What does clean boot mean? Clean boot Windows: how to do it, why you need it. When you need a clean one

What is the condition clean boot on Windows 10/8/7? How to perform a clean boot? What is the difference between Safe Mode and Clean Boot State in Windows? Most of us are familiar with safe mode on Windows. When you restart your computer and start pressing a key F8 on the keyboard, you enter safe mode. Safe mode booting uses a minimal, predefined set of device drivers and services to start the Windows operating system. In a clean boot, you can select Microsoft services to start minimally without any services or drivers.

State clean boot used to diagnose and troubleshoot problems related to Windows system. If your computer won't start normally, or you're getting errors when starting up your laptop that you can't identify, you can perform a "clean boot." When you start a computer with a clean boot, the computer starts with a pre-selected minimum set of drivers and startup programs, and because the computer starts with a minimal set of drivers, it will be easier to identify the problem with a particular driver, service, process, program. Clean boot troubleshooting is designed to fix a performance issue.

  • Press a combination of buttons Windows+R and write msconfig, to open the system configuration.
  • On the General tab, click Selective launch and uncheck Load startup items, make surecm that the " Load system services".


  • Next, go to the " Services" and first of all, check the box " Don't display Microsoft services".
  • Click " Disable all". Click "OK" and you will boot into clean boot mode without third party programs and drivers.

Note: To turn off Clean Boot Mode, do the exact opposite. The launch option is normal.

Majority Windows users are familiar with the word "". Maybe many users don't know how to do this or what it is. When you start your computer, it also loads third-party items and startup services. But in a clean boot state Windows Does not load any third party programs or services during startup.

When you need a clean one:

If you encounter any problems in Windows you may need to perform a clean boot. If any third party program or service is responsible for this problem, it will fix the problem or help you find the problematic program. We usually do this when we encounter a Blue Screen of Death (BSoD).

How to do a clean boot:

You already know that she can help you. Clean boot Windows 7, no different from Windows 10.

Clean boot windows 10,8,7,xp

So how to clean boot Windows 7? It's not difficult, you only need to follow a few steps.

Step 1: Open the System Configuration Window

  • Now enter msconfig and press Enter. It will open the system setup window.

Step 2: Selective launch

  • By default you will be on the tab "Are common". There you will see Selective launch. Remove from it Launch Items checkbox. Make sure you are downloaded system services downloads and select initial boot configuration.

Step 3: Disable non-Windows services

  • Now go to the " Services ».
  • Click the check mark Hide all Microsoft services. You will find it at the bottom of this window.
  • Now click " Turn everything off."

  • Click " Apply" And " OK".

These steps will put your computer into Windows 7 clean boot mode and help you fix your problem. But if you still think something is wrong, you can uncheck the " Load system services" and press "Apply" And "OK". Then restart your computer.

To return to normal booting, simply undo the changes you made and restart your computer.

In contact with

A so-called “clean” boot in Windows means booting the system with the most necessary programs and drivers, all other programs and services remain not running. This is done to resolve conflicts between programs and drivers if you cannot determine the cause of system failures during normal boot. By doing a clean boot you'll narrow it down possible problems, and then it will be easier to determine the cause of the failures. This system boot works in Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1.

How to do a clean boot on Windows 8

Clean Boot on Windows 7


To resume normal booting in Windows 8, you need to log back into msconfig and, on the “general” tab, check the “normal boot” box. Then go to the services section and uncheck “hide all Microsoft services” and click “turn on all”. In “Startup” go to the task manager and enable all startup programs and click OK. After this, reboot the laptop.

For Windows 7, normal booting is enabled via msconfig. Go to the “general” section and check the “normal boot” box, then restart your computer.

Features of use

If After this download the problem disappeared, this means that the cause of the failure was in one of the programs (driver, application) launched during normal boot. By removing programs from startup one by one, you can find the application that creates the problem (you can turn on the programs one by one). If this does not help, then do the same with the services, turn them on one by one and find the one that is failing.

If After a clean boot the problem remains, then the reason may be hardware or the system may need to be reinstalled. Then it is better to contact the specialists directly or ask a question on a special technical forum or to the support service.

At performing a clean boot programs that start automatically will be disabled, and when booting in safe mode with the disabling of some programs there is also some limitation in the functionality of the program itself. Windows systems. Therefore, there is no need to confuse these two types of loading. Although both of them are necessary for diagnosing faults and are only a temporary way of operating the system.

If after a clean boot you have there were system malfunctions, which were not there before, we can advise you to reboot into safe mode (press F8 during boot and select “safe mode”) and exit from a clean boot exactly according to the points as written above. Typically, problems can arise when some Windows services are accidentally not started.

If the computer begins to work slowly and unstable, then users usually resort to standard procedures: check the system for viruses, reboot and run a disk check for errors. But what should you do if your PC continues to experience performance problems, and you just can’t determine the cause?

In the most extreme cases, a number of users choose full reinstalling Windows, assuming that all problems are related to the operating system. Other users try to uninstall and reinstall applications, believing that the problems are caused by third-party software.

However, there is an easier way to diagnose software errors that may be causing performance issues. This method associated with the use of a “clean” boot of Windows - this is a boot mode when exclusively critical drivers and operating system services are loaded.

