Windows 10 offers fantastic boot times compared to some earlier operating systems, but part of the reason for this faster boot is due to removing the window of opportunity to access the F8 boot menu. This boot options menu allows you to enter safe mode or access other recovery tools that would otherwise only be available after booting in to Windows or using recovery media (i.e the install disc).
If you think that you may need to enter safe mode when Windows is no longer able to boot, you can sacrifice a couple of seconds at boot and enable the F8 safe mode menu. If you use UEFI fast boot, you may not have time to press F8 before Windows launches.
To begin, open an elevated command prompt (see this article), then run the following command:
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu yes
Once you have done this, restart your PC as normal and then keep pressing F8 during the boot process. You may be prompted to choose an OS and press F8 once more for advanced boot options:
If you'd like to reverse this process in future, run the following command to return to the default faster boot:
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu no
If you think that you may need to enter safe mode when Windows is no longer able to boot, you can sacrifice a couple of seconds at boot and enable the F8 safe mode menu. If you use UEFI fast boot, you may not have time to press F8 before Windows launches.
To begin, open an elevated command prompt (see this article), then run the following command:
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu yes
If you'd like to reverse this process in future, run the following command to return to the default faster boot:
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu no
