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Article Number: 000123188

Using the Advanced Startup Options in Windows 8 on a Dell Computer

Summary: This article provides information about how to get to the Advanced Startup Options in Windows 8 and 8.1 and what each of the options means.

This article may have been automatically translated. If you have any feedback regarding its quality, please let us know using the form at the bottom of this page.

Article Content

Symptoms

Table of Contents:

  1. Booting to the Advanced Startup Options
  2. Contents of the Choose an Option Screen
  3. Contents of the Troubleshoot Screen
  4. Contents of the Advanced Options Screen
  5. How to Enable/Disable the Startup Options Screen

 

Booting to the Advanced Startup Options

 

If Windows 8 boots you can use any of the six methods that are listed below. If it does not boot, then I would recommend using Method's IV, V, and VI.

Method I works if you get to the Windows 8 log in screen.

 
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  1. Hold down either of the SHIFT keys while clicking Restart.

Available from any Power icon in either the Settings Charm of from the log in screen.

 
Note: There have been issues with this method not working with the on-screen keyboard. We would advise having a physical keyboard that is connected to your computer to open the Advanced Startup Options menu this way.

  1. Swipe from the right to open the charms bar and go to Settings or hold down the win+I keys together.

  2. Click Change PC settings at the bottom of the charms bar.

  3. Choose General from the vertical list of options on the left of the computer settings window.

  4. Locate Advanced Startup and select it and click Restart.

  5. Wait through the Please Wait message until Advanced Startup Options opens.

  1. Open the Command Prompt or Run Box in Windows 8 and type this command shutdown /r /o.

 
Note: Save any open files before running this command or you lose any changes that you have made since your last save.
 

  1. Close the You are about to be signed off message. A please wait message appears and then the menu opens.

  1. Insert a Windows 8 DVD, or a flash drive with the Windows 8 installation files on it, into your computer. Restart and rapidly tap at the F12 key to bring up the Boot Once Menu and choose your boot option.

 
Note: You can use any Windows 8 disc or other media if you need to. You are not installing or reinstalling Windows 8, no product key or license breaking is required.
 

  1. Boot from the disc or boot from the USB device, whichever suite what you are doing. Navigate through to the Install Screen and click on the Repair Your Computer link at the bottom of the screen.

  2. The Advanced Startup Options start.

  1. Insert your Windows 8 Recovery Drive into a free USB port. Follow the same instructions as Method 4 to boot from the USB drive and boot your computer from the flash drive.

  2. On the Choose your keyboard layout screen, tap, or click UK or whatever keyboard layout you use.

  3. The Advanced Startup Options start.

  1. Start or Restart your computer and choose the boot option for System Recovery, Advanced Startup, Recovery, so forth.

 
Note: The ability to boot directly to Advanced Startup Options is not one that is available with a traditional BIOS. Your computer needs to support UEFI and to be configured properly to boot directly to the ASO menu.
 

  1. The Advanced Startup Options begin.

F8 and SHIFT+F8 are not reliable options for booting to the Advanced Startup Options menu. The time frame in which you need to press the key to trigger the boot is shorter than in previous Operating Systems.

  1. When you are finished using the Advanced Startup Options menu, choose Continue to restart your computer and boot you into Windows 8.

  2. Your other option is to choose Turn off your PC.


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Cause

 

Contents of the Choose an Option Screen

 

advanced boot options menu

There are three options on this screen:

Continue

This option takes you out of the options screen and continues to boot you to your operating system.

Troubleshoot

This option takes you to a screen with another three choices, Refresh, Reset, and Advanced Tools.

Turn off your PC

This option does exactly what it says, it turns off your computer.


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Contents of the Troubleshoot Screen

 

Troubleshoot

You have three options here:

Refresh Your PC

Refresh is a heavy duty clean of your computer. It leaves your personal data intact, but it removes programs that are installed in the classic desktop. You keep any Metro programs that you have installed from the Windows Store. Personal settings are kept. PC Settings set back to defaults.

Refresh1

Refresh2

Reset Your PC

Reset is like a factory reset. It brings your computer back to the way that it was when you received it when it was new. All the programs have to be reinstalled and all your personal data is gone. You must backup any data that you do not want to lose before doing this. You can either remove the files, or you can remove the files and scrub the hard drive. Fully cleaning the drive is more of a security step than a troubleshooting or repair one.

reset

Advanced Options

Advanced options take you to a screen full of recovery and repair tools.

See below for more information about the advanced options.


