Fortunately though there is an alternative and it’s in every version of the operating system (XP, Vista and Windows 7).  This is called “Safe Boot” and you can find it in the MSConfig panel.  To open this type msconfig into the Start Menu search box in Vista or Windows 7, or run msconfig from the run option in XP.

Under the Boot tab in the MSConfig window you’ll see the Safe Boot option as a tick box.  Turning this on will make Windows use the Safe Boot option every time thereafter.  When you want to stop using Safe Boot and return to starting Windows normally you’ll need to return to the MSConfig panel and untick this option.  There are also several other options here including Minimal Boot, which will take you into the full Safe Mode, but the standard option will normally be enough for most people.

The Safe Boot screen, as you can see here is a half-way house between the full Windows desktop and Safe Mode.  What you will find though is that most of your hardware drivers will be installed and working though your startup software will still be disabled.

So when might you want to use Safe Boot?  Occasionally you will encounter a problem in Windows that you will need to go into Safe Mode to repair.  As I mentioned earlier however Safe Mode won’t allow you to perform some Windows tasks, and this is where the Safe Boot mode is useful.  You may also suspect that your problems aren’t being caused by a hardware driver, but by software instead.  This diagnostic mode enables you to have a full Windows desktop where nothing loads at startup and where you can run and check programs individually to see what effect they are having on your system.

As I have already mentioned Safe Mode is extremely limiting, not just in the very low screen resolution that it gives you.  If you need to run full diagnostics on your copy of Windows, to see what’s going on under the hood, or if you need to test individual software packages in a safe environment where they will be able to run properly then Windows Safe Boot is the way to do it.

Remember though that you will need to turn off Safe Boot when you are done, or else Windows will start permanently in this mode.  I have found this to be a very useful diagnostic tool in Windows and it’s extremely underused because, frankly, many people simply do not know that it exists.  Hopefully you will find it useful too.

Malicious software sometimes disables Safe Mode among other things to prevent an easy recovery of the system. That’s a problem if you do not want to reinstall or restore the operating system, or do not have the means to do that.

Windows Safe Mode Fixer is a straightforward application that can be used to repair the Safe Mode, so that it becomes accessible again.

The troubleshooting software needs to be run from within the operating system, which may be the program’s biggest downside. If you still have access to Windows you can run the program to repair the Safe Mode. If you do not have access anymore, the program won’t do you any good.

A short explanation and three buttons are displayed on startup. The program requires no installation and can be started directly after downloading it from the developer website.

The tool does not explain what it does to repair the Safe Mode, only that it does repair the troubleshooting mode. A click on the Fix button applies the repairs to the operating system and restarts the system automatically afterwards. It is recommended to safe all work and open windows before you click on that button.

The developer recommends to disable all antivirus and firewall solutions prior to pressing it. I personally would not recommend that, and would use it as a last resort if pressing the button without doing so did not fix the broken Safe Mode.

You should try to boot into Safe Mode during that restart to find out if the issue was fixed by the program. I recommend to press F8 repeatedly after BIOS until you see the selection menu with Safe Mode as an option.

Safe Mode Fixer can be downloaded from the official program website at Sergiwa. The program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system. (via)

One of my favourite alternatives here has existed in Windows for many years but is rarely written about, though I do also talk about it in my Windows 7 Troubleshooting book as I personally feel it’s a critical tool to help diagnose a repair Windows problems.

This Diagnostic Startup mode isn’t confined to Windows 7 though, it’s in Vista and XP and all manner of Windows desktop and server editions.

You access it through the System Configuration panel.  In the search box in the Start Menu (Windows 7 and Vista) type MSConfig and run the program when it appears in the search results (there’s no need to elevate it with administrative rights) or select Run from the Start Menu in XP and type MSConfig into the run box that appears.

Most people will be familiar with MSConfig as the panel in which you’ll most commonly be told to disable startup programs.  You can do this under the Startup tab.  It’s the first two tabs that you’ll want for the Diagnostic Startup.

