Technical Anshu
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🖱️ No Command Route

Open UEFI Firmware Settings from Windows Settings Without Command Prompt

Not comfortable with Command Prompt? Windows has the same destination built into Settings — a few clicks through the recovery menu and the PC restarts straight into BIOS setup.

✍️ Technical Anshu🪟 Windows 10 / 11⏱️ 3 minute route
🎥 Watch the full video — the one-command BIOS entry shown live, from checking UEFI mode to landing in setup

The one-command method is fast, but it is not the only door, and for many people it is not the friendliest one. The Settings route reaches the exact same firmware screen using nothing but menus: restart into the Windows recovery environment, choose UEFI Firmware Settings, and the PC reboots into BIOS. It works on Windows 10 and 11, needs no administrator Command Prompt, and asks you to confirm before restarting — a gentler flow when unsaved work might be open. Its honest limits match the command's: the PC must be UEFI (on Legacy installs the firmware tile simply does not appear), and you still need an account that can approve the restart.

🔄
Advanced startup — Restart now
Settings > System > Recovery > Advanced startup

Windows warns you to save your work, restarts into a blue menu,
and from there the firmware settings are three clicks away.
👆 The top of the Settings route — everything after this is choosing menu tiles, no typing at all (panel recreated from the real recovery flow)
1

The Windows 11 Path Step by Step

  1. Save your work — this route still ends in a restart
  2. Open Settings and go to System then Recovery
  3. Next to Advanced startup, click Restart now and confirm once more
  4. The PC restarts to a blue screen titled Choose an option
  5. Click Troubleshoot, then Advanced options, then UEFI Firmware Settings
  6. Click Restart — the PC reboots directly into the BIOS setup screen
2

The Windows 10 Path — Same Destination

Only the first steps differ on Windows 10:

  1. Open Settings and go to Update and Security then Recovery
  2. Under Advanced startup, click Restart now
  3. From the blue menu onwards it is identical: Troubleshoot → Advanced options → UEFI Firmware Settings → Restart
3

The Shift Plus Restart Shortcut

There is an even shorter way into the same blue menu, and it works from the sign-in screen too:

  1. Open the Start menu and click the Power icon
  2. Hold the Shift key down and click Restart — keep holding Shift until the blue menu appears
  3. Continue with Troubleshoot → Advanced options → UEFI Firmware Settings

This is the route to remember when Windows is behaving badly but still reaches the login screen — no Settings navigation needed first.

4

The UEFI Firmware Settings Tile Is Missing

If you reach Advanced options and there is no UEFI Firmware Settings tile, Windows is telling you something specific:

  1. The install is almost certainly Legacy BIOS mode — check with msinfo32 and read the BIOS Mode line
  2. On Legacy there is no Windows-side door into setup at all; the maker's startup key (Del, F2) is the only route
  3. Inside a virtual machine, the same applies to Legacy-generation guests such as Hyper-V Generation 1

Notice the menu did not fail — it simply never offered a tile it cannot honour. That honesty is built into the recovery menu.

🎥 Watch the Full Video for Complete Knowledge

The command, the UEFI check and the restart into BIOS setup — shown live on a real PC, step by step.

▶️ Watch Full Video
❓ Common Questions (FAQ)

Settings route or the shutdown command — which should I use

Both land in the same firmware screen on a UEFI PC. The command is faster and better for repeated use or remote instructions. The Settings route is easier to follow the first time and confirms with you before restarting, so pick whichever you are more comfortable repeating.

Does the Settings route need administrator rights

You need to be able to approve the restart into recovery options, which a standard user can usually start, but actually changing firmware settings afterwards depends on the PC — an office machine may still demand a BIOS password once setup opens.

Can I use this route if Windows will not boot at all

Partially. If Windows fails to start several times in a row it often offers the recovery menu by itself, and the firmware tile may be there. If the PC never reaches any Windows screen, neither Windows route can help — that is a job for the startup key or a repair technician.

This guide is based on the BIOS command video by Technical Anshu • Stuck on a step? Ask in the video comments — that is where answers come fastest 🙏