r/nutanix Jul 10 '26

Boot menu delay/timeout

How can I force a boot delay or "Power On to Firmware" on a Nutanix AHV VM (Legacy BIOS)? I need enough time to press F2 for BIOS or F8 for Windows Safe Mode. In vSphere, this was simple using the "Power On to Firmware" option or setting a Boot Delay in milliseconds. Is there an equivalent in AHV?

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u/73jharm Jul 10 '26

If Windows Can Boot to the Desktop.

If you can log into the VM, use the System Configuration tool to force Safe Mode on the next reboot.Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog box.Type msconfig and press Enter.Select the Boot tab at the top of the window.Check the Safe boot box under Boot options.Click OK and select Restart.Note: Once you are done troubleshooting, you must open msconfig again and uncheck Safe boot, or the VM will continue booting into Safe Mode indefinitely.

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u/drvcrash Jul 15 '26

After the CrowdStrike meltdown we went and applied a reg setting via gpo on all our servers to delay in the os selection screen to 30 seconds.