Windows 8 : Safe Mode (F8) changed :(

[bertie40]

Hi.
Summary : Want to Safe mode Win 8 ?
Use D7 !

Details :
I was working on a new Samsung Laptop this morning, and installed Office 2007.

As per a few machines recently, I was unable to activate it due to a "Communication Error". I couldn't access the Telephone activation wizard either.

The easiest way around this is to boot into "safe mode with Networking", and activate it from there.

Imagine my unmitigated glee when I discovered the F8 button no longer allows booting into safe mode. Another wonderful Win 8 Feature

Ah, I hear you cry, didn't I know the key combo is now "shift+F8"

Nope.

However, I reply, "Shift+F8" didn't work either.

So..... Fire up the laptop as per normal, run D7, select reboot with networking et voila.

This gave me a simple screen with a minimal file manager, I had to navigate through to the Prog files office directory, and manually run winword.exe, in order to select the activation.

Incidentally, the Vulcan death grip (CTRL-Alt-Del) brought up some more options.

Regards.

 

[nlinecomputers]

http://www.howtogeek.com/107511/how-to-boot-into-safe-mode-on-windows-8-the-easy-way/

Shift F8 gets you into safe mode. You just have to time it correctly. It takes practice. One more reason Windows 8 sucks.

 

[kwest]

Or you can use this to activate if you didn't want to call.

1. open registry editor
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/
3. Change the value of Mediabootinstall from 1 to 0
4. Use "slmgr -rearm" on an administrative command prompt
5. Restart when prompted
6. activate!

 

[bertie40]

Cheers, as always, there is more than one way to molest a feline.

"Come here kitty kitty, daddy has a nice prezzie for you heh heh heh"

Sorry, it's been one of those days.

 

[Xander]

MalwareBytes (or is it SAS?) have a little BootIntoSafemode type utility; single purpose. However, it changes the boot.ini so you're better off using the same program to get out of safe mode and back to regular windows (or else you'll keep booting into Safe mode)

 

[bertie40]

MalwareBytes (or is it SAS?) have a little BootIntoSafemode type utility; single purpose.....

Thanks.

I use both so I'll check both out. It just goes to show what utilities are built into commonly used apps, that don't grab our attention, or we miss.

 

[tf76]

From memory I read somewhere that the first thing to do when win 8 is installed is create a recovery disc or USB.

Regards,

 

[bertie40]

From memory I read somewhere that the first thing to do when win 8 is installed is create a recovery disc or USB.

Regards,

Good point, as it has been suggested that it isn't possible to reload the OS (after, for example, a bad virus)with its original serial, without it.

 

[CLC]

Good point, as it has been suggested that it isn't possible to reload the OS (after, for example, a bad virus)with its original serial, without it.

I did an upgrade install and activated it, then on the same machine I did a fresh install and activated via the same key.

 

[JustInspired]

Well so far I have not been able to F8 or Shift+F8 and get to safe mode. Perhaps the UEFI bios is simply too fast for mere mortals like me. (Or I'm just getting old)

 

[bertie40]

I know this sounds ridiculous, but .....
To those keyboard wizards (including you Rick Wakeman), as the machine fires up, do you hold down shift permanently and repeatedly hit F8, or hold both keys down (like an ctrl-alt-del action ?

 

[ac1]

I know this sounds ridiculous, but .....
To those keyboard wizards (including you Rick Wakeman), as the machine fires up, do you hold down shift permanently and repeatedly hit F8, or hold both keys down (like an ctrl-alt-del action ?

I am thinking hold shift and then repeatedly press the F8 key.

 

[FoolishTech]

One would think that by now, instead of Microsoft making Safe Mode more difficult to get to, they would go in the opposite direction and just have it included in the boot menu and force it on by default with a 3 second delay, so that every time someone starts their Win8 PC it would give them 3 seconds to select safe mode before proceeding with normal mode.

Granted we could set this up manually, I just think that - if they were going to change ANYTHING - MS should have went that direction, making it more intuitive to find, not hiding it further.

