Safe Mode - difficulty choosing O.S.

A

alan9876

Member
I knew how to hammer F8 for Safe Mode when my Laptop was single boot XP in partition 0

Today is the first time I tried for Safe mode since W7 was installed in Partition 5.

After many failed attempts I discovered that IF I permit EasyBCD to launch its boot menu,
and IF I over ride the default choice XP and instead select W7,
I suddenly have an F8 option further down the screen,
and that gave me Safe Mode under W7.
That met my immediate needs, BUT I will need XP safe mode in future.

Why do you not include Safe Mode for XP ?

Why does Macrium Reflect Boot Recovery now have an F8 Safe Mode option ?
Did it steal from XP ?

What should I do to get an F8 Safe Mode option for XP ?

OOPS Sorry about partition numbers, Macrium has me muddled.
The main GUI shows I have 9 partitions numbered 1 through to 9,
But when I try to restore the Restore wizard shows them as 0 through to 8.
I think perhaps my signature needs revision.
What is your preferred numbering standard ?
I think I was told but that was some weeks ago - I am sure you have not changed since then but my memory is suspect ! !

Regards
Alan
 
Last edited:
It's nothing to do with EasyBCD
F8 is an interupt to the MS bootmanager.
If the boot manager is bootmgr (Vista/7), that's what you're interrupting and that's the extended boot menu you'll see.
If you want the XP extended menu, you'll need to select XP from the bootmgr menu, then immediately tap F8.
Bootmgr chains NTLDR to load XP, and that's the program you need to interrupt to see its extended boot menu.
 
After the F2/F12 opportunity for BIOS I immediately get the EasyBCD O.S. selection menu.
Multiple F8 before EasyBCD does nothing- no time.
When EasyBCD gives the menu I have near the top of the screen three choices :-
XP
Windows 7
Macrium Reflect system Recovery.

Near the Bottom is "Tools:"
and on the bottom a hint that TAB will select Tools.

When I select either Windows 7 or Macrium etc. then midway in the space above "Tools" I see
"To specify Advanced Option for this choice press F8"
I get the Windows 7 SAFE MODE by pressing F8 whilst Windows 7 is highlighted;

I get Macrium etc. under the XP SAFE MODE by pressing F8 whilst Macrium is selected,
but unfortunately Macrium loads the PE environment and a set of image recovery/creation options, but there is no way to launch
Start > 'All Programs' > 'Accessories' > 'System Tools' > 'System Information'
and when I close the Macrium option menu then it just reboots into BIOS and back to EasyBCD.

I really want to see F8 option whilst XP was highlighted, but that does not happen.
I did try multiple F8 clicks before the initial 3 seconds timeout and EasyBCD defaulted to XP, but nothing good happened,
I did try multiple F8 clicks after the initial 3 seconds timeout and EasyBCD defaulted to XP, ditto
I tried Enter to choose XP before timeout, and again multiple F8 clicks failed to give me Safe Mode.
So far as I can remember I tried all the above with no luck.

I have now tried again but this time I highlighted Windows 7 and then highlighted XP and hit Enter and again multiple F8 clicks - success this time.
Perhaps I had to stop the timeout into default XP and actually select XP to stop the timout and then hit Enter before F8,
or perhaps I was ultra lucky and hit F8 within a one millisecond window of opportunity ! ! !

Why is it so easy to launch Windows 7 Safe Mode, and so very difficult to launch XP Safe Mode ?

Is it intended to be so very different, or is it because of the way Macrium has added itself as an option ?

Originally there were only XP and 7,
and there was no Macrium Recovery option when under XP I installed Macrium in partition H:\.
I do not know if the F8 option was displayed for XP before Macrium was added to the selection menu.

Macrium added itself into the O.S. selection menu when I added the PE Rescue environment supplement. I had no involvement in how it was added. I have not made any manual changes myself to how EasyBCD is configured.
I am hoping I will not have to go into Windows 7 to edit the EasyBCD configuration

Regards
Alan
 
I think Macrium must have customized bootmgr/BCD to show those options.
Is there a macrium folder inside your \boot folder ?
 
