Regaining control to F8 key during boot time

I fully understand that Acronis Startup Recovery Manager activated, it overwrites the master boot record (MBR) with its own boot code

After activating Acronis Startup recovery Manager, I am not able to access anymore Windows Startup Menu, by pressing the F8 key during boot time. So I suppose that the Acronis Code does not support this feature and by activating Acronis Startup Recovery Manager I lost the ability to use the F8 key to access Windows' operating modes

My question:
By disabling Acronis Startup Recovery Manager, will I reactivate the use of boot time F8 key and regain full access to Windows' Startup Menu, including Windows Safe Modes and Recovery Console?

 

Hi,

I can't answer your question directly however I can offer an alternative. Use MSCONFIG to tell Windows to reboot into Safe Mode. I had to do this recently because I was also unable to use F8 and I didn't want to reconfigure other services.

Start | Run | MSCONFIG. Under the BOOT.INI tab check /SAFEBOOT. Remember to reset this when you're finished otherwise you'll reboot into Safe Mode again.

 

I know, I can access Safe Mode by tampering with msconfig. But during the boot sequence there is no access to this service. So I am eager to regain full acces to Start Menu during the boot process

 

I thought it uses F11, not F8?

 

andreia20 is talking about using F8 to boot into the Windows Safe Mode menu, not the F11 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager.

 

How to recover the lost F8 key usage due to ASRM

I fully understand that Acronis Startup Recovery Manager activated, it overwrites the master boot record (MBR) with its own boot code

After activating Acronis Startup recovery Manager, I am not able to access anymore Windows Startup Menu, by pressing the F8 key during boot time. So I suppose that the Acronis Code does not support this feature and by activating Acronis Startup Recovery Manager I lost the ability to use the F8 key to access Windows' operating modes

My question:
By disabling Acronis Startup Recovery Manager, will I reactivate the use of boot time F8 key and regain full access to Windows' Startup Menu, including Windows Safe Modes and Recovery Console?

 

Disabling might fix the problem but most likely you are going to have to restore the MBR that was present before you activated the ASRM. If you have an old image it will have the MBR.

 

Re: How to recover the lost F8 key usage due to ASRM

I haven't tested it in XP, but in you can still get into Vista's F8 menu by just repeatedly pressing the F8 key when the Acronis F11 message shows up.

Once you see the F11 message, just press the F8 key twice a second or so and the menu should come up.

Acronis isn't really "blocking" the F8 feature. However, since it's reading key presses, the time for getting an F8 key in that Windows will see is probably diminished. That being said, I've always had better success with just repeatedly pressing the F8 key even without ASRM activated.

 

The official way to remove the SRM is to remove the secure zone using the manage secure zone wizard.

This action will delete any backups that are in the secure zone and it will have the desired effect of restoring the MBR to its previous state.

There is a fair chance that the SRM is not affecting the Windows safe boot F8 process. If this is what you are missing it may be due to some other changes that have been made.

Xpilot

 

Re: How to recover the lost F8 key usage due to ASRM

I checked your proposal and it really works, if you catch the right time to push the F8 key.
Thanks

 

I uninstalled Acronis Secure Zone and regained full access to F8 booting sequence.
Then I reinstalled ASZ (without Acronis Recovery Manager), for the solely purpose to benefit Acronis' Try&Decide sandbox and I am done.

 

Just to clarify, access to Windows safe mode was not affected with or without the the ASRM being present.
The problem was caused by not pressing the F8 key rapidly at the correct time.

Xpilot