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Contents of the Advanced Options Screen

 

advanced options

There are usually five Options on this screen:

 

This puts the PC settings back to the way that they were at the last Restore Point. Restore Points are created before any security or software updates are installed. Using this puts the settings back to the way that they were, but it does not change any of your personal data. Personal data are not backed up or restored during a system restore.

You can find a guide linked below.

 

This is a full restore from a backed-up System Image File. However, you need an image to be used for the restore. Depending on your computer, this comes with the computer or you might have to set it up using the Dell Backup and Restore Program.

This is another name for Startup Repair from Windows Vista and 7. It tries to fix boot issue automatically.

You can find out more about this in the article below:

 

Sometimes all you need is to be able to get to the command line. From there, you can run commands like IPCONFIG to help troubleshoot and repair the computer.

This is basically Safe Mode and other advanced startup choices.

startup settings

At the Startup Settings screen, click the Restart button. Your computer is restarted into the Startup Settings menu as shown below.

advanced startup settings

This screen contains various settings that change how Windows starts. To select a setting, press the number that is associated with that setting. To see the other options that you can press on the F10 key.

The options that are available in the Startup Settings boot screen are:

 
Enable Debugging
This option enables Kernel debugging.
Enable boot logging
This option starts Windows with boot logging enabled. The log that is created contains detailed information about the boot process of Windows. The information in this log can help you determine there are problems starting a particular driver or other errors occurring during the boot process.
Enable low-resolution video
This option starts Windows in low-resolution mode using your normal video card driver. Using this option allows you to boot into Windows. Using a resolution that is supported on almost all monitors. So you can see the options and change the settings to the correct resolution.
Enable Safe Mode
This starts Windows in a low-level mode that only starts the programs necessary for Windows to run. It uses the VGA.sys driver rather than your normal video card driver. There is no network support that is built into this model.
How to start Windows 8 in Safe Mode
 
Enable Safe Mode with Networking
This starts Windows in a low-level mode, but this mode enables network support so that you can download files and access servers and connect devices.
Enable Safe mode With Command Prompt
This starts Windows in a low-level mode that does not display the standard Windows desktop. Instead it displays a command prompt that you need to type your commands in. This is different from the Windows 8 Recovery Environment Command Prompt as the operating system is online and started rather than being offline.
Disable driver signature enforcement
Microsoft does not allow any driver that runs with kernel privileges to load if it has not been digitally signed. If you disable this feature, you can allow drivers that are not signed to load. Disabling this could allow malware drivers to load on your computer.
Disable early launch anti-malware protection
Early Launch Anti-Malware Protection is a new feature that allows certified anti-virus software to load a driver before any other driver that is installed in Windows. This allows the anti-virus software to scan every driver that attempts to load and block it from loading if it detects it as malware. Do not disable this unless you feel that there is a driver conflict preventing Windows from starting.
Disable automatic restart after failure
When Windows fails, it displays an error message and then restarts. Usually this is too quick to take down the crash information. If the crash happens during boot it an end up in an endless loop where it continuously fails during startup. You can disable the automatic restart after failure so that Windows does not reboot after it fails. This should keep you on the fail screen with the information you need to resolve the problem.
Launch Recovery Environment
This setting launches Recovery Environment where you can access diagnostic and recovery tools.
 


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Resolution

 

How to Enable/Disable the Startup Options Screen

 

This involves editing the Windows Boot Loader. It is Enabled by default as it installs from Microsoft.

I cannot see any reason that you would look to do this short of a request by your Technical Support troubleshooting a computer issue.

Standard

                                Windows Boot Manager

Choose an operating system to start, or press TAB to select a tool:
(Use the arrow keys to highlight your choice, then press ENTER.)

   Windows 8
   Windows 8 Safe Mode



To specify an advanced option for this choice, press F8.
 

Tools:

Windows Memory Diagnostic

ENTER=Choose                       TAB=Menu                     ESC=Cancel

  1. Open a Command Prompt with Administrator Rights and type bcdedit and press the ENTER key.

  2. Look for the Windows 8 listing and make note of its identifier number.

    Ex: (in Windows 8) or (at boot)

  3. To Enable the Newer Windows 8 Startup Options GUI Boot Menu

 
Note: This is the default setting.
 

