How to Boot Into 'Safe Mode with Networking'

What Safe Mode with Networking Actually Does

Safe Mode boots Windows with only the minimal set of core drivers and services needed to start — no third-party startup programs, no non-essential drivers, and a generic display driver instead of your dedicated GPU driver. This makes it the go-to environment for isolating a problem that only happens with your normal driver/software stack loaded, such as a bad graphics driver causing crashes, a rootkit or persistent malware hiding itself during normal boot, or a boot loop caused by a recently installed third-party service. Safe Mode with Networking is the same minimal environment plus network drivers and services enabled, which you need whenever the fix itself requires internet access — downloading a corrected driver, running an online malware scanner, or reaching a network share for a backup.

Method 1: From Inside Windows (When It Still Boots)

1. Press Win + I to open Settings, then go to System > Recovery.
2. Under Advanced startup, click Restart now.
3. After the PC reboots into the blue Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings.
4. Click Restart on the Startup Settings screen.
5. The PC reboots again into a numbered list of startup options. Press 5 (or F5) to select Enable Safe Mode with Networking.

Windows boots directly into Safe Mode with Networking, indicated by the words "Safe Mode" watermarked in each corner of the desktop.

Method 2: Via msconfig (If You Want It to Persist Across Reboots)

This method is useful when you need to reboot into Safe Mode repeatedly, or when you can't reliably time the F5 keypress on a fast-booting NVMe SSD.

1. Press Win + R, type msconfig, and press Enter.
2. Go to the Boot tab.
3. Under Boot options, check Safe boot and select Network (this is the "with Networking" variant — Minimal is plain Safe Mode with no network, and Alternate shell boots to a command prompt only).
4. Click Apply, then OK, and restart when prompted.

Method 3: From the Sign-In Screen (Shift + Restart)

If Windows boots to the login screen but you want to reach Safe Mode without going through Settings:

1. On the sign-in screen, click the Power icon in the bottom-right corner.
2. Hold Shift and click Restart.
3. This boots directly into the same Choose an option recovery screen — follow the same path as Method 1 from step 3 onward (Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart, then press 5).

Method 4: When Windows Won't Boot at All

If the PC fails to start normally, Windows' Automatic Repair environment usually triggers on its own after two or three failed boot attempts in a row, dropping you into the same blue recovery screen used above. If it doesn't trigger automatically:

1. Force a hard shutdown by holding the power button during the boot process, and repeat this two or three times — Windows detects the repeated failed boots and should launch Automatic Repair on its own.
2. From the Automatic Repair screen, click Advanced options, then follow Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart, then press 5 for Safe Mode with Networking.
3. Alternatively, boot from a Windows installation USB drive, click Repair your computer on the setup screen instead of Install, and reach the same Advanced options menu that way.

What You Can Do Once You're In

• Roll back or update a graphics driver from Device Manager, or download a fresh driver installer directly from NVIDIA/AMD/Intel's site since networking is available.
• Run Windows Update to pull a pending fix if a recent update itself caused the instability.
• Run an online malware scan using Microsoft Defender Offline or a downloaded scanner from a vendor like Malwarebytes, since malware that hooks into normal startup often can't load its persistence mechanisms in Safe Mode.
• Uninstall a recently installed program via Settings > Apps, which is often enough to break a boot loop caused by a bad driver bundled with that install.
• Use System Restore (rstrui.exe) to roll the system back to a restore point from before the problem started, if one exists.

Exiting Safe Mode

If you got here via Method 1 or 3 (Startup Settings menu), a normal restart returns you straight to regular Windows — no cleanup needed. If you got here via Method 2 (msconfig), you must undo it manually:

1. While still in Safe Mode, press Win + R, type msconfig, press Enter.
2. Go to the Boot tab and uncheck Safe boot.
3. Click Apply, OK, and restart.