Safe mode option while XP Home boots

[goldtech]

Hi,

I have a laptop that when it boots offers no option for F-8 or any of
the other boot options. Yes, I can get into safe mode if I have too.
But my questions is, can I change the boot screens I see as it boots.
Right now it goes into welcome pages and never shows any boot F-key
options options.

I want to slow down and give me more techie options overtly as it
boots. I have a PC running XP Pro and it does this by default. The
boot.ini in both my Home and Pro are quite similiar - not sure if I
need to modifiy boot.ini...

Help appreciated.

Lee G.

 

[db.·.. >]

you might try clicking
on start>msconfig

then on the boot.ini
tab, there will be a
timeout box where you
can enter 20 (for 20
seconds before proceeding
to the default menu option)

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
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[Randem]

There is no F8 menu to see EVER!!! You just press F8 when you see the
Windows logo. You could also run MSCONFIG from the Start->Run area then
select the options to boot in safe mode.

--
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[inavlis]

Hi, goldtech,

You could do what have been suggested earlier by making use msconfig. Sadly,
it is also true that you can never see the F-key menu that you were hoping. I
do know that some machines (Acer if I am not mistaken) do have a custom boot
screen (before the Win logo pops up) which has some F-keys menu in there, but
that is only for those specific machines.

While you are at the msconfig, you can set the timeout to more than 30
seconds, since the default is 30 seconds and you find it too fast. But
really, to have those "techie options" you need to read up by yourself as
during the timeout the screen will just show a blinking bar,

hope this helps,

 

[Daave]

There is no F8 menu to see EVER!!! You just press F8 when you see the
Windows logo.

That would be too late!

One needs to press F8 *before* this graphic would normally appear. Most
people have more success if they repeatedly tap F8 in the very beginning
of the boot process -- immediately after the BIOS passes off the process
to Windows, but, again, right before that logo would normally appear.

 

[Mick Murphy]

You don't press F8, to get to Safe Mode.
Right at power/On, you get a screen with Dell, your mobo manufacturer, etc.
TAP F8 when you see that to go to a list of Startup Options..
Use the UP Arrow Key to go to Safe Mode in the list>then hit ENTER.

 

[Mick Murphy]

LOL. you don't even know how to get into Safe Mode.
You are only good for Spamming!

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 12/11/2008 12:25 AM, and on a whim, Mick Murphy
pounded out on the keyboard:

You don't press F8, to get to Safe Mode.
Right at power/On, you get a screen with Dell, your mobo manufacturer, etc.
TAP F8 when you see that to go to a list of Startup Options..
Use the UP Arrow Key to go to Safe Mode in the list>then hit ENTER.

Nothing like a contradictory comment ;-)

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

[Daave]

The date and time was 12/11/2008 12:25 AM, and on a whim, Mick Murphy
pounded out on the keyboard:


Nothing like a contradictory comment ;-)

Heh!

Actually, strictly speaking, MM is correct; F8 gives you a list of
choices, *one* of them being to boot into Safe Mode.

 

[Nepatsfan]

Hi,

I have a laptop that when it boots offers no option for F-8 or any of
the other boot options. Yes, I can get into safe mode if I have too.
But my questions is, can I change the boot screens I see as it boots.
Right now it goes into welcome pages and never shows any boot F-key
options options.

I want to slow down and give me more techie options overtly as it
boots. I have a PC running XP Pro and it does this by default. The
boot.ini in both my Home and Pro are quite similiar - not sure if I
need to modifiy boot.ini...

Help appreciated.

Lee G.

First off, if you're not familiar with editing, backing up, and restoring
your boot.ini file I'd suggest you pass on the following advice.

The simplest approach would be to edit your boot.ini file and duplicate the
operating system entry. Here's what a typical XP Home boot.ini file looks
like.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT

Adding a duplicate entry leaves you with the following boot.ini file.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT

This change will cause your computer to pause for 30 seconds at the 'choose
an operating system' screen. While the operating system menu is displayed
you can hit the F8 key to get the usual Windows Advanced Options menu. If
you want to boot into normal mode hit the Enter key or wait for the 30
seconds to elapse. Keep in mind that you can lower the timeout value to a
more acceptable interval.

Another approach would be to edit the boot.ini file and add entries for a
few of the safe mode options. Here's an example.

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Normal Mode" /fastdetect
/noexecute=optin
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Safe Mode" /fastdetect
/noexecute=optin /safeboot:minimal
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Safe Mode with Networking"
/fastdetect /noexecute=optin /safeboot:network
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Safe Mode with Command Prompt"
/fastdetect /noexecute=optin /safeboot:minimal(alternateshell)

This boot.ini file will give you a menu with the following choices.

Normal Mode
Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt

Once again you can hit the F8 key any time the menu is displayed to get the
full safe mode options menu.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 12/11/2008 7:50 AM, and on a whim, Daave pounded
out on the keyboard:

Heh!

Actually, strictly speaking, MM is correct; F8 gives you a list of
choices, *one* of them being to boot into Safe Mode.

Strictly speaking? He said, "you don't press F8, to *get* to Safe
Mode"! How is that "correct"?

