How to Enter Setup for Windows 10

If you want to run into the BIOS/UEFI setup menu or the Advanced Boot Menu, it sometimes becomes tricky, since it depends upon vendor settings which may vary. On top of that, you also need to “time it” delaying which can cause your system to start loading Windows. So, here are the different methods to enter the Menu system.

How to Enter Setup for Windows 10?

1. Click on the Windows Start menu and select Settings.
2. Click on Update and Security.
3. Click Recovery.
4. Under Advanced startup, click Restart now. Windows will restart and will directly boot into the Windows 10 boot menu.
5. Select Troubleshoot.
6. Choose Advanced options.
7. Select UEFI Firmware Settings.
8. Click Restart to restart the system and enter UEFI (BIOS)

The Other options that you have are as follows:

• System Restore – To Restore your System to an Earlier Date/Time
• Command Prompt – Run command level utilities including System Restore
• System Image Recovery – Restore using a System Image
• UEFI Firmware – Enter BIOS Settings
• Automatic Repair – Repair for any Disk or System level Errors
• Startup Settings – Disable Startup items from loading.

If you are unable to Enter the “Boot Options Menu”  Check to see if “Fast Startup is on”

How to Disable Fast Startup?

• Open and Select ‘Control Panel
• Click on ‘Power Options’
• Select ‘Choose what the Power Buttons Do’ from the left hand column
•  Select ‘Change Settings that are currently unavailable’ from the top of the Menu
• Uncheck ‘Turn on Fast Startup (Recommended)’
• Click ‘Save Changes’ to save.

You need to disable “Fast Startup” when you are facing difficulties logging in the BIOS/EFI settings.

Always Do a “Restart” instead of a “Shutdown” since a “Shutdown” can take you into Sleep/Hibernate mode, instead of a Full Shutdown. This in turn will not show you any boot menu options.

If you can’t open Settings or reach the desktop, you can reset by restarting your PC from the sign-in screen menu.

Press the Windows logo key +L to get to the sign-in screen,

Hold the Shift key down while you select Power  > Restart in the lower-right corner of the screen.

After your PC restarts, select Troubleshoot > Reset this PC.

If you can’t get to the sign-in screen, use a recovery drive or installation media to reset your PC.

Here are the Methods to Enter the Boot Menu Directly for different Vendors:

Acer: When the first logo screen appears, immediately press the F2 key, or the DEL key

Asus: Use the following Function Keys to do the following actions:

1. ESC: Boot drive options, and BIOS setup.
2. F2: BIOS setup
3. F8: Options for “safe mode”
4. F9: System recovery (will start the recovery from the “Hidden Recover Partition”.
5. Delete = BIOS setup

Lenovo: F1 is to enter BIOS Setup and F12 is to enter Boot Menu

Dell: When the Dell logo appears, tap F2 key until the message Entering Setup appears.

Samsung: Start tapping F10 and then start your laptop.

Toshiba: Press F2 key repetitively as soon as the Toshiba laptop begins booting until the BIOS menu screen appears.

There are other vendors who might have a different key sequences to Enter the BIOS/Setup utility and I have only listed a few. Please refer to the official vendor documentation before performing these steps.