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Questions tagged [safe-mode]

Safe-mode is a stripped down version of an OS or application, used to diagnose issues.

Safe mode generally refers a diagnostic mode of an operating system, though it can also refer to a similar mode of operation by application software. Safe mode is intended to allow diagnostic and repairs, and typically starts the application or OS with the most basic settings and loads minimal plugins, modules and/or drivers to allow the best chance of a successful start up.

276 questions
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How to start Chrome without plugins?

I have created a separate question Google Chrome completely unresponsive on the problem that may be fixed in this way. The browser cannot open any page, not even the settings, plugins and addons pages. Using the incognito window has the same…
user162573
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1 answer

Windows 8.1 Black screen and no safe mode

PROBLEM Cannot run Windows 8.1 due to black screen. No mouse pointer. Sometimes white cursor in top left. Cannot enter safe mode: get black screen but with a row of blue pixels at the bottom or a row of red pixels at the top. Can enter repair…
Ad Astm
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F8 not showing "Advanced Boot Options" on a Windows 7 PC

Background I'm working on dis-infecting a Windows 7 PC where the user opened a ZIP email attachment. All the symptoms exactly match this description of the "Data Recovery" scareware, including these messages: Windows detected a hard disk problem A…
Clare Macrae
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How do you start Windows 10 in safe mode?

I've been through the Windows 10 upgrade, and am experiencing a recurring "INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR", which is stopping me from logging in. I'd like to be able to try to boot to safe mode, but it appears that pressing F8 during boot is no longer enough,…
Rowland Shaw
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4 answers

How do I boot Windows 8 into Safe Mode?

I have Windows 8 Enterprise x64. It's installed a virtual machine. After trying to update VMWare's guest extension it black screened. After resetting it, now the virtual machine won't boot. It just says "automatic repair couldn't repair your PC"…
Earlz
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5 answers

Windows 7 + Deep Freeze - I'm stuck in an endless reboot loop

I have the following setup: Windows 7 Ultimate Deep Freeze I "thawed" my machine last night and performed a Windows Update. The update is having issues (it gets stuck at 32%, fails, and restarts my machine). When it reboots it attempts it again,…
myermian
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3 answers

Change screen resolution while in safe mode for normal mode

A screen of mine burnt out, and was replaced with a screen of lower resolution. It works in safe mode as that is in 800x600 resolution, but when I try to boot to normal mode, it fails. Is there a way to change the resolution for normal mode in safe…
soandos
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Windows XP stuck on loading screen

Since yesterday my Windows XP install is stuck on the loading screen (XP logo and "progress bar" constantly moving). I waited more than one hour but nothing more happened. Before this problem occured I didn't install anything new (no driver, no…
Julien N
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8
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2 answers

2 accounts in safe mode ?

When I start my laptop in safe mode, I have 2 accounts displayed, i.e. Administrator and one as R122, but when I start it in normal mode, only the R122 account is being displayed and not the Administrator one. My R122 account is password protected,…
Rameshwar.S.Soni
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In Windows 7, my user profile cannot be loaded, how do I fix this?

After uninstalling an HP Vector mouse driver, then rebooting, when Windows tries to auto log me in, I get an error message saying the following. The User Profile Service failed the Login. User Profile cannot be loaded. Due to the fact that it is…
Ryan
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2 answers

Mac won't boot into safe mode

Mac boots fine normally, except when in safe mode. Holding down shift when booting gets me to the progress bar on the grey screen. Progress bar gets about half way before mac reboots. I modified nvram boot-args to get a better look: sudo nvram…
Stephen
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4 answers

How to enable audio in safe mode

I would like to listen to music while in safe mode. I have tried to start the audio service manually, but it returns error code 1068. I would also accept a solution in C or C++ if programming is necessary to do this. (The easiest way would be to…
user65130
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3 answers

Virtualbox Windows 7 safe mode

I'm running OSX Yosemite. I have Virtualbox 4.3, and I use a Windows7 virtual machine for IE development. I am having an issue where every time the machine boots to safe mode it reboots to normal mode. I have tried with msconfig but that just got me…
jacobcc
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2 answers

Safe mode in Windows 7 on Bootcamp?

How do I boot my Windows 7 partition to safe mode if it is installed into BOOTCAMP? On normal PC computers, you normally see the BIOS getting started and prompting you to press something (normally F8) to enter different boot up methods. However, on…
Propeller
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5 answers

Starting MS-DOS in safe mode via config.sys menu?

Is there a way to start MS-DOS 6.22 in safe mode through a command in the config.sys file? I'm using the multi-configuration option in config.sys and need an option to start the machine in safe mode OR completely bare: no himem.sys, no ifshlp.sys,…
eli
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