dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
638

vaxvms
ferroequine fan
Premium Member
join:2005-03-01
Polar Park

vaxvms

Premium Member

[WIN10] Booting W10 in Safe Mode?

Is it possible to boot Windows 10 in safe mode without modifying settings when the system is running? Pounding on F8 at powerup does nothing. Searching the web shows that settings must be changed when the system is up and running. I can't get the Win10 workstation to boot and function normally and want to use safe mode to poke about.
Am I screwed?

Blackbird
Built for Speed
Premium Member
join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN

2 recommendations

Blackbird

Premium Member

From »www.digitalcitizen.life/ ··· ndows-10 :

If Windows 10 fails to boot normally three times over, the fourth time it enters by default into an Automatic Repair mode. Using this mode, you can boot into Safe Mode. To trigger the Automatic Repair mode, you must interrupt the normal boot process three consecutive times: use the reset or the power button on your Windows 10 PC to stop it during boot, before it finishes loading Windows 10. If you use the power button, you might have to keep it pressed for at least 4 seconds to force the power off. When your Windows 10 PC enters the Automatic Repair mode, the first thing you see is a screen that tells you that the operating system is “Preparing Automatic Repair.” Wait for Windows 10 to try to make an automatic diagnosis of your PC. Then, on the “Automatic Repair” screen, press the “Advanced options” button. On the next screen, choose Troubleshoot.

From here on, ... Follow the path “Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> Startup Settings -> Restart.” Then, press the 4 or the F4 key on your keyboard to boot into minimal Safe Mode, press 5 or F5 to boot into “Safe Mode with Networking,” or press 6 or F6 to go into “Safe Mode with Command Prompt.”


vaxvms
ferroequine fan
Premium Member
join:2005-03-01
Polar Park

vaxvms

Premium Member

Thanks. That worked but it didn't help me. My problem still exists booted in safe mode. When Windows is booted neither the mouse or keyboard works. They do work before Windows boots.

Blackbird
Built for Speed
Premium Member
join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN

2 recommendations

Blackbird

Premium Member

Uh oh... that sounds a lot like the loss-of-USB-driver problem caused by the February 4074588 W10 update. If you have a PS2 port on the system, you may want to hook up a PS2-cabled keyboard and/or mouse to try to regain control after safe boot. The flawed update, while installing on some systems, deletes the old 'HID' drivers for USB devices but skips installing the new ones. Somehow you have to get in and uninstall the update or roll back to a pre-update restore point that contains the original drivers - then block the update from reinstalling. Otherwise you may have to get in via a rescue disk or remoting in from another computer. See here: »support.microsoft.com/en ··· 2018-upd

AdamKertesz
join:2004-09-14
Miami Beach, FL

AdamKertesz to vaxvms

Member

to vaxvms
Try the neighbour article:
»[WIN10] KB4090913 (OS Build 16299.251)

Blackbird
Built for Speed
Premium Member
join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN

2 recommendations

Blackbird

Premium Member

said by AdamKertesz:

Try the neighbour article:
»[WIN10] KB4090913 (OS Build 16299.251)

But do take note that there is a "known issue" in the 4090913 update which is "supposed" to help with the 4084588 USB issue. From the 4090913 writeup:

Known issues
After installing this update, some devices may fail to start... This issue occurs when the windows update servicing stack incorrectly skips installing the newer version of some critical drivers in the cumulative update and uninstalls the currently active drivers during maintenance.

It's unclear just what the new failure-to-update flaw actually corrupts on affected systems. Given that the OP's system has already demonstrated potential susceptibility to the driver-installation-skipping issue and because the cause of that behavior remains unknown, I'd be very careful with installing either update.

vaxvms
ferroequine fan
Premium Member
join:2005-03-01
Polar Park

vaxvms to Blackbird

Premium Member

to Blackbird
said by Blackbird:

Uh oh... that sounds a lot like the loss-of-USB-driver problem caused by the February 4074588 W10 update. If you have a PS2 port on the system, you may want to hook up a PS2-cabled keyboard and/or mouse

Bingo! I was lucky and it does have PS2 ports and I was able to find a mouse and keyboard with PS2 plugs. Plugged 'em in and they work. Time to go home. I'll remove the update tomorrow. Funny thing is there are a dozen identical workstations here and this is the only one that had this problem.
Thanks for the heads up on the update problem!

