Sometimes when you shut down your Windows computer, it gets stuck in the middle of it and won't be able to complete the shutdown process, or sometimes your computer may not be able to restart successfully. After restarting your computer manually, a screen will appear with various startup options. One of the options available will be Last Known Good Configuration or LKGC.

Last Known Good Configuration
Last Known Good Configuration stores an important system and registry every time you shut down your computer and Windows shuts down successfully. If there is a problem, you can restart your computer using these settings.

For example, if a new video card driver is causing problems or an incorrect registry setting is preventing Windows from starting properly, you can restart your computer by using the Last Known Good Configuration option.



Problems Can Be Fixed by Last Known Good Configuration


The problems that can be repaired by booting into last known good configuration are as follows:

The blue screen of death at startup caused by the driver update.
The unsuccessful boot caused by the newly applied Windows update or automatic updates.
The PC’s abnormal startup sequence caused by viruses, trojans, and rootkits.
The conflicts between newly installed hardware and other devices.
The conflicts between newly-installed software and other programs.
Problems Cannot Be Fixed by Last Known Good Configuration
However, not all of the Windows issues can be resolved by booting Windows into the last known good configuration. In particular, it will not help if you encounter these issues below:

Programs crashing at random.
Computer running slow or other bad performance. Maybe you are interested in this post - 10 Reasons for PC Runs Slow with Windows 10/8/7.
Driver-related issues that you’ve been experiencing for several days.
Boot Windows into the Last Known Good Configuration
Just now, you have known some basic information of the last known good configuration. Now, you may wonder how to boot into last known good configuration Windows 10/7.

Keep on your reading.

How to Boot into the Windows 7 Last Known Good Configuration
If you want to use the Windows 7 last known good configuration option, follow the steps below. On the other hand, if you wonder how to use last known good configuration Windows 10, you can jump to the next section.



Step 1: Fully power your computer off. Make sure that your PC is entirely turned off and not running anymore.



Step 2: Restart your computer and then wait for the screen with the logo of the manufacturer to pass.

Step 3: Repeatedly press F8 (or another key/key combination) as soon as the logo disappears.

Step 4: If you see the Windows loading screen, go back to the first step and repeat until you enter the Advanced Boot Options window.

Step 5: Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to select Last Known Good Configuration (advanced) from the list of available options.

Step 6: Press Enter and wait for the process to complete. You should be able to boot into the system now.

How to Boot into the Last Known Good Configuration Windows 10
The last known good configuration option is not provided in Windows 8 and Windows 10. Instead, there are other options like refresh, reset (reinstall), restore, etc.

You can simply boot your PC to enter Safe Mode. It’s an alternative to the last known good configuration.

Safe Mode is a built-in diagnostic mode of Windows 10 (7, 8, etc.) computer operating system. If you start Windows 10 PC to Safe Mode, it will only allow starting up basic system programs and services in the booting process.

Here is information on how to boot Windows 10 in Safe Mode.

You should restart your PC several times to boot to WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) to enter into Safe Mode. You can also use Windows 10 recovery bootable media like a DVD/USB bootable drive to enter WinRE.

Here are the steps:

Step 1: Insert your Windows installation CD/DVD or USB bootable drive to your computer, and start the computer.

Step 2: Enter the BIOS. If you don’t know how to do that, read this post - How to Enter BIOS Windows 10/8/7 (HP…o, any PC).

Step 3: Choose the DVD or USB flash drive as the first boot device and boot the Windows 10 PC from the device.

Step 4: Click Repair your computer to enter into WinRE successfully.

Now, you can continue to enter Safe Mode.

Step 1: From the Choose an option screen, click the Troubleshoot option.

Step 2: Next, click Advanced Options. Click the Startup Settings option.

Step 3: Click the Restart button.

Step 4: Then you will see multiple options for startup. Press the F4 key to enable Safe Mode.

Now your PC will start in Safe Mode. Then you can troubleshoot your system without issues.



You can also perform a system restore via WinRE that is an alternative to the last known good configuration option. Here is how to do that:

Step 1: Enter WinRE.

Step 2: You should click Troubleshoot in Choose an option, and then choose Advanced options.

Step 3: Choose System Restore in the Advanced options window.

Step 4: Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the restore.

Back up the System to Safeguard Your Computer
After you fix your computer’s error, I have a suggestion for you. In case of something wrong with your system, it is recommended to back up your system in advance.

Now, I will introduce a piece of free backup software for you - MiniTool ShadowMaker.

MiniTool ShadowMaker provides a one-click system backup solution. It supports backing up your system drive completely, including system partition, system reserved partition and EFI system partition.

And you can image all of your data including computer settings, applications, drivers, system files and boot files.

The system backup is bootable. When the system crashes, you can restore your computer to a normal state. This post - How to Restore Computer to Earlier Date in Windows 10/8/7 (2 Ways) may be the one you need.

MiniTool ShadowMaker provides Trial Edition that gives you a 30-day free trial for all backup features. You can purchase its Pro Edition to use it permanently.

Step 1: Decide a Backup Mode

Launch MiniTool ShadowMaker and keep using the Trial E
Please choose the computer to manage and click Connect in the Local section to enter the main interface.
Step 2: Choose the Backup Source

Go to the Backup page.
This software selects the system partition and system reserved partition by default.
Step 3: Choose a Destination Path to Store Your System

You can back up your system to an external hard drive, USB flash drive, NAS and more.
Then choose a destination path to store your system and click OK. Here I take the New Volume (E)as an example.
Step 4: Start to Back up

Go back to the following interface.
You have two options: click Back up Now to start the backup process immediately or click Back up Later to delay the backup process.
When the process is finished, you have backed up your system successfully with MiniTool ShadowMaker.

Bottom Line
To sum up, this post has introduced what the last known good configuration WIndows 10 is and shown the methods to enter Windows 7/10 into it. If your computer encounters some issues, you can try the last known good configuration to fix them.

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