How to Exit Safe Mode on Windows 11

Safe Mode is a powerful tool for troubleshooting your PC. By booting up your computer with only the critical and essential software and services, it can help you identify if a background process is interfering with your normal day-to-day use or if any third-party software is causing issues on your computer and making it difficult to work with.

If you want to exit Safe Mode, the easiest way is to restart your PC. As long as there are no other issues, your computer should exit Safe Mode and start up normally.

However, it's not uncommon to get stuck in Safe Mode. It can be frustrating to boot up your PC and enter a safe environment every time. The safe environment does not have any third-party services or software, nor any Windows animations, and your PC will be running on a lower resolution than normal.

Fortunately, resolving this issue is generally simple, either a configuration-based or software-related problem. However, it's possible that you may need to try more than one method to resolve the issue. This guide will provide you with various methods to help you get out of Safe Mode and return to normal operation.

Method 1: Use System Configuration

The first and foremost way is to configure your system and let Windows know that your next boot will be a regular one, where all the third-party services and software will be loaded. The process hardly requires more than a couple of clicks’ effort from your side.

First, press the Windows + R keys together on your keyboard to bring up the Run command utility. Then, type msconfig and hit Enter on your keyboard to bring up the system configuration window on your screen.

After that, on the System Configuration window, make sure you have selected the ‘General’ tab. Then, click on the radio button preceding the ‘Normal startup’ option.

Next, head to the ‘Boot’ tab present on the window. After that, click on the checkbox preceding the ‘Safe boot’ option present under the ‘Boot options’ section to uncheck it. Then, click on the ‘Apply’ button to confirm the changes and click on the ‘OK’ button to close the window. This will bring an alert window to your screen.

From the alert window, click on the ‘Restart now’ button to restart the system immediately. Otherwise, click on the ‘Exit without restart’ button to restart at a later time.

On your next restart, Windows will exit the safe mode and should resume in the normal mode.

Method 2: Edit Boot Config Data Using Command Prompt

In case your PC still clings to the Safe boot, you can head to the Command Prompt. Using the Command Prompt, you can instruct your PC to remove the Safe boot option from the Windows Boot Configuration data, which will automatically load the normal boot on your system.

To do so, first, head to the Start Menu and type Terminal to perform a search for it. Then, from the search results, right-click on the ‘Terminal’ tile and click on the ‘Run as administrator’ option in the context menu to continue.

Now, a UAC (User Account Control) window will appear on your screen. If you are not logged in with an admin account, enter the credentials for one. Otherwise, click on the ‘Yes’ button to proceed.

Then, on the Terminal window, click the chevron (downward arrow) and then click on the ‘Command Prompt’ option to proceed. Alternatively, you can also press the Ctrl + Shift + 2 keys together on your keyboard to open the Command Prompt tab.

Now on the ‘Command Prompt’ tab, type or copy+paste the below-mentioned code and hit Enter to execute. This will remove the Safe boot option from the boot configuration of your system. On successful execution, you will receive a message stating so on the same window.

bcedit /deletevalue (current) safeboot

Once the command has been executed successfully, type or copy+paste the below-mentioned code and hit Enter to shutdown and restart your PC in normal mode.

shutdown /r

Method 3: Use Advanced Startup Settings

If both the above methods have failed to bring your PC to a normal state, your last resort is to rely on the ‘Advanced Startup’ option. The advanced startup option will boot you in Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) and will allow you to make changes to system startup options.

First, head to the Start Menu and click on the ‘Settings’ tile present under the ‘Pinned apps’ section to continue. Otherwise, type Settings in the menu to perform a search for it.

Then, on the Settings window, make sure you have selected the ‘System’ tab present on the left sidebar to continue.

After that, from the right section of the window, locate and click on the ‘Recovery’ tile to proceed.

Then, on the next screen, click on the ‘Restart’ button present on the far right edge of the  ‘Advanced startup’ tile situated under the ‘Recovery options’ section. This will immediately restart your PC.

Once the PC is restarted, click on the ‘Troubleshoot’ tile present on the ‘Choose an option’ screen to continue.

After that, from the ‘Troubleshoot’ screen, click on the ‘Advanced options’ tile to proceed.

Now, on the ‘Advanced options’ screen, locate and click on the ‘Startup Settings’ tile to continue.

Then, on the next screen, click on the ‘Restart’ button present in the bottom right section of the screen to be able to change the options.

Once your PC has been restarted, head to the Startup settings screen and press Enter on your keyboard to load the operating system in normal mode. This will again restart your computer and load the operating system with all third-party software and services.

Conclusion

Safe Mode is a helpful tool when it comes to troubleshooting your PC. However, it can become frustrating if you get stuck in it and need to exit it. The good news is that there are multiple ways to do so, including using the system configuration utility, editing boot config data using command prompt, or using advanced startup settings. By following these steps, you can quickly and easily get your computer back to running in normal mode with all third-party software and services loaded. So, next time your PC gets stuck in safe mode, don't worry, just follow these simple steps and get back to work!