101-Personal
Computer 101
If I can't boot
to Windows, how do I boot to Safe Mode?
Safe Mode is a "fail safe"
type of boot where a lot of the normal entities that normally
get started do not under a Safe Mode boot. This will
allow you to get
to either a DOS prompt or Windows even when a program is corrupting
your system and/or you have incorrectly configured something. You
can then undo what you did, or run diagnostic tools to try and find the
problem or AntiVirus programs if you think you are infected .
To get to Safe Mode you need to
Shutdown your system with the Restart
option. After the screen
comes alive on the boot repeatedly push the F8 key. This will
put you into what is known as the Safe
Mode Startup Option Menu (XP).
From here you can either take the Safe Mode
with
Command Prompt
Option (option #5 on older versions of Windows) if you
know how to do commands in DOS, or the normal Safe
Mode boot to Windows.
Note: There are many other options in this menu, you should take
time to read the menu list e.g. to have
the boot events go to a logfile, or Last Known Good Configuration
that uses the last version of the System Registry that worked, and even
a normal boot option.
Got questions
you would like answered? Yes
keoni@isp.com