6 things you didn’t know you can do with advanced startup settings in Windows

As much as we all use Windows, there are many parts of it that remain unknown to most people, and sometimes, these “secrets” can be very useful for different things. One of these secrets is the advanced startup options screen, which is often used for performing clean installations of Windows 11.

But there’s a lot more you can do on this screen than just booting from an external USB drive. Let’s take a look at some of the other options you may not have known were hidden in this screen, which is also referred to as the Windows Recovery Environment, or WinRE.

To access the advanced startup options, you can go into the Settings app and choose System > Recovery > Restart now. The menu may also appear if your computer fails to boot multiple times in a row.

Undo changes to your PC

System Restore to the rescue

System Restore is a Windows feature that’s been around for a very long time, and it allows you to fix problems on your PC by reverting it back to an earlier point before said problems appeared. If your problems are caused by a program or driver update you installed, System Restore can roll back those changes, provided you set up the capability beforehand.

Usually, you might run System Restore from the desktop for smaller problems, but if you can’t even get to the desktop reliably, you can also run it from the advanced startup options screen. This allows you to revert more serious issues and get your computer back to a working state. Simply click Troubleshoot > Advanced options > System restore to get started.

Restore a system image

Back to a clean slate

I know this sounds very similar to the point above, but it’s actually not. Windows lets you create a system image that saves an exact copy of your hard drive to an external drive, and you can then restore it on your PC when you want to get back to a clean slate.

It’s not like a clean installation of Windows, though, because any programs you install are also saved, so you can set up a PC with the tools you always need, create a system image backup, and then restore it whenever you run into issues, or if you just want a fresh start. It will likely save you some time installing all those programs again, and it’s a more straightforward experience.

This option is a little more hidden than the others because this feature is being deprecated, but you can still use it. To restore a system image you’ve created, enter the advanced startup options screen and choose Troubleshoot > Advanced options > See more recovery options > System Image Recovery.

Roll back system updates

More updates, more problems

As important as Windows updates are for security, it happens all too often that Microsoft pushes out a new update that causes some kind of issue. It usually won’t stop you from booting into the operating system, but if it gets that far, the advanced startup options can help here, too.

By going into Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Uninstall updates, you can choose to remove the latest quality update (the cumulative updates that happen on the second Tuesday of every month) or the latest feature update (which only happen once a year). If you’ve noticed major issues after a specific Windows Update, these tools can help you come back from that situation. Generally, it may be better to try and roll back a quality update first, but if you know you received a feature update, you can also start there.

Troubleshoot driver issues

Safe Mode is here for you

Sometimes, parts of your PC stop working as intended and it can be hard to pin down the problem. Driver updates can often cause issues with some functionality of your PC, but it’s not always clear where the problem is coming from. A big example is the graphics card, which can often lead to OS crashes and other major problems that are a nightmare to hunt down.

Safe Mode is a feature in Windows that exists for exactly this reason. It loads the Windows OS with only the basic included drivers, which means that if your computer works fine in this mode, the problem likely lies in either a driver or some software you may have installed, and not in Windows itself.

You can access Safe Mode from the desktop, but if you can’t get that to work, you can also do it through this screen. Select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup settings and restart your PC, then choose the appropriate option for Safe Mode (number 4).

Access your BIOS settings

It’s so much easier now

Remember the old days of furiously mashing a specific key on your keyboard during startup to make sure you can access your BIOS settings? I don’t miss those days. Thankfully, ever since Windows 8, Microsoft has been making things easier thanks to UEFI firmware, which lets you easily access your BIOS/UEFI settings from this screen.

Now, instead of mashing all the keys on the keyboard that could work for your specific PC, you can simply head to the advanced startup settings screen and choose Troubleshoot > Advanced options > UEFI Firmware settings, then restart your PC. You’ll be taken to your BIOS settings without any extra fuss, which is one of the best changes Windows has made in recent history, if you ask me.

Test unsigned drivers

I’m not saying you should, though

Finally, there’s a specific feature in advanced startup options that might be useful in very specific scenarios. All Windows drivers are required to be signed by a trusted entity in order to be loaded, which is done to prevent damage from being done to your PC and to protect your data. Drivers have low-level access to your system and malicious software could seriously compromise your security, so this requirement ensures that you’re not giving any malicious code that kind of power.

However, in some cases, such as if you’re developing a driver yourself, you may need to remove this protection in order to install unsigned drivers. Or, in very extreme situations, you may also find yourself in need of unofficial drivers for something. Many years ago, I had a laptop with an AMD GPU that just didn’t play well with Windows 8 or newer, but official driver support was abysmal. I remember this website and forum called Leshcatlabs where someone was maintaining an unofficial driver that fixed many of the issues I had on Windows 8 and made my laptop work much better. Eventually these drivers started being signed, but during early testing I believe I had to install some unsigned drivers, too.

I expect the vast majority of people will never need to do this, but that makes it all the more interesting. You can find this option by going to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup settings, and after restarting your PC, press 7 to disable driver signature enforcement.

Source Info: https://www.xda-developers.com/things-didnt-know-can-do-with-advanced-startup-settings-windows/