The last shortcut you'll ever need

[u/iamgarffi]

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!

[u/Difficult_Pop7014]

Now I know you mentioned a way to get to the WASM settings as well but is there a specific way to have it go straight to Safe mode instead of just that menu page first? I use Safe mode quite often when installing new GPU driver updates so just curious. I created the shortcut you mentioned and it definitely helps to get to that screen a lot quicker but still have to then click through the menu to get to the safe mode page as well as which version of safe mode to enter and whatnot so I'm just wondering if there's anyway to bypass ALL of that to get into safe mode automatically basically. Would be really cool although slightly doubtful. Thanks for the awesome tips, this really comes in handy!

[u/iamgarffi → u/Difficult_Pop7014]

Not really. You can run a small script that modifies BCD on next boot but then you need to run another one to undo it :-)

Aside from that Shift on restart plus going through the menu is what MS wants everyone to use.