The Windows 2000 Safe Boot has options to load various minimal drivers and services, so you can get around
some issues that are preventing a normal startup.
To use Safe Boot, press F8 when the boot menu is displayed. This presents you with an
Advanced Options menu that allows you to select the Safe Mode option that you want,
and then select the O/S instance that you wish to boot.
NOTE: DO NOT select an Windows NT instance.
NOTE: Safe Mode is prominently displayed. After selecting an option, press Enter to
select the O/S instance.
NOTE: When booted in Safe Mode, the %Safeboot_Option% variable will contain
Network or Minimal.
The Safe Boot options are:
Safe Mode (Safeboot_Option=Minimal): A minimal set of device drivers and services will be loaded.
Safe Mode with Networking (Safeboot_Option=Network): Same as above, plus networking drivers.
Safe Mode with Command Prompt (Safeboot_Option=Minimal): Safe mode is started but with
a CMD.EXE shell.
Enable VGA Mode: Windows 2000 starts in VGA mode, so your video driver is not loaded.
Last Known Good Configuration: Start with the previous good configuration.
Directory Service Restore Mode: For Domain controllers only.
Debug Mode: Debugging information is transmitted on COM2, to a computer that is running a debugger.
Enable Boot Logging: Boot normally, but log the load of devices/services in %SystemRoot%\ntbtlog.txt.
NOTE: All Safe Mode boots will log (except Last Known Good).
Boot Normally: Change you mind and boot the Default instance.
NOTE: See tip 3200 » How do I recover Windows 2000?