  1. In the Command Prompt type bcdedit /set {identifier number} bootmenupolicy Standard and press the ENTER key.

 
Note: Change {identifier number} to your actual Windows 8 identifier number from step 2. 
 Microsoft Windows [Version 6.2.8250]
 c) 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
 C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit

 Windows Boot Manager 
 ---------------------          
 identifier
 device                     partition-\Device\HarddiskVolume1
 description                Windows Boot Manager
 locale                     en-US
 inherit
 integrityservices          Enable
 default          
 resumeobject               {2eee06cf-6dab-I1e1-8ca6-e8086fbabb6d}
 displayorder               {2b398108-6dab-I1e1-b4ad-d6bdcf768fb9}
 toolsdisplayorder
 timeout                    30

 Windows Boot Loader
 --------------------
 identifier                 [CURRENT]
 device                     partition-C:
 path                       \Windows\system32\winload.exe
 description                Windows 8
 locale                     en-US
 inherit
 recoverysequence           {2eee06cf-6dab-I1e1-8ca6-e8086fbabb6d}
 integrityservices          Enable
 recoveryenabled            Yes
 allowedinmemorysettings    0X15000075
 asdevice                   partition-C:
 systemroot                 \Windows
 resumeobject               {2eee06cf-6dab-I1e1-8ca6-e8086fbabb6d}
 nx                         OptIn

 Windows Boot Loader
 --------------------
 identifier                 {2b398108-6dab-I1e1-b4ad-d6bdcf768fb9}
 device                     partition-C:
 path                       \Windows\system32\winload.exe
 description                Windows 8 Safe Mode
 locale                     en-US
 inherit
 recoverysequence           {2eee06cf-6dab-I1e1-8ca6-e8086fbabb6d}
 recoveryenabled            Yes
 allowedinmemorysettings    0X15000075
 asdevice                   partition-C:
 systemroot                 \Windows
 resumeobject               {2eee06cf-6dab-I1e1-8ca6-e8086fbabb6d}
 nx                         OptIn
 safeboot                   Minimal
 bootmenupolicy             Standard 
 
 C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit /set bootmenupolicy Standard 
 The operation completed successfully. 
 C:\Windows\system32>_

  1. To Disable the Windows 8 Startup Options and revert to the old Windows Boot Manager Screen Instead. Type bcdedit /set {identifier number} bootmenupolicy Legacy or bcdedit /deletevalue {identifier number} bootmenupolicy

 
Note: Change {identifier number} to your actual Windows 8 identifier number from step 2.
  
 Microsoft Windows [Version 6.2.8250]
 c) 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
 C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit

 Windows Boot Manager 
 ---------------------          
 identifier
 device                     partition-\Device\HarddiskVolume1
 description                Windows Boot Manager
 locale                     en-US
 inherit                    {globalsettings}
 integrityservices          Enable
 default          
 resumeobject               {2eee06cf-6dab-I1e1-8ca6-e8086fbabb6d}
 displayorder               {2b398108-6dab-I1e1-b4ad-d6bdcf768fb9}
 toolsdisplayorder
 timeout                    30

 Windows Boot Loader
 --------------------
 identifier                 [CURRENT]
 device                     partition-C:
 path                       \Windows\system32\winload.exe
 description                Windows 8
 locale                     en-US
 inherit
 recoverysequence           {2eee06cf-6dab-I1e1-8ca6-e8086fbabb6d}
 integrityservices          Enable
 recoveryenabled            Yes
 allowedinmemorysettings    0X15000075
 asdevice                   partition-C:
 systemroot                 \Windows
 resumeobject               {2eee06cf-6dab-I1e1-8ca6-e8086fbabb6d}
 nx                         OptIn

 Windows Boot Loader
 --------------------
 identifier                 {2b398108-6dab-I1e1-b4ad-d6bdcf768fb9}
 device                     partition-C:
 path                       \Windows\system32\winload.exe
 description                Windows 8 Safe Mode
 locale                     en-US
 inherit
 recoverysequence           {2eee06cf-6dab-I1e1-8ca6-e8086fbabb6d}
 recoveryenabled            Yes
 allowedinmemorysettings    0X15000075
 asdevice                   partition-C:
 systemroot                 \Windows
 resumeobject               {2eee06cf-6dab-I1e1-8ca6-e8086fbabb6d}
 nx                         OptIn
 safeboot                   Minimal
 bootmenupolicy             Standard 
 
 C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit /deletevalue bootmenupolicy 
 The operation completed successfully. 
 C:\Windows\system32>_

  1. Restart the computer to check that the change took place.


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Article Properties

Affected Product

Desktops & All-in-Ones, Laptops, Inspiron, Latitude, Vostro, XPS, Fixed Workstations

Last Published Date

09 Jan 2023

Version

9

Article Type

Solution

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