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

[Mick Murphy]

Buy a dictionary!

press 1 (prs)
v. pressed, press·ing, press·es
v.tr.
1. To exert steady weight or force against; bear down on.

tap 1
Verb
[tapping, tapped]
1. to knock lightly and usually repeatedly

Will the above sink into your pea-brain!

 

[Mick Murphy]

Just in case you missed the other reply!

Buy a dictionary!

press 1 (prs)
v. pressed, press·ing, press·es
v.tr.
1. To exert steady weight or force against; bear down on.

tap 1
Verb
[tapping, tapped]
1. to knock lightly and usually repeatedly

Will the above sink into your pea-brain!

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 12/11/2008 4:51 PM, and on a whim, Mick Murphy
pounded out on the keyboard:

Buy a dictionary!

press 1 (prs)
v. pressed, press·ing, press·es
v.tr.
1. To exert steady weight or force against; bear down on.

tap 1
Verb
[tapping, tapped]
1. to knock lightly and usually repeatedly

Will the above sink into your pea-brain!

Why do people who *think* they're smart always start name calling?
Personal attacks by people who hide behind keyboards are immature.

I'll tell you what. TRY entering Safe Mode without PRESSING the F8 key.
Can you do that without "exerting" ANY force on the key?
PRESSING/TAPPING/HITTING/SLAMMING/WHATEVER IT TAKES to get the F8 key to
DEPRESS WILL give you access to Safe Mode. YOU are the one that said,
"You don't press F8, to get to Safe Mode." You made an incorrect
statement. Grow up and admit it.

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
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[Terry R.]

The date and time was 12/11/2008 4:52 PM, and on a whim, Mick Murphy
pounded out on the keyboard:

Just in case you missed the other reply!

Buy a dictionary!

press 1 (prs)
v. pressed, press·ing, press·es
v.tr.
1. To exert steady weight or force against; bear down on.

tap 1
Verb
[tapping, tapped]
1. to knock lightly and usually repeatedly

Will the above sink into your pea-brain!

See my other reply...

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

[Daave]

The date and time was 12/11/2008 7:50 AM, and on a whim, Daave pounded
out on the keyboard:


Strictly speaking? He said, "you don't press F8, to *get* to Safe
Mode"! How is that "correct"?

Depending on semantics, it could be either correct or incorrect. If you
define the word get as "in order to eventually reach" (as many people
do), then you do need to press F8 to get to Safe Mode. Then again,
Nepatsfan offered a way to get there by modifying the boot.ini file,
which doesn not necessitate hitting F8 at all. Then again, if the
groundwork to allow this to happen had never been laid, then we're back
to square one where user needs to press F8!

If you define the word get as "immediately go into," then F8 won't get
you into Safe Mode beacuse there is at least one other step.

A corollary:

You don't unbutton a woman's blouse to get to second base. But is sure
helps! (Yeah, I guess I see your point now. Your use of the word get
seems more natural.)

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 12/12/2008 8:03 AM, and on a whim, Daave pounded
out on the keyboard:

Depending on semantics, it could be either correct or incorrect. If you
define the word get as "in order to eventually reach" (as many people
do), then you do need to press F8 to get to Safe Mode. Then again,
Nepatsfan offered a way to get there by modifying the boot.ini file,
which doesn not necessitate hitting F8 at all. Then again, if the
groundwork to allow this to happen had never been laid, then we're back
to square one where user needs to press F8!

If you define the word get as "immediately go into," then F8 won't get
you into Safe Mode beacuse there is at least one other step.

A corollary:

You don't unbutton a woman's blouse to get to second base. But is sure
helps! (Yeah, I guess I see your point now. Your use of the word get
seems more natural.)

Hi Daave,

If MM would have even mentioned modifying boot.ini, I wouldn't have said
anything. He was making an issue of press/tap, which is ridiculous. He
was the one that said "get". If he really knew his argument was valid,
he wouldn't have used the word "hit" regarding the Enter key. I don't
hit any key, I press them. ;-)

Go to a command prompt and type pause and press Enter. We'll let MS
settle this for us.

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
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[Jay]

Buy a dictionary!

press 1 (prs)
v. pressed, press·ing, press·es
v.tr.
1. To exert steady weight or force against; bear down on.

tap 1
Verb
[tapping, tapped]
1. to knock lightly and usually repeatedly

Will the above sink into your pea-brain!

Take your own advice ...

Tapping a key is not the same as pressing a key. Tapping, usually
referred by us old DOS users means repeatedly tapping a key because you
don't know "exactly" when in the boot sequence the functionality becomes
viable. So, you tap tap tap and on one of those taps, the function will
come up. If you "press" the key and you are not exactly accurate then
you have to start all over again. tap tap tap rules.

 

[a_nonymous]

Take your own advice ...
Tapping a key is not the same as pressing a key. Tapping, usually
referred by us old DOS users means repeatedly tapping a key because
you don't know "exactly" when in the boot sequence the functionality
becomes viable. So, you tap tap tap and on one of those taps, the
function will come up. If you "press" the key and you are not
exactly accurate then you have to start all over again.
tap tap tap rules.

Jay,
On my laptop, it is sufficient to just press [F8] or [F12] before
power-on, and hold the key down until the relevant menu appears.
What happens if you do this on your PC?