 

[bertie40]

Mraikes produced an excellent post

http://www.technibble.com/forums/showpost.php?p=330427

whereby he postulated that the Microsoft mindset had completely changed, in that the OS was now squarely aimed at the consumer and not the producer markets.

Where the consumer simply fires up the machine, grabs email and logs off.

Producers on the other hand, ie web designers IMHO are being treated as an afterthought.

In this view, you can see why safe mode amongst other "tech" orientated features have been relegated or removed altogether.

How many of you perform design work on a mobile phone ? Or any serious production work ?

Microsoft has adopted the mobile phone ideology, and is pushing it onto PC's

Microsoft has conceded that to an extent, hence the retention of the "old system".

Win 8 is, in essence, a dual boot /OS system, without the selection process during startup.

 

[geekhelp4u]

when windows 8 loads, hold down shift and select restart.

Alternatively, open the command prompt and type shutdown.exe /r /o

/r = restart the computer

/o = restart with recovery options

 

[JustInspired]

when windows 8 loads, hold down shift and select restart.

Alternatively, open the command prompt and type shutdown.exe /r /o

/r = restart the computer

/o = restart with recovery options

Thanks. Does the /o work if you boot from a Windows 8 DVD and go to command prompt?

Everything else seems to assume you can actually boot into Normal Mode.

 

[geekhelp4u]

Never tried. You can also do the following:

Run CMD as admin

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

if you want to restore the standard win 8 boot

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard


you can also still do msconfig and select "safe boot"

also, you can add a boot choice for windows 8 normal or safe made via the following:

@echo off & color 1F
Set BCDEDIT=%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\BCDEDIT.exe
 %BCDEDIT% /copy {current} /d "Windows 8 (Safe Mode)"
 %BCDEDIT% /timeout 5 
 cls
  echo.
  echo.
  echo   Activate Win8 Safe Mode
  echo.
  echo.
set _count=1
for /f "tokens=1* usebackq skip=1" %%a in (`"%BCDEDIT% | find "identifier""`) do (call :safemode %_count%)
:safemode  
if "%1" neq "" (set /a _count+=1 &for /f "tokens=1* usebackq skip=%_count%" %%c in (`"%BCDEDIT% | find "description""`) do (echo            %_count%. %%d &goto :eof))
set _choice=
echo.
echo.
set /p _choice=Enter a number (Q to quit): 
echo.
echo.
if "%_choice%" equ "" goto :eof 
if "%_choice%" gtr "0" if %_choice% lss %_count% for /f "tokens=2 usebackq skip=%_choice%" %%a in (`"%BCDEDIT% | find "identifier""`) do (%BCDEDIT% /set %%a safeboot minimal &goto :end)
:end
 %BCDEDIT% /set {current} bootmenupolicy standard
 %BCDEDIT%
pause

reagentc.exe /boottore will also launch recovery on next boot

 

[nonchalant]

One would think that by now, instead of Microsoft making Safe Mode more difficult to get to, they would go in the opposite direction and just have it included in the boot menu and force it on by default with a 3 second delay, so that every time someone starts their Win8 PC it would give them 3 seconds to select safe mode before proceeding with normal mode.

Meh..and here was me thinking that one day MS might make PC's user-friendly & smart enough that it might put me out of a job then they go and make safe mode harder to find and you now gotta 'time it right' when you hit the key/s lol

Thanks MS. I luv ya's all down there at Redmond!

 

[bertie40]

I've tried repeatedly to get into safe mode via my keyboard .... And failed.

If there is a knack to it, I ain't got it.

Maybe it's keyboard dependant, the key refresh rate being a factor.

DAMN annoying.

 

[JustInspired]

Thanks. Does the /o work if you boot from a Windows 8 DVD and go to command prompt?

Everything else seems to assume you can actually boot into Normal Mode.

to answer my own question:
Shutdown.exe doesn't exist on the DVD. If you drill down via CMD to Shutdown.exe on the C: drive and run the command with the /o option, this does not produce an error but it also doesn't work at all.

My whole point is that 90% of the time we need safe mode when we CANNOT boot into normal mode.