In this article, we’ll discuss how to reboot the system into BIOS or UEFI Firmware Settings. Windows 11/10 is designed to have a really fast boot time. In fact, it’s too fast to interrupt. Most of the decisions happen during the boot and are over in the first 2-3 seconds itself. These 2-3 seconds include the time allowed for firmware initialization and POST (< 2 seconds). In SSD-based UEFI systems, the “F8 window” is always visible for less than 200 milliseconds. Because of this, Microsoft had to find alternative ways to boot into BIOS or UEFI Firmware Settings.
In Steven Sinofsky’s article on MSDN, he addressed this problem and how they came up with a fix.
We ultimately solved these problems with a combination of three different solutions. Together they create a unified experience and solve the scenarios without needing to interrupt boot with a keystroke:
- We pulled together all the options into a single menu – the boot options menu – that has all the troubleshooting tools, the developer-focused options for Windows startup, methods for accessing the firmware’s BIOS setup, and a straightforward method for booting to alternate devices such as USB drives.
- We created failover behaviors that automatically bring up the boot options menu (in a highly robust and validated environment) whenever there is a problem that would keep the PC from booting successfully into Windows.
- Finally, we created several straightforward methods to easily reach the boot options menu, even when nothing is wrong with Windows or boot. Instead of these menus and options being “interrupt-driven,” they are triggered in an intentional way that is much easier to accomplish successfully.
Each of these solutions addresses a different aspect of the core problem, and together they create a single, cohesive end-to-end experience.
How to access UEFI Firmware settings on Windows 11
In this article, I’ll show how to access that menu.
- In Windows 11, open Windows Settings > System > Recovery.
- In Windows 10, open Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Advanced startup. It looks as follows:
- While rebooting it will take you to Advanced Start-up screen, there click on Troubleshoot.
- Under Advanced options select UEFI Firmware settings.
Now it should take you to the BIOS you need.
Sometimes I wonder why we need to go through these processes to get to the BIOS; it’s a little too much. Well, we asked for a fast boot time, and we got it. So it’s a small price to pay for a great performance.
On some devices, you can also press a specific key (like F2, F10, DEL, or ESC) immediately after powering on to enter UEFI directly. The exact key depends on your manufacturer.
Well, if you know any other alternative options, do let us know.
How do I enter UEFI BIOS in Windows?
To boot Windows computer into UEFI or BIOS firmware in Windows 11, you need to use the Windows Settings. Press Win+I to open the Windows Settings panel and go to System > Recovery. Then, head to the Advanced startup section and click on the Restart now button. Your computer will automatically restart into the UEFI BIOS. You can also use hotkeys or CMD.
Why are there no UEFI firmware settings?
If your motherboard doesn’t support UEFI, you cannot find anything related to this functionality. Although it is present on almost all the latest motherboards, you may not find it on an older one. However, you can try booting your PC into UEFI BIOS using the aforementioned method to confirm.
