Sometimes installing software or updating drivers doesn’t go as smooth as it should. If you’ve ever had trouble with installing an application and failing, Clean Boot might help you solve that problem.

I hope that most of you have heard of Safe Mode – a way to boot Windows using a minimalistic configuration to troubleshoot major issues. Unfortunately, Safe Mode is not good for installing programs, since it’s pretty restrictive.

Clean Boot is a less known startup mode and is great for troubleshooting software and driver updates issues. When in Clean Boot, your computer will load only programs that are absolutely required by the OS, but it will not apply Safe Mode restrictions.

To boot your computer in Clean Boot mode:

1. Go to Start and click Run
2. Type in msconfig and click OK
3. Under the General tab, you should see that your computer is on Normal Startup. Change that to Selective Startup and after that uncheck Process system.ini file, Process win.ini file, and Load startup items.
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5. After that go to the Services tab and check the Hide all Microsoft services checkbox. Then click on the Disable All button.
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7. Click OK. You will be prompted to restart your computer. You will get a message warning you that you have used the System Configuration Utility to change the way Windows starts. Click OK.

After that your system will restart and boot in Clean Boot mode. Do all the troubleshooting and return to Normal Startup mode. To do that:

1. Go to Start and click Run
2. Type in msconfig and press OK
3. Under the General tab select Normal Startup
4. Click OK and restart your computer

Your computer will boot as usual after restarting.

If you encounter the same problems again, it means the cause lies with an entry in your System.ini file.

If not, repeat the process for each of the Process Win.ini file, Load startup items, and Load system services check boxes in turn until the problem reappears. The last item that you have selected will be the cause of the problem.