How to Boot Windows 10 in Safe Mode from a USB Drive

If your Windows 10 computer is experiencing issues and you're not sure what's causing them, booting into Safe Mode can be an excellent troubleshooting step. In this article, we'll show you how to do just that using a USB drive.

To start, insert your USB drive and restart your computer. Your PC will reboot again, and this time, you'll have the option to choose between starting up in either Safe Mode (option 4) or Safe Mode With Networking (option 5). Select Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Settings > Restart to continue.

Once you've reached the Choose an option screen, select Restart now. This will restart your computer and present you with a list of options. Click on the Start button from the Windows desktop to begin the process.

Microsoft has kept the process relatively similar across modern versions of Windows, so the steps for booting Windows 10 in Safe Mode are identical to those for booting Windows 11 in Safe Mode.

There are two ways to launch Safe Mode on your computer - either via the settings menu if you can access it or when you reach the sign-in screen. After determining that blue screens or startup problems aren't related to core files, you can start testing other applications to identify which one is causing the issue and then uninstall just that one.

Starting up your computer in Safe Mode won't always cure the issue, but it's a good place to start if you're not exactly sure what's wrong with it. If one application is conflicting with another, starting up in Safe Mode will help resolve this as well. Additionally, it's a good idea to start your computer up in safe mode if you think it's been infected with malware or some hardware drivers on your machine are preventing Windows from launching correctly.

If you're struggling to start Windows normally - for example, if you're just seeing a blue screen when trying to start up or the progress bar never actually gets to the end of the loading cycle - starting your computer up in Safe Mode is a great place to begin. However, it's recommended that you avoid using Safe Mode with networking if you believe your issue lies with malware, as data may be fed back to attackers and spread across a network.

Standard Safe Mode restricts access to the internet, while Safe Mode with networking enables you to access the web via Wi-Fi or an Ethernet cable. This stripped-down process allows you to determine which application is causing issues or whether the operating system itself is at the heart of the problem.

Windows 10 safe mode from usb