Situations in Which Windows May Not Start in Safe Mode

You can use Safe mode to start Windows using a minimal set of drivers and services. If a faulty driver or program is causing problems, you may be able to use Safe mode to bypass the problem and start Windows so that you can diagnose the problem. However, Safe mode may not work in all situations.

Safe mode may not work in these situations:

• A mass storage driver (SCSI or IDE) is damaged or has been accidentally removed.
• The Ntoskrnl.exe or Hal.dll file is damaged.
• A program replaced system files that are critical to the operation of Windows.

To diagnose a problem with Safe mode, follow these steps:

1. Try all versions of Safe mode to see if Windows will start.
2. If no version of Safe mode will start, try using the command console to replace or rename a faulty driver or to disable or enable a service.
3. If the command console does not resolve the issue, you may need to restore the system from a backup.

For more information about the command console or other Windows recovery options, please consult your Windows documentation.

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: