If you need to troubleshoot your system in Safe Mode often, you can add the option to the boot menu for faster and more convenient access. You can achieve this by using the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) Editor. Here we show you the two ways to add Safe Mode to Windows 11 boot menu.
1. How to Add Safe Mode to Windows 11 Boot Menu Using Command Prompt & System Configuration
For this task, we will need to create a new boot entry. Once you have created a boot entry using Command Prompt, you can use the System Configuration app to assign the Safe Mode option to the entry.
Before making any changes, create a restore point. This will help you recover your system and undo the changes if something goes wrong during the process.
To add safe mode to the Windows 11 boot menu:
Press the Win key to bring up Windows search. Type cmd, right-click on Command Prompt, and select Run as administrator. Click Yes if prompted by User Account Control. In the Command Prompt window, type the following command and press enter. It will create a copy of the current boot entry and name it as Windows 10 Safe Mode: bcdedit /copy {current} /d “Windows 11 Safe Mode” If you want, you can change Windows 11 Safe Mode with a different name to make it easy to identify. You also can create multiple boot entries using the above command. Useful if you want to add Safe Mode with Command Prompt and Network separately. When successful, you should see the entry was successfully copied to the {Unique_Identifier} message. Type exit and press Enter to close Command Prompt. Next, press Win + R to open the Run dialogue. Type msconfig and click OK to open System Configuration. Next, open the Boot tab. Here, you will see multiple entries. The original/default Windows 11 OS entry and the new Windows 11 Safe Mode entries you created using Command Prompt. Select the new Windows 11 Safe Mode entry. Next, select Safe boot under Boot options. By default, the Minimal option is selected for Safe Boot. Select Network to create Safe Mode with Networking and select Alternate Shell if you want to add Safe Mode with Command Prompt. Next, enter time in seconds in the Timeout field. For example, enter 30 to set a 30 seconds timeout. This is the time after which Windows will load the default OS from the boot menu. Next, select the Make all boot settings permanent option. Click Apply and OK to save the changes. Click Yes to confirm the action. Next, click Restart to save the changes. During restart, you will see a Choose an operating system screen. It will list the new boot entries to enter Safe Mode in Windows 11.
2. How to Add Safe Mode to Windows 11 Using Command Prompt
You can add Safe Mode to Windows 11 without using the System Configuration app. This method involves creating a boot entry using the BCD Editor command, like the above method. Then, we will configure the Safe Mode function using the unique identifier for your existing boot entry in Command Prompt.
To add Safe Mode using Command Prompt:
Open Command Prompt as administrator. To do this, press Win + R to open Run and type cmd. Next, press and hold the Ctrl + Shift key and click OK. In the Command Prompt window, type the following command to create a copy of your default OS’s boot entry: bcdedit /copy {current} /d “Windows 10 Safe Mode” The output will show The entery was successfully copied to message followed by an identifier enclosed in parentheses. For example, the output for the command on my PC looks something like this: The entry was successfully copied to {54c7b520-9592-11ec-b2c9-00155dfff904} Copy the identifier in {} to your clipboard or save it in a Notepad file. Next, type the following command and press enter: bcdedit /set {Unique_identifier} safeboot minimal In the above command, replace Unique_Identifier with the ID copied in the last step. For example, the full command with the identifier will look something like this: bcdedit /set {54c7b520-9592-11ec-b2c9-00155dfff904} safeboot minimal If you want to add Safe Mode with Networking, use the following command. bcdedit /set {Unique_Identifier} safeboot network To add Safe Mode with Command Prompt, use the following command. This involves multiple commands, so execute them all: bcdedit /set {Unique_Identifier} safeboot minimalbcdedit /set {Unique_Identifier } safebootalternateshell yes For all the commands above, replace Unique_Identifier with the correct ID. Once done, type exit and press Enter to close Command Prompt.
You can restart your PC to verify the modifications. At boot, you will see the Choose an option operating system screen. To boot into Safe Mode, click on Windows 11 Safe Mode. To boot normally, select the default Windows 11 option.
How to Remove Safe Mode From the Boot Menu in Windows 11
Removing the Safe Mode option from the boot menu is easier than adding one. All you have to do is open System Configuration, select the boot entry to remove, and click Delete.
To remove Safe Mode from the boot menu:
Press Win + R to open Run. Type msconfig and click OK to open System Configuration. Next, open the Boot tab. Select the Safe Mode boot entry you want to delete. Be careful with this option, as deleting the default OS boot entry can leave your system unusable. Confirm the selection one again and click the Delete button. That’s it. Provided that you have only the default OS boot entry in System Configuration, Windows will load the default OS.
Booting Into Windows 11’s Safe Mode, Made Easier
Command Prompt makes it incredibly easy to create new boot entries and assign Safe Mode functions to them in Windows 11. In addition, since Safe Mode has multiple types, you can create separate entries for each type using the Command Prompt and the System Configuration app.
If you no longer need the Safe Mode option in the boot menu, delete the Safe Mode entry and apply the changes to restore the default boot process.
