Fixed – Windows 2008 Server continually boots into safe mode.
We had a weird issue this morning after applying windows updates to a server and found that the server had rebooted into safe mode. We tried various methods of forcing the server back to normal mode through the F8 prompt, even attempting a Windows Repair from cd but nothing seemed to work.
In the end we ran “bcdedit /deletevalue safeboot” from the command prompt, rebooted the server and it came back up in normal mode. There was a long, very dramatic pause, whilst the server reverted changes to the windows updates but we were eventually able to log back into the server. We then took a snapshot and installed the windows updates 50% at a time – and of course, this time every patch installed successfully.
I suspected that the server was reading the bcd and booting into safe mode, but I’d have thought that pressing F8 and selecting normal mode would have overwritten this selection – obviously I was wrong.
I really long for the good old boot.ini days.
The Technet article “Restart the domain controller in Directory Services Restore Mode Remotely” gave us the bcdedit commands to run. It was amazing how many google hits there are for failing to restart a server in safe mode (oops – here’s another one), but not many on how to stop a Windows 2008 Server from starting in safe mode.
23. March 2011 at 6:41 am :
How long was that “long dramatic pause”?
6. September 2011 at 9:26 am :
Had the same problem here, it actually took us a while to realise it was booting up in safe mode as we were having trouble logging in and assumed it was a AD corruption or a disk error. Eventually, we logged in as local admin and spotted Safe Mode on the desktop.
We did not manage to identify what switched the Safe Boot on on the server (presumably windows updates) but could not get it to boot into normal mode even using F8 as u described. We fixed it using msconfig which I think alters the BCD in the same way your command line does and all is fine now. We did not have a dramatic pause, just a sigh of relief.
16. September 2011 at 11:25 am :
I’m very glad I found this post. Thanks for the answer. This worked like a charm. Still not sure what caused the menu to be set as such as we did not even apply any updates.
20. September 2011 at 9:20 pm :
Thanks heaps for providing this fix, every time I was restoring a specific win 2008 server from backup it would keep booting safe mode even if normal was selected.
8. November 2011 at 7:20 am :
WOW I am so glad I found this. You saved me big time.
13. November 2011 at 12:12 pm :
Hi, just experienced the same thing on our Domain controller, was continuously booting into Safemode – Directory Services Repair mode.
Managed to boot to safe mode with command prompt (was able to authenticate as domain admin) and then run msconfig.exe to uncheck safe mode boot options and server boots ok now. Was very wary about doing anything else that would possibly involve any kind of rebuild…
10. December 2011 at 10:27 am :
MY God… you are a life saver.
Thanks
17. December 2011 at 3:16 am :
Thank you for taking the time to post this. After a power outage on a storage array hosting our domain controllers, one would only boot into dsrm. Your post fixed it.
Brett
20. December 2011 at 1:16 pm :
You are a life saver! Rebooted a client machine after some updates and for the life of me couldn’t figure out what was happening. Also went down the AD issues path. When I finally noticed it was rebooting into safe mode, a quick google and I found this article. BCD command did the trick nicely, thanks!
27. January 2012 at 11:03 pm :
Great find thank you very much. This issue happened with me when I switched Internet services providers. I forgot to disable DCHP on the router the ISP gave me so when I did and made changes to the Server. I shutdown and it came back up in Safemode. Weird but thankfully it is working now.
1. June 2012 at 6:37 pm :
Thanks! You gotta love the tech community,
17. September 2012 at 8:54 am :
I also want to thank you for taking the time to post this issue and the solution!
You saved me from days of headaches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank You!
25. October 2012 at 2:20 pm :
Don’t know what caused this, but yep, worked for me too on the server that controls our Switchboard software. Used “msconfig” and unticked “safe boot”. Its 8pm, you’ve saved me from a crap night and a nightmare day tomorrow…!
25. January 2013 at 3:24 am :
Allowing server to boot to safe mode > cmd prompt >type msconfig.exe >uncheck safe mode boot. This did it for me. It did not go to safe mode, but showed “preparing to configure your computer…Do not turn off your computer.” Thanks for the notes here by everyone. Same here, I mean it’s a hairy thing to have your customer’s DC not boot up and it’s late at nigh! Thanks again, I can’t say how much it’s worth a few hours for sure!