Win10 Safemode Trap Defeated
Here’s an interesting potential trap. You can instruct Windows 10 to boot into safe mode through various methods. But if you can’t log into any account on that PC (or don’t have a login password), you won’t be able to log in to that PC. Bare, minimal safe mode includes no networking. As long as you can login to the PC using some credentials, you can recover. I explain how to regain access to such a PC, and render the Win10 Safemode trap defeated.
All’s well if there’s no safeboot entry in the Windows Boot Loader section.
Seeing the Win10 Safemode Trap Defeated
Once you get to the login prompt after rebooting into safe mode, you’ll see a normal login screen. Type the password for an MS account into the password entry to complete the login process (or, use a local account if you can). Click the Power Button/Restart option at the lower right of the display. Next, click the Shift key and Restart together, and you’ll see a set of boot choices that include Continue, Use a device, Troubleshoot, and Turn off your PC (and possibly others).
Click Troubleshoot, Advanced Options, and Command Prompt, then click the mouse or press Enter. Now, you’re ready to tackle things head-on. The PC will reboot into a Command Prompt interface. You can see the situation you’re in by typing bcdedit /enum at the command line. If you check the Windows Boot Loader section, you’ll see an entry labeled safeboot that is set to Minimal. The following command will set you straight:
bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot
You can check to see if the change applied correctly by running bcdedit /enum again. If things worked as they should have, you will no longer see an entry labeled safeboot. And, your next reboot should go as it normally would.