Napsterbater
Meh
MVM
join:2002-12-28
Milledgeville, GA

Napsterbater

MVM

Or check the BIOS/UEFI for "Legacy USB" settings and toggle them. depending on the exact issue if Windows does not "takeover" control of the USB (i would think not missing drivers), the Mouse/KB are emulated as PS/2 by the BIOS/UEFI.

Blackbird
Built for Speed
Premium Member
join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN

2 recommendations

Blackbird to vaxvms

Premium Member

to vaxvms
said by vaxvms:

...Bingo! I was lucky and it does have PS2 ports and I was able to find a mouse and keyboard with PS2 plugs. Plugged 'em in and they work. Time to go home. I'll remove the update tomorrow. Funny thing is there are a dozen identical workstations here and this is the only one that had this problem.
Thanks for the heads up on the update problem!

You're welcome. Also, You're not alone regarding the inconsistency across identical systems. One of the early reports about this that I encountered somewhere online, a corporate IT person reported that he had updated ~500 identical systems and had ~120 of them show the USB problem.
joewho
Premium Member
join:2004-08-20
Dundee, IL

joewho to vaxvms

Premium Member

to vaxvms
After boot, did you try unplugging and replugging the usb devices?

DonoftheDead
Old diver
Premium Member
join:2004-07-12
Clinton, WA

4 recommendations

DonoftheDead to vaxvms

Premium Member

to vaxvms
Glad to it solved more or less. For future refereence you might try this. In 8.1 I did this to enable the F8 safe boot. I think it works for 10 as well IIRC.
Cmd prompt as admin
BCDEdit /SET "{Current}" BootMenuPolicy Legacy or
bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

vaxvms
ferroequine fan
Premium Member
join:2005-03-01
Polar Park

vaxvms to joewho

Premium Member

to joewho
said by joewho:

After boot, did you try unplugging and replugging the usb devices?

F2 AND F12 before Windows loading worked. I did swap the usb plugs used when the system was shut down.

captokita
Premium Member
join:2005-02-22
Calabash, NC

captokita to DonoftheDead

Premium Member

to DonoftheDead
said by DonoftheDead:

Glad to it solved more or less. For future refereence you might try this. In 8.1 I did this to enable the F8 safe boot. I think it works for 10 as well IIRC.
Cmd prompt as admin
BCDEdit /SET "{Current}" BootMenuPolicy Legacy

Ya, I put that command into a batch file to run as admin on 8+10 systems to make life easier. Works like a charm.

vaxvms
ferroequine fan
Premium Member
join:2005-03-01
Polar Park

vaxvms

Premium Member

update

I removed the February 4074588 W10 update. USB works.

Seeing as this patch only effected 1 of the 12 identical systems I wonder if re-installing it would work properly.

Blackbird
Built for Speed
Premium Member
join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN

2 recommendations

Blackbird

Premium Member

said by vaxvms:

... Seeing as this patch only effected 1 of the 12 identical systems I wonder if re-installing it would work properly.

Back when the problem reports first rolled in, I read of two users that reinstalling helped and one or two that it didn't. Given that multiple users have reported the update causes problems on some, but not all, identical systems in corporate environments, the cause may somehow involve timing in some installation operations or subtle differences in registry settings involving things done in the past. If you have recovery mechanisms for the lost USB, it might be worth a try.

An alternate idea I've seen suggested elsewhere that worked for a number of users is be to copy the affected drivers off a similar system and remote-copy them onto the problem system that has 4074588 still installed, then reboot it. The nature of the problem seems to be that those drivers simply don't get written on the victim systems after the deletion of the old ones.