Quick fix: Hold Shift while clicking Restart in the power menu at the lock screen. Windows boots into the recovery environment without requiring a sign-in. From there, choose Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart, then press F4 (Safe Mode) at the boot menu.

The PC won’t boot normally, you don’t know the current user’s password (or you do but Windows isn’t accepting it), and you need to get into Safe Mode to fix something. The classic F8-at-boot trick doesn’t work on Windows 11 by default. The lock screen has an alternative path that doesn’t require a working sign-in.

Symptom: You need to access Safe Mode on Windows 11 without being able to sign in normally.
Affects: Windows 11 (any edition).
Fix time: 5 minutes.

Why F8 doesn’t work anymore

Windows 11’s fast boot bypasses the F8 boot menu window entirely — the system goes from firmware to Windows kernel too quickly to interrupt with a keypress. The replacement path is through the recovery environment (WinRE), reached via the lock screen power menu, a forced shutdown sequence, or a recovery USB.

Method 1: Shift + Restart from lock screen

At the lock screen, click the Power icon (bottom-right).
Hold Shift while clicking Restart.
The PC reboots into WinRE. You see a blue Choose an option screen.
Click Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart.
After reboot, the boot menu appears. Press F4 for Safe Mode, F5 for Safe Mode with Networking, or F6 for Safe Mode with Command Prompt.
Windows boots into the chosen Safe Mode. You may still need credentials at this point unless the Safe Mode lets you bypass it — in which case the user’s password is still needed.

Method 2: Force WinRE via three failed boots

If you can’t reach the lock screen because the PC won’t boot:

Power on the PC.
As soon as you see the manufacturer logo, hold the power button to force shutdown.
Power on again. Force shutdown again at the logo.
Power on a third time. Force shutdown.
On the fourth power-on, Windows detects multiple failed boots and enters WinRE automatically.
From there, follow steps 4–6 of Method 1.

Method 3: Use a Windows 11 install USB

From a working PC, create a Windows 11 install USB via the Media Creation Tool.
Boot the broken PC from the USB.
Click Next, then Repair your computer.
Choose Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Command Prompt.
Run bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal to set Safe Mode for next boot.
Close and reboot. The PC boots into Safe Mode (with user account’s password still required).
To return to normal boot later: bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot.

How to verify the fix worked

After F4/F5/F6, Windows desktop appears with “Safe Mode” watermark in corners.
Most non-essential drivers and services aren’t loaded.
You can run repair commands (sfc, dism, system restore) from Safe Mode.

If none of these work

If Safe Mode also requires a password you don’t have, you need credential recovery: use the recovery key for BitLocker, password reset disk if previously created, or reinstall Windows from the USB. For domain-joined PCs, contact IT for a domain admin to reset the password. Forgetting passwords for the local administrator without recovery options is a hard-stop — tools like Lazesoft Recovery exist for this scenario but require physical access to the drive.

Bottom line: Shift+Restart from the lock screen is the supported path to Safe Mode without a working sign-in. The forced-failure path works when the lock screen itself isn’t reachable. A USB stick is the final fallback.