How to reboot to safe mode

Rebooting to safe mode, although in principle quite simple, seems to cause some people problems. So here I will describe the standard method of doing it, along with tricks that can be used if this does not work.

To reboot to safe mode, reboot your computer. After the BIOS check, the BIOS will load Windows from your hard drive. At this point a large Windows splash screen fills your monitor screen, and two seconds later a progress bar starts. In this two second time slot push the F8 key on the top row of keys on your keyboard, and you will be presented with an Advanced Boot Menu. Use the up/down arrows to select the desired option, normally the top one ("Safe Mode") and press the enter key. You will then see your boot menu, usually just the name of your operating system (Windows 2000 Professional, or Windows XP Home / Professional) and then press the enter key again. At that point Windows will start the process of booting to safe mode. That's it!

There are a few thing that can go wrong, however. First, you may miss the 2 second time slot during which you must press the F8 key. A way to avoid this problem is to start hitting the F8 once a second even before the Windows splash screen comes up, and continue until the Advanced Boot Menu appears. If you hit the key once a second, you are guaranteed to hit it during the required two second time slot. Do not hit it much more often than once per second, or you will just overflow your keyboard buffer. (When this occurs you will hear a beep every time you hit the key.)

When you hit the F8 key during the latter phase of the BIOS check, on some computers you may get a boot device menu, offering you your choice of devices to boot from, i.e. floppy disk, IDE device, CD-ROM, etc. If this happens, use the up/down arrows to select your hard drive or IDE device, press enter and then immediately press the F8 key. You will then get the Advanced Boot Menu. Note that it helps to already have a second finger over the F8 key before you press the enter key.

Wireless keyboards may not be functional during the earliest portion of the boot phase, so hitting the F8 key has no effect. You may have to temporarily use a PS2 or USB keyboard to get the advanced boot menu.

Still not getting there? A final trick, then. Stick a non-bootable floppy disk in the floppy disk drive. When you restart your computer, the BIOS will attempt to boot from it. When the BIOS does not find a suitable boot record on the floppy disk, a message will appear that it is not a system disk, and you will be asked to insert a bootable disk and press any key. Remove the floppy disk and press F8 twice in rapid succession. The first time will satisfy the request that you press any key. Then, since there is now no longer a floppy disk in the drive, the BIOS will boot from the hard drive. The second key press will get you the Advanced Boot Menu. Voila! (Note that this only works if your BIOS is set to boot first from the floppy drive, and then from the hard drive.)

If nothing else works you can use the Windows XP msconfig to get into safe mode.

Go to Start, Run and type "msconfig" (without the quotes).
In the System Configuration Utility select the BOOT.INI tab. Click to check the /SAFEBOOT box, then click mode you want, usually MINIMAL or NETWORK.
Click OK to close msconfig. You will be asked whether you want to reboot now, or exit without restarting. Select Reboot now.
When you reboot to safe mode, there will be a splash screen warning you that you have used msconfig. Click OK to make it go away.
Msconfig will start. You will continue booting to safe mode until you undo the changes within the BOOT.INI tab. Click to uncheck the /SAFEBOOT check box, click Apply and OK. If you are finished in safe mode choose Reboot now, otherwise choose Exit without restarting.

Windows 2000 does not have msconfig. The Windows XP msconfig is fully compatible with Windows 2000, so get a copy from any Windows XP computer. It is located at %windir%\pchealth\helpctr\binaries\msconfig.exe. You can also download it here. Save it in the WINNT folder on your Windows 2000 system, and you can start it anytime with Start > Run > msconfig.

There! Now you now know the tricks that the experts know about getting the most recalcitrant computer booted to safe mode.