Cannot enter safe mode...

When trying to enter safe mode, I hit F8, and select Safe Mode. It boots into the login screen (the graphics are poor and a new account is available - administrator - so I know it's ok to this point). I pick my usual account, and the computer restarts. Without fail. If I pick on another account, it gets to the confirmation screen (You are entering Safe Mode - etc…) then it resets. Any ideas? TIA, oh, and Hello all!

Does it work if you select Administrator?

Does it work if you select Administrator?

No, it's the same problem.

XP Pro on a Dell BTW. Sorry.

I'm trying to use SDfix.exe and that is what brought all of this up.

When you get to the Safe Mode selection screen, choose Last Known Good Configuration (your most recent settings that worked). It's like a mini System Restore and may get you up and running again.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307852/

Any ideas?

Howdy ! Hate them there bugs. Go two machines in my shop today for virus cleanings…..

anyhow if this behavior is being caused by a virus, you may not be able to technically GET to "safe mode"

I can however, get you "sort of there". I can definitely get you to the Admin account, but you need to be able to at least boot to regular windows desktop to make the changes.

[NOTE: the below will not work on XP-Home, though it will sometimes let you display the account, it will not allow it to log-in, (with or without a password. Attempting to auto-logon the admin account will -beep- and Hang at the "windows is starting-up" screen. The only quick way to log into the system Administrator account is if all other user accounts with admin rights were deleted…..since this would rarely be a desireable troubleshooting technique….I am still working on it though, and have a couple of ideas. Point is, since it won't work on Home, then you don't need really need to modify the registry to get to the admin account, just press clt-alt-del 2 or 3 times and the classic log-in screen will display, then just log in as "administrator".]

Step One: Reveal the Hidden "administrator" account so that you can select it on the welcome screen.

click—Start—Run. Type "regedit" (no quotes.)
when the "Registry Editor" window opens, maximize it, and navigate to this key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList

Right-click -UserList-, choose -new- then -DWORD value-.
Name the Key "Administrator" (again no quotes,) then press [enter]
set the value to 1, then click [ok]
close the registry editor.
Log-off
when the welcome screen comes back, the Administrator account should be displayed.
Select it, (if you have a passwrod for it, it will ask. The default is for no password.)

Step Two: Limit the drivers that are loaded on startup.

Enter the Administrator account. When you reach the desktop,
click Start—run, then type "msconfig" press [enter] or click [ok]
when the "System Configuration Utility" window opens, click the -General- tab
Then select "Diagnostic Startup", next click [ok]

Reboot the machine.

This time when you select the Administrator account, see if you can do what you need to with that program.

Hope this helps!

Tallon41

[Note: whether or not it helps, don't forget to go back and select "normal startup" and then delete that new registry key you created above.]

That did allow me into the admin account, but did not allow me to run SDFix.exe cleaner. I did however run SDFix's Repair SafeBoot Key option, and once I did that, I was able to enter safe mode. SDFix.exe worked fine after that. Thanks for the info.