If your Windows 8 computer does not start and you need to reset drivers and therefore boot into Safe Mode you are supposed to press Shift + F8 during startup. Due to the fact that modern PCs are often too fast to register such key strokes it got extremely hard to boot up in Safe Mode.
There are many tutorials that show how to enable Safe Mode out of the running Windows. But if you can’t access Windows because it already crashed during the boot, you also cannot update the boot options.
I had an issue with a graphic driver after an automatic update! So the screen was black but the rest of my Windows worked fine. Well usually you go and boot in Safe Mode and restore the former driver or deactivate the VGA Card or something. So that was my struggle because I couldn’t get into Safe Mode anymore.
The only way that worked for me was by using the Windows 8 Install DVD!
Insert the DVD and boot from the DVD. (Eventually you have to press a key depending on your PC that enables boot from DVD).
Windows Boots form the DVD now.
Choose keyboard options and press Next
Important: Select Repair your computer
Select Troubleshoot
Select Advanced options
Select Command Prompt
Change to your Windows Installation Partition. Usually the C:\ drive.
Now Enter the following command:
bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy
Hit enter. It should return a successful message in the prompt.
Write exit or simply reboot the computer.
Now the legacy startup options are enabled. And you can simply hit F8 during startup.
You will then be displayed the former startup selection screen where you can choose your desired startup mode.
And finally can start with the actual debugging of the problem.
Good Luck.
