Member Avatar for kennmen

I want to prevent user from booting to safe mode using F8 key. Any idea how to disable it? Pls help thanks!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Bob_180_Bob

Dani AI

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Good question, . For XP you cannot truly disable the F8 menu with Group Policy (as suggested) because F8 is handled by the boot loader before Windows and GPOs load. Safe Mode also starts only a very small set of drivers and services, which is why most cafe billing clients do not run there by default A description of the Safe Mode boot options in Windows XP.

Practical options that work in cafes:

  • Protect Safe Mode logon. Set a strong password on the built‑in Administrator account (it is exposed on XP in Safe Mode) and ensure customers only use limited accounts.
  • Make your billing client run in Safe Mode. If it installs a Windows service, add it to the SafeBoot lists so it starts even in Safe Mode. Replace YourServiceName with the service’s short name shown in Services.msc (Properties -> Service name):
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\YourServiceName]
@="Service"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\YourServiceName]
@="Service"

Test this on one PC first; the service must not rely on components that Safe Mode does not load.

  • Last resort: disable Safe Mode itself by backing up, then renaming HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot. This prevents F8 bypass, but you lose a key recovery tool. Keep an offline restore method handy.

Also lock down BIOS/boot order with a password to block booting external tools. As implies, moving to cafe software that is Safe‑Mode‑aware (or pairing with a restore product like Deep Freeze) is a durable fix that survives reboots and user tampering.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

Group policy?

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Why?

Member Avatar for kennmen

Why?

Because some of the customer in my cybercafe uses safe mode to bypass the billing system so that they can use it without paying for it!

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Hi,
Change you system to Netimo, that will fix your problem.

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