XP: Add the Option to Boot to Safe Mode in the Boot Loader Menu

Contributed by davak July 1, 2005  
Tagged: Windows

Do you find yourself needing to boot to safe mode a lot to debug your system? Here’s how to add this to your boot menu.

It’s supposed to be easy to boot into safe mode. This recipe describing ways into get safe mode explains them well.

However, if you use it very frequently, why not just make it an option on your boot loader menu?

1. Right click on the My Computer icon
2. Select Properties from the context menu
3. Click the Advanced tab
4. Click the Settings button
5. Click the Edit button
6. Your boot.ini file will open in notepad
7. Click the File menu
8. Select Save as and save this file as boot_ini.bak
9. Under [Operating Systems] find your default OS entry. Highlight this entry and right click on it. Select Copy from the context menu.
10. Place the cursor on the next line, right click, and select Paste from the context menu.
11. Change the description in quotation marks to “Safe Mode Boot”
12. At the end of this line add the following text:
safemode:minimal /sos /bootlog

13. When you reboot, the safe mode boot option will appear in the boot loader menu.
14. If you don’t like this or get errors, remember that your original boot.ini file is saved in the boot_ini.bak file.