Windows 10: Cannot interrupt windows boot to enter safe mode

I'm at a complete loss.


I offered to help a friend unlock their Windows Tablet since they forgot all passwords. The only account available is the non-elevated administrator local account. After multiple failed attempts I had to reset the PC but upon finishing boot up it auto logs in to the administrator account and loads to the black desktop with the "Unable to access Desktop" error. Only Windows+ R responds. All attempts to access the config folder result in "access denied". Same for attempts through the cmd prompt.


To top it all off the tablet won't go into recovery mode when interrupting the windows boot sequence so I can't even get it to go into Safe Mode. Any ideas on how to break this loop?


Thank you

:)

 

PC stuck in Safe mode, unable to boot to Normal mode.

Hi,

Thank you for posting on Microsoft Community. I understand the inconvenience you are facing. I will certainly help you with this.

I appreciate if you could answer few questions to narrow down the issue and to provide you better assistance.

• What error do you get when you try to boot in normal mode?
• Did you entered Safe mode through Windows Recovery Environment or through System Config?

I suggest you to try the below given steps and check if it works:

• Press Windows key + R and type msconfig and hit enter.
  
• On the General tab, tap or click the Normal Startup option.
• On the Boot tab, uncheck all the option under Safe mode.
• Tap or click OK, when you are prompted to restart the computer, tap or click Restart.

Please post back with the results and the information asked, we will be glad to assist you further.

Thank you.

 

Safe mode reset

Hi Oliver,

It's possible that your device is set to boot in Safe Mode. I suggest you to follow the below steps and check if it helps.

• Press Windows key + R to open Run Dialog box.
• Type msconfig and hit Enter.
• Under General tab, choose Normal startup if it's not selected already.
• Now, go to Boot tab, uncheck the Safe Boot
  option if it is checked.
• Click OK to save the changes and restart the device to boot in Normal mode.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you need further assistance, we'll be glad to help you.

Thank you.

 

Boot into Safe Mode on Windows 10  


I am stuck in Safe Mode in spite of following all the suggested steps to go back to Normal Startup - Like opening file location of msconfig.exe & running as Administrator. The computer I am trying to get out of safe mode has just been updated from Windows 7.