My Windows 10 PC keeps crashing and won’t boot up normally. I’ve heard Safe Mode might help me troubleshoot, but I’m not sure how to access it. Any advice on the easiest method to start Windows 10 in Safe Mode would be really appreciated.
Okay, so Safe Mode on Windows 10 is like… that one friend who still shows up to help even when everything’s falling apart. Since you said your PC’s crashing and not booting normally, the easiest method that usually works (can’t say always because Windows does love to keep us guessing) is this:
If you can get to the sign-in screen at all (even if it takes forever or blue screens a bit), hold Shift and then click Power > Restart at the bottom right. PC will reboot into something called the Windows Recovery Environment (fancy, huh?).
When it loads, go:
Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart
Your PC restarts again, and you’ll see a list with numbers. Hit 4 or F4 for Safe Mode, 5 or F5 for Safe Mode with Networking (if you need the internet—which you probably will, to Google solutions to whatever doom Windows threw at you).
If you can’t even get to the sign-in screen, then you’ll have to go hardcore: turn it on, and as soon as you see the spinning dots or Windows logo, hold down the power button to turn it back off. Do that process about 2-3 times. Eventually, Windows notices and freaks out, and gives you “Automatic Repair” options. Once you see that, click Advanced options and you’ll land in the Recovery Environment, then repeat steps above.
Works most of the time, unless your PC’s actually possessed. In that case, you need a priest not a forum post.
Not gonna lie, @mike34 mostly nailed it with the “recovery environment” trick, but honestly, Windows being “smart” enough to go into recovery after a few failed boots only works when it feels like it. Sometimes it’ll just loop forever and you’ll think you’re in The Matrix. If that’s happening, there’s another way that’s surprisingly old-school but works wonders: the trusty Windows 10 installation USB or DVD.
Yeah, it’s a pain to find your USB stick (I always have, like, a Minecraft installer from 2016 instead), but if you make (or borrow) a Win10 install drive, you can boot from it, hit “Repair your computer” on the setup screen, and then go: Troubleshoot > Advanced options, etc.—same as Mike’s steps from there. It’s actually how I recovered my last desktop after a totally NOT self-inflicted graphics driver meltdown.
Also, if you ever do get into Windows—even just for five minutes—there’s the “msconfig” hack (System Configuration): press Windows+R, type msconfig, go to the Boot tab, and tick “Safe boot” there. Set that, restart, bam, safe mode! Just remember to untick it after you’re done. Otherwise you’ll have a permanent safe-mode PC and start thinking that’s just how computing is now.
Honestly though, I’ve had more luck with a bootable USB than the power-button-mashing business, since modern laptops love to hide the “off actually means off” function behind, like, six BIOS settings. If none of this works, and it’s really possessed (Mike’s priest joke was funny ‘cause it’s true), maybe start thinking about pulling your files off with Linux Live USB before doing anything drastic.
TL;DR: Try the install USB if the recovery menu won’t show. And yeah, sometimes Safe Mode feels like the last lifeboat on the Titanic, but anything to avoid a nuke-and-reinstall.