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Q:  This is a “Thanks, Bill” question. I cannot find a reliable way to start my Windows 8 computer in safe mode. I’ve searched but the links I get when I search are not links I trust nor do I trust the answer. Additionally, it seems all the answers are different. On the Microsoft website, the answer applies to Windows 8.1, so before I can implement it, I’ll have to “upgrade” to 8.1. This, as I’m sure you’ll understand, scares me. Last I heard the 8.1 that’s out is still beta and for touch screen devices. At any rate, I want others to check out 8.1 before I disable my computer testing it for Microsoft. So, back to my question, how do I start my computer in safe made in 8.0? Thanks.

– Kay B.
Niceville, Florida

A: This has all the appearances of a “Thanks, Bill!” moment, Kay, but you’ll be surprised to hear that it’s not.  Well, at least not totally.  One driving force behind the change is a move on the part of PC manufacturers to change system firmware from the old BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) to something called the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, or UEFI (pronounced “yoo-ee-fi”).  The implementation of UEFI made it possible for Microsoft to shave off some of the time Windows takes to boot – something everyone would generally agree is a good thing.  That is, until they realize that the change came at the cost of sacrificing the old ability to hit a keystroke during the BIOS boot process to indicate a special type of boot, such as Safe Mode.

Safe Mode is still necessary, so there are work arounds.  They just aren’t very well-published workarounds.  The one I’ve chosen to share with you will restore the old “F8 Key” method of booting into Safe Mode.  Follow these simple steps: Using the keyboard, enter WinKey+X to open the Quick Access menu.  Select “Command Prompt (Admin)”.  If User Account Control prompts you, tell it “Yes”.  In the Command window that opens, enter:

 bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

Note that those are curly braces around “default” and not parentheses.  You should get the message “The operation completed successfully”, and the old F8 method of booting into Safe Mode will now work for you again.

As you might expect, making the above modification will cause your computer to take a bit longer to boot, so once you’re done using Safe Mode you should put it back the way it was.  To do so, repeat the steps above, but enter the command:

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard

Regarding what you said about Win8 vs. Win 8.1, while it’s true that 8.1 was originally released as a Beta in June 2013, that status didn’t last for very long.  It was subsequently sent out to hardware and software manufacturers in late August.  The full version was released publicly in the Windows Store on October 17 as a free update for all Windows 8 users, and it has been out of “Beta” status ever since.  So feel free to go and update your system, so you too can enjoy the “repairs” that Microsoft did to fix the many complaints people had about Windows 8.