Enabled legacy F8 boot menu in Windows 8/8.1/10

[Circaflex]

Do you ever have a Windows 8/8.1/10 computer that is being a stubborn and refuses to load Safe Mode?  The new design for advanced startup is cumbersome because it assumes that the computer loads the OS well enough for the user to hold down shift to access the recovery menu.

 

The procedure below will restore the older Windows 7/XP style F8 menu on boot-up:

 

Step 1:  Load the Windows System Repair Disc (you can use a Windows 7 machine to create this), or if you are able to boot into the OS currently you can just skip to Step 3.

Step 2:  Launch command prompt.  This can be done through Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt.

Step 3:  Type the command below to enable the legacy F8 advanced startup options menu:

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

Step 4:  Reboot the unit, then hit the F8 key after the unit POSTs (the perfect time to hit the F8 key is when the grey cursor is flashing in the top-left corner of the screen, right after the BIOS logo goes away).

Step 5:  Voila!  Feast your eyes on the old-school Windows 7/XP style advanced boot options menu--on a Windows 8/8.1/10 unit!  It's beautiful. 

Step 6:  You can either revert this change and go back to default, or keep it. If you keep it, boot time will probably be increased by 2-3 seconds. You can revert this from within the OS or from the System Repair Option as well.

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard

 

Credits: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/boot-windows-10-safe-mode/

[FiB3R]

Probably won't use it, but cool tip.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Oldie but goodie. One of the many things they got wrong with 8 and 10. Right along there with turning off the "are you sure you want to send this file to the recycle bin", by default. So now most people can select 30 files and hit delete by accident and just have them disappear. Why god why!

 

Everytime a person tells me I can enter safe mode by selecting it from inside windows or holding down the shift key when clicking reboot i get highly annoyed. 

 

They then go on to tell you how ,windows will automatically bring up the automatic repair if windows fails to start 3 times. oooo so now I have to sometimes be holding in the power button and shutting the computer off when windows won't boot just to throw it into recovery mode. Oh Sounds like cupcakes and unicorns for the hard drive!