No more tapping F8, F10 or whatever to get into "Safe Mode"
Have it right there on your boot screen (as if you're dual booting)

Dani AI

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A few practical notes that build on ’s links and ’s Vista question (and on ’s later msconfig suggestion): adding Safe Mode to the boot menu is fine for convenience, but treat it like a persistent boot tweak — it’s easy to forget you added an entry and harder to recover if the BCD/boot.ini is modified incorrectly. Back up the boot configuration first and run commands from an elevated prompt. (learn.microsoft.com)

On legacy XP-era systems the boot menu is controlled by Boot.ini. You can create a second boot line (a copy of your existing line) and append the appropriate /safeboot parameter to make a persistent Safe Mode option; always keep a backup of Boot.ini before editing. If you prefer a GUI, msconfig edits Boot.ini for you, but manual edits and the bootcfg utility are the low-level methods. (learn.microsoft.com)

For Vista and all modern Windows versions the supported, flexible approach is BCDEdit: copy the current boot entry, then set the safeboot option on the new entry. Example (run as Administrator and replace the GUID shown by the /copy result):

bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Windows Safe Mode"
bcdedit /set {PUT-GUID-HERE} safeboot minimal

You can use network for Safe Mode with networking or add safebootalternateshell yes for command-prompt safe mode. After testing, remove the flag or the entry when you no longer need it. (learn.microsoft.com)

Always export/backup the BCD before changing it and be prepared to undo a change; export and removal examples:

bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup.bcd
bcdedit /deletevalue {PUT-GUID-HERE} safeboot

If BitLocker or Secure Boot are enabled, suspend them before editing BCD. Typos can make a system hard to boot — keep recovery media ready. (learn.microsoft.com)

If F8 doesn’t work on newer machines use the Advanced Startup/WinRE paths (Shift+Restart, Settings → Recovery → Advanced startup) or show the boot menu and increase timeout via BCDEdit so the menu appears at boot. Remember Safe Mode disables Windows Hello PIN and may prompt for BitLocker recovery on some systems. (learn.microsoft.com)

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THanks for all the help, guys.

Adamsappleone................ I followed your post on how to get the security tab......... it worked just fine. I am very grateful.

One last little niggle

The read only box seems to have four?? states

Filled green
Green check mark
Vague coloured check mark
Empty

just wondering

Thanks

John

Great buddy. Many of time I faced this as an issue pressing F8 , or F10 continuously. Now your trick can be a shortcut for my solution.

No more tapping F8, F10 or whatever to get into "Safe Mode"
Have it right there on your boot screen (as if you're dual booting)

Thank how about vista? is it same?

Thank how about vista? is it same?

Try this for Vista;

1. Press the Windows + R keystrokes to open the Run command.
2. Type ‘msconfig’ and click OK.
3. Click the Boot tab to make changes to the boot.ini file.
4. Select your default operating system.
5. Select the Safe boot option.
6. Click Minimal from the list of Safe boot options.
7. Select the Boot log option.
8. Click OK to save your changes.

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