Add Safe mode to boot menu on Windows 10

On Windows 10, it is almost not possible to enter Safe mode by press F8 (or Shift + F8) at startup because the startup time is much faster than previous versions. And even though, there are number of methods to enter Safe mode, but mostly, they require that you still be able to boot Windows in normal mode. So they aren’t useful when you want to enter Safe mode when you can’t boot Windows normally. If you think you may need Safe mode to troubleshoot your system when there is a problem, you can configure boot menu and add Safe mode to the boot entry so that every time the system is boot, you can choose whether to boot in normal or safe mode.

In this article, I will show how to configure boot menu to add Safe mode as another boot entry on Windows 10.
Note: Modifying boot menu incorrectly could render your PC unable to boot into Windows.

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Step-by-step

1. On Windows desktop, right-click Windows icon at bottom left and select Command Prompt (Admin).
   
2. Type this command to duplicate the current boot entry. You can change name of this new entry as you want. This will be an entry for minimal Safe mode.

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

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

   And I will duplicate another boot entry. This will be an entry for Safe mode with networking.

   bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Windows 10 Safe Mode with networking"

   bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Windows 10 Safe Mode with networking"

   When finishes, close this window.
   

3. Next, right-click Windows icon at bottom left and select Run.
   Note: You can press Win + R keyboard shortcut to open Run window.
   
4. Type msconfig and click OK.
   
5. On System Configuration window, select Boot tab. You will see boot entries on this system. And configure the second entry for minimal Safe mode.
   1. Select the second entry, Windows 10 Safe Mode
   2. Check the option Safe Boot
   3. Select Minimal

   

6. Next, configure the third entry for Safe mode with networking
   1. Select the third entry, Windows 10 Safe Mode with networking.
   2. Check the option Safe Boot
   3. Select Network

   

7. By default, the time to choose these options is 30 seconds, you can change this at Timeout field. In this example, I will:
   1. Set Timeout to 5 seconds
   2. Check the option Make all boot settings permanent
   3. Click OK

   

8. Click Yes to confirm.
   
9. Click Restart to reboot your system.
   
10. Then, you will see this screen every time your system boots which you can choose to boot Windows normally, enter Safe mode, or troubleshoot system.
    Note: If you don’t choose any option, the default option will be selected automatically after timeout expires.
    
11. If you want to remove custom boot menus, open System configuration and delete those entries.
    1. On Windows desktop, right-click Windows icon at bottom left and select Run
    2. Type msconfig and click OK
    3. On System Configuration, select Boot tab
    4. Select custom entry that you want to remove and click Delete.

    Note: Make sure that you don’t delete the Current OS or Default OS entry.
    

12. When all custom entries are deleted, check the option Make all boot settings permanent and click OK. Click Yes and click Restart to reboot your system.