The official Microsoft website states:

A "clean" system boot is used to Windows startup with a minimal set of drivers and programs from startup. This helps eliminate conflicts software problems that occur when installing a program or update, or when running a program in Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, or Windows Vista. A clean boot can also help you troubleshoot problems or figure out what conflict is causing the problem.

Download options

First of all, make sure you are logged in with account administrator because you need to make changes to the system that are not available for restricted accounts.

There are several boot options you can configure before performing a clean boot into Windows. Press Windows key + R and enter msconfig. In the System Configuration dialog box, on the General tab, select one of the available startup options - Normal launch , Diagnostic run or Selective launch.

  • Normal launch used for everyday computer use. In this mode, all configured drivers and services from Microsoft and third-party applications are loaded.
  • Diagnostic run allows you to load only essential devices and services, which help you isolate the error and, if possible, determine the source of the problem.
  • Selective launch offers many additional options- the user can configure which components will be loaded (services, programs in startup) and can use the original boot configuration. If these boot options help restore system performance, then manual setting There will no longer be a need for a clean boot.

How to perform a clean boot

If you want to use the time-tested clean boot method, then in the section system configuration on the tab Services and check the box Don't show Microsoft services. This means that only services not created by Microsoft will appear on your computer. Disable all of them, but remember the current service configurations (write it down, take a screenshot) so that after a “clean” boot you can restore the services in the same order.

After disabling unnecessary services, open the tab and click on the “Open Task Manager” link. Disable all items, but save the original configuration information again for later restoration.

You can now close all windows and restart your computer. If the system boots correctly and the original system performance is restored, then the problems are related to third-party software. Otherwise, you will have to configure Windows.

Advice. If the system works correctly in clean boot mode, this indicates that the cause of the failure was one or more programs that you disabled. In such a situation, by elimination, i.e. By turning on programs and services one at a time, rebooting and checking the operation, you can determine the program that is affecting the operation. Having identified a program that affects operation, either leave it disabled, uninstall it, or contact its developer to further resolve the issue.

After this, do not forget to restore the configuration and return to normal mode downloads. Additionally, after a clean boot, you can remove any application that you think may be causing the problem and negatively impacting system performance.

To disable clean boot mode, on the tab Are common program windows system configuration select item Normal launch. Then click .

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Updated – 2017-01-25

Windows boot modes. If you want to understand your computer, and not just randomly poke the keys on the keyboard, then you need to know at least a little about the processes that occur in it. Take Windows boot modes, for example. Believe me, when you begin to understand what you are doing, even routine work becomes a joy. I know people who simply hate computers. Do you know why? Because they don’t understand him and are afraid of him, and what a person fears is what he hates.

Windows Boot Modes

My most important boss says that he cannot understand people who hang around the computer all the time. He hates the computer. And he really doesn’t have a computer in his office.

Then, on occasion, I told him that it was simply not respectable for such a big boss like him not to have a computer on his desk. At least for appearances sake it should be there. He listened to my advice and on the second day ordered it to be installed.

I went a little further. And she not only installed a computer for him, but also connected him to the Internet. I set everything up and left it turned on on the page about politics (I know that he is very interested in this matter), and left the office. Less than an hour had passed before he called me to his place and said: “There was an interesting article, I clicked something and everything disappeared.”

I showed him how to enter this site and navigate through the pages. Subsequently, he asked a couple more times to show him how to find the necessary information.

A couple of weeks passed and our boss was replaced. I bought myself a laptop and never parted with it. To our delight, he almost never leaves his office; he surfs the Internet. I even learned how to work in electronic document management.

So this is why I am telling you all this. When a person began to understand that he needed this, he stopped being afraid of working at the computer. He began to study, which means he lost his fear.

And in order for fear to pass, you need to know what you are doing. Therefore, we will learn to understand our computer.

Let's consider boot modesWindows

Typically, these modes are not displayed during system boot. You can see them only in two cases:

  • Pressing a key F 8 . This is done before the operating system starts or when the boot menu is displayed;
  • If the menu opened automatically. This happens if some problems arose during the previous Windows boot and the boot did not complete.

This is what the Windows XP boot mode menu looks like :

enables normal boot mode, i.e. the regime to which we are accustomed and do not even notice;
  • To study loading problems in detail, use the mode Enable boot logging . In this case, information about loaded modules and system drivers is entered into text file, which you can then carefully study and determine the loading problem;
  • If the video system drivers are damaged, then loading in the simplest mode of operation of the video adapter will help - Enable modeVGA . In this mode operating system accesses the video adapter directly without using a driver. In this case, the video system will operate in VGA mode with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. In normal use, this mode has not been used for a long time, but all video cards support it. Thanks to this mode, you can start your computer and remove or correct the settings of a video driver that is not working.
  • If normal operation of Windows is impossible, and the cause of the problem is not clear, then you can use Safe Mode . This loads a minimum set of the most necessary drivers. This allows the system to start even if damaged important files. We have already discussed how to use this mode in the article. What you can do in Safe Mode, see the article . The remaining two options Safe Mode already needed by advanced users. When the time comes, we will consider them too.
  • It happens that after changing some settings and then rebooting, the computer stops working. For this purpose there is a point Loading Last Known Known Configuration . In this case, the system uses a copy system files, which it itself creates upon each successful launch. But just in case, it’s better to create .
  • So we looked at Windows boot modes. Now you won’t be so scared if your system balks after your unsuccessful attempts.