By opting for the MCTS Certificate through Safe Mode
When your computer will not start, one of the fundamental troubleshooting techniques is to sim- plify the configuration as much as possible. This is especially important when you do not know the cause of your problem and you have a complex configuration. After you have simplified the configuration, you can determine whether the problem is in the basic configuration or is a result of your complex configuration. If the problem is in the basic configuration, you have a starting point for troubleshooting. If the problem is not in the basic configuration, you should proceed to restore each configuration option you Mcsa Exams removed, one at a time. This helps you to identify what is causing the error.
If Windows Vista will not load, you can attempt to load the operating system through Safe Mode . When you run Windows Vista in Safe Mode, you are simplifying your Windows con- figuration as much as possible. Safe Mode loads only the drivers needed to get the computer up and running. The drivers that are loaded with Safe Mode include basic files and drivers for the mouse, monitor, keyboard, hard drive, standard video driver, and default system services. Safe Mode is considered a diagnostic mode, so you do not have access to all of the features and devices in Windows Vista that you have access to when you boot normally, including net- working capabilities.
A computer booted to Safe Mode will show “Safe Mode” in the four corners of your Desk-top, as shown in Figure 11.67.
If you boot to Safe Mode, check all of your computer’s hardware and software settings in Device Manager (which is covered in Chapter 3) and try to determine why Windows Vista will not boot properly. After you take steps to fix the problem, try to boot to Windows Vista as you normally would.
In Exercise 11.11, you will boot your computer to Safe Mode. During the boot process, press the Comptia Security F8 key to access the Advanced Boot Options menu. Highlight Safe Mode and press Enter. When Windows Vista starts, log in. You will see a Help and Support dialog box letting you know what Safe Mode is. Exit Help and Support. You should see in the lower-right corner that a network connection is not available.
If you are having a problem with a driver, you can open Device Manager and uninstall or roll back the driver.
Don’t restart your computer yet; you will do this as a part of the next exercise.
Boot logging creates a log file that tracks the loading of drivers and services. When you choose the Enable Boot Logging option from the Advanced Boot Options menu, Windows Vista loads normally, not in Safe Mode. This allows you to log all of the processes that take place during a normal boot sequence.
This log file can be used to troubleshoot the boot process. When logging is enabled, the log file is written to \Windows\Ntbtlog.txt . A sample of the Ntbtlog.txt file is shown in Figure 11.68.
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