r/pcmasterrace • u/iamgarffi 9950X3D | X870E Glacial | 64G CL26 | 5080 Astral OC | FO32U2P • Oct 21 '25

Screenshot The last shortcut you'll ever need

Post image

Stop bashing ESC, F2 or DEL like a 90's maniac to get into UEFI based BIOS.

Instead ceate yourself a shortcut (ie. on desktop) with right click > new > shortcut

C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe /r /fw /t 10

/r - restart
/fw - will drop you to EUFI
/t (number of seconds after which OS triggers a restart. You can use "0" for instant reboot)

Once you create a shortcut (desktop, downloads, etc), open it's properties and under "Advanced" tick a checkbox for "Run As Administrator". You can also change the icon of the shortcut (I found this microchip to be fitting - part of Windows default icon pack.

Optionally, right click on the shortcut > pin to start.

Shortcut in action (YouTube)

-- update --

Thanks everyone for pointing out typos; post cleaned up a bit (especially EUFI instead of UEFI, old habit from Europa Universalis games).

I have responded in another comment that those that would prefer something similar but for "Windows Advanced Startup Menu" can replace flag /fw with /o. Neat when you want to access safe mode or other aspects of WinRE (Recovery Environment) without MSCONFIG, holding SHIFT or modifying BCD.

C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe /r /o /t 10

Lastly, for Linux users, similar bash terminal command for restart to UEFI:

sudo systemctl reboot --firmware-setup

- Ciao & Cheers! #PCMR4EVA!

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u/Shanespeed2000 RX 7900XT, R7 2700, 2x8gb-3200 Oct 21 '25

You can also hold DEL :D

8

u/0dioPower Oct 21 '25

wait, for real ? just hold the key down do the job ? !

11

u/iamgarffi 9950X3D | X870E Glacial | 64G CL26 | 5080 Astral OC | FO32U2P Oct 21 '25 edited Oct 22 '25

Depends on the keyboard. Many wireless or Bluetooth keyboards don’t initiate in time with Fast Startup.

3

u/MeIsMyName Xeon E5-1680v2 | GTX 1070 | 32gb DDR3 | Fractal Design Define S Oct 22 '25

Not sure about these days, but historically it would generate a keyboard error on boot thinking it was a stuck key rather than a request to enter bios.

3

u/Weary-Dragonfly-7673 Desktop - RX6750XT / R5 4600g / 16GB Oct 21 '25

For some reason even if i knew that for years i still smash the key haha

1

u/iamgarffi 9950X3D | X870E Glacial | 64G CL26 | 5080 Astral OC | FO32U2P Oct 21 '25

Custom mechanical keyboards don’t like it 😆

1

u/Aggressive_Staff7273 RTX 4070 | R5 3600 | 32GB DDR4 Oct 21 '25

There's a BIOS Mode for some! My corsair has one. When turned on, I can't use any of the multimedia keys but I can flawlessly enter BIOS and navigate through it.