I think Microsoft recently snuck F8 back in for Windows 8.1 and 10

[+Warwagon MVC]

I noticed on 2 computers this week,  one Windows 10 and one Windows 8 that when the power had to be killed on them due to them not starting, the screen on the next reboot was a blue screen, which showed the error code and said Press F8 for boot menu or press enter to retry the boot.

 

I like it. It's a new compromise. Plus it stops the computer from booting, which makes it easier for a customer to press F8

[TAZMINATOR]

Depends on BIOS...  Some of them have the F8 option in BIOS settings.  Like one of my laptops does.

 

If that option is disabled, then it won't show in boot screen. Which my laptop has.

[+Warwagon MVC]

2 minutes ago, TAZMINATOR said:

Depends on BIOS...  Some of them have the F8 option in BIOS settings.  Like one of my laptops does.

 

If that option is disabled, then it won't show in boot screen. Which my laptop has.

Well, now I think it's Bios Independent.

[LimeMaster]

I'm disappointed. The title is misleading. I thought you meant that you could press F8 before boot & the standard menu would show.

[wakjak]

1 minute ago, warwagon said:

now I think it's Bios Independent.

how? Windows doesn't load until after the bios.

[TAZMINATOR]

@warwagon @LimeMaster

 

This should help which there are other ways:

 

http://www.digitalcitizen.life/4-ways-boot-safe-mode-windows-10

 

 

[Circaflex]

It has always been within Windows 10, you just need to be using a traditional hard-drive and BIOS rather than UEFI. UEFI+SSD boots to fast and the key commands will not be captured, http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/05/22/designing-for-pcs-that-boot-faster-than-ever-before.aspx

 

However, I do feel your gripe @warwagonespecially when supporting users. A PC that doesn't boot into windows leaves you with little options, in terms of getting into safe mode, which leads to frustration and many curse words.

[+Warwagon MVC]

7 minutes ago, Circaflex said:

It has always been within Windows 10, you just need to be using a traditional hard-drive and BIOS rather than UEFI. UEFI+SSD boots to fast and the key commands will not be captured, http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/05/22/designing-for-pcs-that-boot-faster-than-ever-before.aspx

 

However, I do feel your gripe @warwagonespecially when supporting users. A PC that doesn't boot into windows leaves you with little options, in terms of getting into safe mode, which leads to frustration and many curse words.

It's not a matter of booting too fast. It's a matter of them removing F8 i've NEVER had F8 work on Windows 10 or Windows 8 ... not with shift + F8 or just shift by itself. This includes traditional spinning hard drives.

24 minutes ago, wakjak said:

how? Windows doesn't load until after the bios.

it was in reference the last post about having to turn F8 on in the bios.

[Circaflex]

Just now, warwagon said:

It's not a matter of booting too fast. It's a matter of them removing F8 i've NEVER had F8 work on Windows 10 or Windows 8 ... not with shift + F8 or just shift by itself. This includes traditional spinning hard drives.

Except it is, Microsoft has stated this. Older systems running BIOS+traditional drives boot slow enough to where F8 works, UEFI+SSD not so much. Feel free to look over the material I linked earlier; I am just reporting what Microsoft has stated.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Alright, I have Windows 10 computer that just got upgraded from Windows 8 and has a Spinning hard drive. Let's see if F8 works ... goes and tries.

 

 

[Circaflex]

Just now, warwagon said:

Alright, I have Windows 10 computer that just got upgraded from windows 8 and has a Spinning hard drive. Lets see if F8 works ... goes and tries.

Does the unit run UEFI or the older BIOS? That is another important part of the equation.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Just now, Circaflex said:

Does the unit run UEFI or the older BIOS? That is another important part of the equation.

 

This one has UEFI

[Circaflex]

It needs to be BIOS+traditional hard-drive, I've only said that twice before now, this makes three.

[+Warwagon MVC]

13 minutes ago, Circaflex said:

It needs to be BIOS+traditional hard-drive, I've only said that twice before now, this makes three.

Alrighty, doing a clean install of Windows 10 creators edition on a traditional hard driv with a normal bios.. lets see what happens.

[LimeMaster]

Doesn't work on BIOS with standard HDD either. They outright removed it from Windows 8 onwards.

[TAZMINATOR]

2 minutes ago, LimeMaster said:

Doesn't work on BIOS with standard HDD either. They outright removed it from Windows 8 onwards.

Strange.

 

Maybe that PC hates you.   

[LimeMaster]

Just now, TAZMINATOR said:

Strange.

 

Maybe that PC hates you.   

Nah, it's because they removed the feature.

[Circaflex]

Incorrect, if it were completely removed, a simple registry key wouldn't be able to re-enable it no matter UEFI or BIOS. The feature is still there.

 

“bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy”

 

[LimeMaster]

Okay, though it's still disabled by default no matter what the configuration of the device is.

[Circaflex]

disabled != removed.

[+Warwagon MVC]

1 hour ago, Circaflex said:

disabled != removed.

Alright, so I took my HP Laptop that had windows 8 but upgraded to Windows 10 on an SSD, Enabled the F8 menu using that command above. I rebooted and was able to press F8 and activate the menu with no issue. So then I booted up my HP Stream 7 Tablet with Windows 10 and solid state drive and also turned on the F8 key functionality.  Then via a USB hub hooked a keyboard up to it and mashed F8 and it worked just fine. It didn't show me the F8 menu .. apparently, it has bit locker on it and wanted my key to change the startup settings, but the F8 worked just fine.

 

 

 

So moral of the story is, it's disabled by default on everything. But if enabled F8 also works on everything.

 

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

I like the "old style" text-based boot loader, and on my personal computers enumerate it by issuing the following commands at an elevated Command Prompt (filename: CMD.EXE):

 

bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Windows 10 (Safe Mode)"

 

bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Windows 10 (Safe Mode with Networking)"

 

bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Windows 10 (Safe Mode with Command Prompt)"

 

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

 

bcdedit /timeout 10

 

Then I run the System Configuration Utility (filename: MSCONFIG.EXE), go to the Boot tab and assign the modes to the various boot options.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky