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How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 10 and Windows 11 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts

Summary: This article provides a video describing the process of performing a clean boot in Windows 10. This process also applies to Windows 11.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.

Instructions

Clean Boot with MSConfig

Duration: 00:55
Closed captions: English only


What is Windows 10 Clean Boot?

Troubleshooting Windows 10 and Windows 11 can be a complex process due to the many different drivers, settings, and programs interacting simultaneously. This varied environment may lead to software conflicts that manifest in a number of ways, often times as Windows struggling to start up properly or updates failing to install. Performing a clean boot can assist in locating the conflict by booting only Windows applications and drivers.
 


How to perform a Clean Boot:

  1. Right-click the Start button
  2. Click Search
  3. Type 'msconfig' and hit Enter
  4. Click Services
  5. Click the Hide all Microsoft services checkbox
  6. Click Disable all
  7. Click Startup
  8. Click Open Task Manager
  9. Click any startup program you suspect might be interfering
  10. Click Disable
        Repeat steps 9 and 10 for all Startup programs
  11. Click the X to close Task Manager
  12. Click OK in the System Configuration window
  13. Restart the system

How to restart normally:

  1. Right-click the Start button
  2. Click Search
  3. Type 'msconfig' and hit Enter
  4. Click Services
  5. Click the Hide all Microsoft services checkbox
  6. Click Enable all
  7. Click the checkbox for the conflicting startup service to deselect it
  8. Click Startup
  9. Click Open Task Manager
  10. Click a startup program
  11. Click Enable
        Repeat steps 10-11 for all startup programs
  12. Click the X to close Task Manager
  13. Click OK in the System Configuration window
  14. Click Restart

The following video also describes the details to perform a clean boot in Windows 10 and Windows 11:

How to perform a clean boot in Windows 10

 


Article Properties
Article Number: 000102564
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 20 Dec 2022
Version:  7
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