UPDATED 5/30: Clean boot on Windows 10 is a way to start the operating system using a minimal set of drivers and startup apps. When you need to troubleshoot and determine an issue on your computer, a “clean boot” will help you to eliminate software conflicts that can appear during updates or software installation, or when you’re running an app in Windows 10.
Programs like an antivirus, system utility, and other software installed on your PC may contain processes that can cause conflicts, such as sudden freezes, blue screen of death (BSOD), performance issues, and other problems. A clean boot (by process of elimination) can help you figure out if Windows 10 is having drivers or apps problems.
In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to do a clean boot on Windows 10 to help you troubleshoot and determine which software is causing conflicts on your machine.
How to do clean boot on Windows 10
Use the steps to perform a clean boot on Windows 10, use these steps:
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Open Start.
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Search for msconfig and click the top result to open the System Configuration experience.
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Click the Services tab.
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Check the Hide all Microsoft services option.
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Click the Disable all button.
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Click the Startup tab.
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Click the Open Task Manager link.
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On the Startup tab, select each item and click the Disable button.
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Close Task Manager.
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On System Configuration (msconfig), click OK.
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Restart your computer to complete the task.
Once you restart your computer, if the problem disappears, then you’ll have an idea of what’s causing the problem, and you can address it accordingly.
If you couldn’t update the operating system, or install or uninstall a software, you can try now again. In this environment, you can also try to start a program that wasn’t working before.
How to undo clean boot on Windows 10
Use these steps to undo the changes and boot Windows 10 normally:
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Open Start.
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Search for msconfig and click the top result to open the System Configuration experience.
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On the General tab, select the Normal startup option.
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Click the Services tab.
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Check the Hide all Microsoft services option.
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Click the Enable all button.
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Click the Startup tab.
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Click the Open Task Manager link.
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On the Startup tab, select each item and click the Enable button.
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Close Task Manager.
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Restart your computer.
Keep in mind that “Windows Clean boot” is not the same as “Safe Mode”. On Safe Mode, Windows starts with a minimal set of drivers and services, and it’ll continue to start third-party drivers and programs during boot.
A clean boot is meant to troubleshoot software conflicts by disabling certain third-party software, services, and drivers during startup.
It’s also worth pointing out that you can also use these instructions to troubleshoot software conflicts on Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.
If the problem continues, then you can also start Windows in Safe Mode to further troubleshoot and determine what’s causing the issue. Usually, Safe Mode can help you to diagnose booting problems, and issues on a wired or wireless network adapter. And it’s also a recommended environment to do a virus scan.