What is Clean Boot State in Windows 11/10/8/7? How to perform Clean Boot? What is the difference between Safe Mode and Clean Boot State in Windows 11/10? Well, most of us are familiar with Safe Mode in Windows. When you restart your Windows computer and start pressing the F8 key on your keyboard, you will enter Safe Mode. The Safe Boot mode uses a minimal pre-defined set of device drivers and services to start the Windows operating system.
Clean Boot State in Windows 11/10
On the other hand, there is also the Clean Boot State which is used to diagnose and troubleshoot advanced Windows problems. If your computer is not starting normally, or if you receive errors when you start the computer that you cannot identify, you could consider performing a “clean boot.”
What does a Clean Boot do?
When you start the computer in clean boot, the computer starts by using a pre-selected minimal set of drivers and startup programs, and because the computer starts with a minimal set of drivers, some programs may not work as you expected.
How to perform Clean Boot
To enter Clean Boot State, type MSConfig in start search and hit Enter to open the System Configuration Utility. Click the General tab, and then click Selective Startup.
Clear the Load Startup Items checkbox, and ensure that Load System Services and Use Original boot configuration are checked.
Next, click the Services tab. Select the Hide All Microsoft Services checkbox. Now click Disable all.
Next, click on the Startup tab and Open Task Manager.
Disable all the Startup apps that normally load on your PC and close the Task Manager.
Close the Task Manager and then click Apply > OK in the System Configuration window to apply your preferences.
Click Apply/OK and restart the computer.
This will put Windows into a Clean Boot State.
If the clean boot helped you fix the error, fine! Else in the General tab, also click to clear the Load System Services checkbox, click Apply/OK, and restart.
To configure Windows to use the normal startup state, simply undo the changes.
What to do after Clean Boot; How to troubleshoot in Clean Boot?
Clean-boot troubleshooting is designed to isolate a performance problem. To perform clean-boot troubleshooting, you must take a number of actions, and then restart the computer after each action. You may need to manually disable one item after another to try and pinpoint the one that is causing the problem. Once you have identified the offender, you can consider removing or disabling it.
Before you perform Clean Boot, you need to ensure the following:
In the System Configuration Utility:
- Select Hide all Microsoft services
- Then select Disable all.
- Click Apply/OK.
Once you enter Clean Boot State, you may find that your problem has gone away.
Then you need to enable one Service after another and reboot into Clean Boot till the problem reappears.
To make things easier, you could select each of the checkboxes in the upper half of the Service list, click OK & Restart. After the computer restarts, if the problem persists, one of the checked items from the upper half is the problematic service. If the problem doesn’t occur, the checked items are not the cause of the problem. Thus you can proceed with similar steps until you’ve isolated the problem to a single service.
In this way, you will be able to identify the process that is causing problems.
Best to always create a system restore point first.
See this post if the Use original boot configuration is greyed out in Windows 10. You might want to also read about Hardware Clean Boot.
Does a clean boot erase everything?
No, it is a state of Windows where it starts with minimum programs allowing users to figure out if another program is causing any issue on the PC. It will never delete your files and programs but is only meant for troubleshooting.
Is a Clean Boot safe?
Yes, it is safe. When you boot normally, it will launch all the programs that have registered with the startup. During Clean Boot, it filters out those programs and helps users to troubleshoot hardware or software problems.
Is Clean Boot and Windows Recovery the same?
While both the programs help you troubleshoot, Clean boot is used when Windows is working, but Recovery is when you have lost access to the PC or getting BSOD. You will need to use a Windows bootable USB drive to boot into the recovery. Make sure to use it carefully, especially if you plan to reset the PC.
great post till now i dont know about clean boot, this post clearly identifies what is clean boot and what its use
THANK YOU FOR SUCH NICE POST SIR. I BELIEVE THAT IT’S VERY USEFUL TOO TO EVERY PC USER.
I have the sam problem and tried to do what you said. But nothing has changed so I decided to click to clear the Load System Services check box. But whenever I clean the option “Load System Services” box then say “Apply” the option comes back again as I didn’t unchecked the option. I cannot uncheck the “Load System Services” box, it is impossible,
Although this is a very descriptive solution, it did not solve my problem. Windows explorer still crashes on startup, and I don’t get my desktop. Please advise, if there is another solution.
Thank you!
Press ctrl-alt-del and the choose task manager. Then, choose File –> New Task. In the box enter explorer.exe and your desktop will appear like magic. :-)
it’s very use full solution… Thanks for the given solution
I had an issue with my pc powering off randomly as I loaded windows. It was a bad PSU. Sometimes it’s the hardware.
Two issues. When I try this, it won’t allow me to re-set to Normal start-up. (As soon as I click Apply, it reverts to Selective Startup.) Second, the “Load system services” box does NOT have a check mark in it– it has a small black box. And when I try to uncheck all 3 boxes (Load System Services, Load Startup Items, Use original boot configuration) and click apply, the Load System Services box is filled in with a box. (not a check, but a box.) So it won’t allow me to blank out all 3 boxes. Thank you for your help. P.S. The Dual Boot Repair that I downloaded did not fix this issue as per another post.
Did you see https://www.thewindowsclub.com/use-original-boot-configuration-greyed-out ? Also please see if you can do this in Safe Mode.
It cannot help at all……
This helped my fps problem with a GTX 980 Ti but how do I make windows automatically boot too this mode? If possible that it.
i tried to use the clean boot. but i made a mistake along the way. now i cannot even access anything on my pc. since monday its asking me for a password. i have tried all passwords. its still not accepting. i am grounded totally. please help
Try blank spaces or your Microsoft Account password or your PIN.
i have tried the blank spaces, my microsoft password, and the pin. its not accepting any of them.
Can your enter Safe Mode or access Recovery Options/Advanced Startup? If so go and use System Restore. Also see: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/free-password-recovery-tools
trying this to install a monitoring software but it still didn’t work. disabling UAC can do it but you can’t run most microsoft native apps.
whenever I clean the option “Load System Services” box then say “Apply”,
the option comes back again as I didn’t unchecked the option. I cannot
uncheck the “Load System Services” box, it is impossible and restart ……. Now I cannot do anything. i cannot start windows …HELP
still work in 2017, thanks man, very descriptive, another guide will not include general check box.
helped me solved my bsod
I just did a Nvidia update and now all I get this message every time I try to run the NZXT Software – “Cam has stopped working”
“Download this tool to quickly find & fix Windows errors automatically”
I have a catch 22 situation, I cannot download anything on the problem laptop, I am using another one to make this comment and read the posts.
thank you for a clear definition
This was 5 months ago. Did you get it fixed?