You’ll see in the image above that you have three options.

1. Normal Startup – This is Windows normal startup mode and all your drivers, services and software will be loaded and run as per usual
2. Diagnostic Startup – This is the mode we want, it will only load “Basic Devices and Services”, more on this in a while.
3. Selective Startup – Here you can choose which options you want Windows to load at Startup.  Think of it as a diagnostic mode that gives you more control over what is loaded at startup.

Then we move to the Boot tab.  Here we can see the option to Start the PC in Safe Mode.  By ticking this box you’ll get the standard Safe Mode options, but there are additional check and radio boxes here to provide more control over safe mode.

Safe mode though is often quite restrictive as it hides many control panel options that you may need, and it fails to load all but the most basic drivers and services required for Windows to function.  It’s just not enough for many people as you may find that you need to test, in a diagnostic environment, the effect a replacement driver might have for instance.  You simply can’t do this here for much hardware and some other software won’t run at all.

Now it’s wroth pointing out at this stage that turning on Safe Mode or Diagnostic Startup in the MSConfig panel isn’t like pressing the F8 key at startup.  Any settings you select here will stay in place until you open the MSConfig panel again and turn off Safe Mode and return Windows to Normal Startup!

The Diagnostic Startup mode itself is much more helpful than safe mode.  You can see from the screenshot above that you have proper graphics and a decent screen reolution.  All the Control Panel itsems will also be present (though take note that some require services that won’t be loaded and thus won’t work).

This mode loads Windows Basic Drivers and Services. It will ignore anything that’s not critical to get you to the desktop and get you working. It will load many more services and drivers than safe mode however, allowing you to easily get online and use external devices and hardware. You can perform complex operations in Diagnostic Startup mode safe in the knowledge that all of your third-party services and software can’t get in the way, especially if its those services or software that are causing the problem.

In short I love Diagnostic Startup. It’s a lovely addition to Windows and one that’s commonly forgotten about and overlooked. If you need to perform diagnostics and repairs on any version of Windows but are finding Safe Mode too restrictive, it’s well worth turning on.

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It is not possible to uninstall software in Safe Mode if the service is not running, that is highly problematic if a software is responsible for PC issues.

There is however an option to start the Windows Installer Service in Safe Mode, so that software can be uninstalled afterwards.

windows installer service error

The Windows Installer Service can’t be started immediately, it is necessary to patch the Registry first.

Open the Windows Registry Editor with the keyboard combination Windows-R, type regedit and hit enter. It can also be launched by clicking on the start orb, and entering regedit in the run box in the Start Menu followed by enter.

Locate the following Registry key

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\

Right-click on Minimal and select New > Key. Name the key MSIService and change the default value to Service by double-clicking it.

windows safe mode

This makes the Windows Installer Service available in minimal Safe Mode. You may want to repeat the steps for the networking Safe Mode as well. All steps are the same, except for the starting Registry key.

HKLM\SYSTEM#92;CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\

The Windows Installer Service needs to be started afterwards, this can be done by clicking on the start orb again, entering services.msc and hitting enter.

Locate Windows Installer in the services listing, right-click it and select start. Alternatively execute the following command via the command line:

net start msiserver

It is furthermore possible to issue all commands via the command line. To enable Windows Installer in minimal Safe Mode execute the following command:

REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"


For Safe Mode with network:

REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"


The freeware SafeMSI offers to automate the Registry editing and service starting. Just double-click the program in Safe Mode to enable Windows Installer.

The keyboard however was working because I was able to enter the BIOS and change the BIOS configuration.And then I remembered that it could have something to do with the connection of the keyboard. It was an USB keyboard. I discovered two solutions that helped. The first was to go into the BIOS and enable USB Keyboard Support. This made it possible to press F8 and get into the menu that allowed me to boot into safe mode.

The other solution was to simply connect an old PS2 keyboard to the computer and use that for the time and remove it later on. I guess the problem is that Windows has not loaded the correct USB drivers when it is possible to press the F8 key.