Yes, they have added C:\Boot\Macrium\
The gory details are :-

C:\Boot\Macrium>dir /s | find " " | find /V " ."
Volume in drive C is ACER
Volume Serial Number is EC16-8702
Directory of C:\Boot\Macrium
05/02/2008 19:44 0 base
04/09/2010 23:01 <DIR> boot
03/01/2008 12:23 3,170,304 boot.sdi
19/01/2008 00:45 333,203 bootmgr
04/09/2010 23:00 <DIR> Drivers
04/09/2010 23:00 <DIR> EFI
29/04/2009 10:50 3 PEVersion
13/09/2010 17:09 32 pplic
04/09/2010 23:00 <DIR> sources
29/07/2010 21:10 49 uninstall.bat
29/07/2010 21:10 37 Version
7 File(s) 3,503,628 bytes
Directory of C:\Boot\Macrium\boot
05/01/2008 04:22 262,144 bcd
02/11/2006 15:44 259,584 bcdedit.exe
03/01/2008 12:23 3,170,304 boot.sdi
03/01/2008 11:54 1,024 bootfix.bin
05/01/2008 04:23 2,048 etfsboot.com
04/09/2010 23:00 <DIR> fonts
14/09/2010 21:30 276 reflect.cfg
6 File(s) 3,695,380 bytes
Directory of C:\Boot\Macrium\boot\fonts
23/01/2008 11:00 3,696,380 chs_boot.ttf
23/01/2008 11:01 3,879,072 cht_boot.ttf
23/01/2008 11:00 1,986,528 jpn_boot.ttf
23/01/2008 11:00 2,373,660 kor_boot.ttf
23/01/2008 10:59 49,752 wgl4_boot.ttf
5 File(s) 11,985,392 bytes
Directory of C:\Boot\Macrium\Drivers
04/09/2010 23:00 <DIR> Disk
10/02/2008 18:16 13 Macrium.oem
04/09/2010 23:00 <DIR> Network
1 File(s) 13 bytes
Directory of C:\Boot\Macrium\Drivers\Disk
0 File(s) 0 bytes
Directory of C:\Boot\Macrium\Drivers\Network
0 File(s) 0 bytes
Directory of C:\Boot\Macrium\EFI
04/09/2010 23:00 <DIR> microsoft
0 File(s) 0 bytes
Directory of C:\Boot\Macrium\EFI\microsoft
04/09/2010 23:00 <DIR> boot
0 File(s) 0 bytes
Directory of C:\Boot\Macrium\EFI\microsoft\boot
05/01/2008 04:22 262,144 bcd
04/09/2010 23:00 <DIR> fonts
1 File(s) 262,144 bytes
Directory of C:\Boot\Macrium\EFI\microsoft\boot\fonts
23/01/2008 11:00 3,696,380 chs_boot.ttf
23/01/2008 11:01 3,879,072 cht_boot.ttf
23/01/2008 11:00 1,986,528 jpn_boot.ttf
23/01/2008 11:00 2,373,660 kor_boot.ttf
23/01/2008 10:59 49,752 wgl4_boot.ttf
5 File(s) 11,985,392 bytes
Directory of C:\Boot\Macrium\sources
29/07/2010 21:25 106,715,203 boot.wim
1 File(s) 106,715,203 bytes
Total Files Listed:
26 File(s) 138,147,152 bytes
32 Dir(s) 6,466,011,136 bytes free

C:\Boot\Macrium>
Click to expand...

Regards
Alan
 
Last edited:
You'll just have to develop the touch of a concert pianist.
Timing is everything.
On my PC (ASUS mobo) F8 also interrupts the BIOS to allow a temporary boot device override, so F8 during boot, results in one of four possible outcomes depending on precisely when you hit the t*t.
(and possibly a fifth, if it has any effect on grub. I've never tried that one.)
 
Every time I power up Acer kindly remind me that F2/F12 will give me the BIOS,
but they fail to remind me how to enter Safe Mode.

I am "unfortunate" that things go wrong so rarely that when I need Safe Mode I have forgotten how to get it ! !
Life is not getting any easier.

Questions
Before Macrium was added, would I have found XP Safe Mode so much more difficult than W7 Safe Mode ?
Is it worth asking Macrium to be more careful in how they add into the Boot options ?

Regards
Alan
 
No, you only have a fraction of a second in a multi-boot, between selecting an option and being too late to interrupt the chain.
In a single boot you can just keep tapping away at F8 and assume that eventually the right piece of code will respond to the input when it starts to execute. In the multi-boot, several modules could respond, so you have to time it to make sure its the one you want.
 
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