Enable F8 key & Safe Mode in Windows 8
Windows 8 boots real fast, as a result, you may have found that the F8 key does not work. There is a reason for this. Microsoft has reduced the time-periods for F2 and F8 keys to almost near-nil intervals – less than 200 milliseconds if you want to know – as a result of which the chances of it detecting the F8 interrupt is extremely low and users do not get time to press F8 for invoke the boot menu and subsequently enter safe mode in Windows 8.
Safe Mode in Windows 8
While we know how to boot Windows in to safe mode using the msconfig tool, we have seen how to make Windows 8 show Advanced Boot Options and use it to boot into safe mode. We have also seen how we can display Startup Settings to boot into Safe Mode in Windows 8. In this post we will see how to enable the F8 key so that we can boot into Windows 8 Safe Mode, using this key – like we did in earlier times.
You will have to enable the legacy boot policy. Mind you, when you do this, Windows 8 will start a few seconds later. When you enable this policy on a dual-boot system, you will also be able to select the operating system you wish to boot into. You will no longer need to again follow these steps.
Windows 8 F8 key not working
To enable the F8 keep, so that we can use it to start Windows 8 in safe mode, open an elevated command prompt window. Type the following and hit Enter:
bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy
You will see a message: The operation completed successfully.
You will find that the Windows 8 F8 key which was not working, is now working! You may have to restart your computer to get the setting to work.
If you wish to reverse the setting, type the following and hit Enter:
bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard
You will again see a message: The operation completed successfully. The settings will be restored back to Windows 8 defaults.
If you need to boot to safe mode or access the diagnostic & troubleshooting tools frequently, you may want to enable the F8 key; but as mentioned, your Windows 8 could start a few seconds slower and so you should be prepared to lose those few seconds.
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