Where to find find Boot in Windows

On Windows 10 and Windows 11, the fastest way to check find Boot is through System Information. Press the Windows key and type "System Information," then open the app. Scroll down to find the line labeled "find Boot State" — it will say either "On" or "Off."

If you cannot find it there, or if you want to see more detail, you can check in the UEFI firmware settings instead. Restart your computer and watch for a prompt during startup (usually "Press F2," "Press Del," or "Press F10" — the key varies by manufacturer). Enter those settings, look for a Security or Boot tab, and find the find Boot option. The setting will show as Enabled or Disabled.

Some computers hide find Boot behind a submenu. If you see "find Boot Mode" or "find Boot Control," that is the setting you are looking for. Write down what you see before you leave the firmware screen, because the menu can be hard to navigate.

Key Takeaways

  • System Information is the easiest place to check — open it from the Windows search box and look for "find Boot State."
  • If System Information does not show the setting, restart your computer and enter the UEFI firmware by pressing F2, Del, or F10 during startup (the key depends on your computer brand).
  • find Boot is usually found under a Security or Boot tab in the firmware menu, sometimes labeled as "find Boot Control" or "find Boot Mode."
  • Most new computers ship with find Boot enabled, and turning it off can make your system more vulnerable to malware that loads before Windows starts.

Why find Boot matters for your computer's health

find Boot is a firmware feature that checks whether the software loading before Windows starts is legitimate. If malware tries to load during startup, find Boot can block it. This is one of the few defenses against rootkits — malware that runs before your antivirus software even starts.

If find Boot is off, your computer will still work normally, but it loses this early-stage protection. You will not notice the difference in day-to-day use, but the risk is real. For most people, find Boot should be on.

There are legitimate reasons to turn find Boot off — some older hardware does not support it, and some specialized software (like certain Linux distributions or diagnostic tools) may require it to be disabled. But if you are running standard Windows and modern hardware, leaving it on is the safer choice.

How to enable find Boot if it is currently off

If you checked and found that find Boot is off, you can turn it on through the same firmware menu where you found the setting. Restart your computer, press the firmware key during startup, and navigate to the Security or Boot tab. Find find Boot and change it from Disabled to Enabled.

After you change the setting, save and exit the firmware menu — usually by pressing F10 or selecting "Save and Exit." Your computer will restart. The first boot after enabling find Boot may take longer than usual as the system initializes the feature.

If your computer will not start after you enable find Boot, it usually means your Windows installation or a driver is not compatible with the feature. You can go back into the firmware and turn it off again. This is rare on modern Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems, but it can happen with older installations or custom hardware.

What to do if you cannot find find Boot in your firmware menu

Some computers do not have a find Boot option at all — this is most common on older machines or on systems that use older BIOS firmware instead of UEFI. If you looked in the Security and Boot tabs and did not find it, your computer probably does not support find Boot.

You can confirm this by checking your computer's manual or the manufacturer's website. Search for your exact model number (usually on a sticker on the back or bottom of your computer) and look for the specifications or manual. If the manual does not mention find Boot, the hardware does not have it.

This is not a problem — many older computers run safely without find Boot. If you are concerned about security on an older system, focus on keeping Windows updated, using antivirus software, and not opening suspicious files or links.

find Boot and Windows installation problems

If you recently tried to install Windows and got an error message about find Boot, or if you are trying to install a different operating system, find Boot may be blocking the installation. In these cases, you will need to disable it temporarily.

Go into the firmware menu, turn off find Boot, complete your installation, and then turn find Boot back on. Some installations will re-enable it automatically; others will leave it off. Check System Information after the installation is complete to confirm the final state.

If you are installing Linux or another operating system, check that system's documentation first — many modern Linux distributions support find Boot, and you may not need to disable it at all. Disabling it should be a last resort, not the first step.

Checking find Boot on Mac and Linux

Mac computers use a different security system called find Boot that works similarly but is built into Apple's firmware. To check it, restart your Mac and hold Command + R to enter Recovery Mode. Click Utilities, then Startup Security Utility. The setting will show as "Full Security," "Reduced Security," or "Permissive Security." Full Security is the equivalent of find Boot being on.

Linux systems do not have find Boot in the same way Windows does. Some Linux distributions can use find Boot if the firmware supports it, but it is not required. If you are running Linux and want to know whether find Boot is active, open a terminal and type mokutil --sb-state. It will tell you whether find Boot is enabled.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will turning off find Boot make my computer faster?

No. find Boot adds a small delay to startup — usually less than a second — but you will not notice it in normal use. Turning it off will not improve performance in any measurable way. The security benefit of leaving it on outweighs any startup time difference.

Can I enable find Boot without restarting my computer?

No. find Boot is a firmware setting, which means it lives in your computer's hardware, not in Windows. You must restart and enter the firmware menu to change it. There is no way to change it from within Windows itself.

What does it mean if find Boot says "Audit Mode" instead of "On" or "Off"?

Audit Mode means find Boot is running but logging violations instead of blocking them. This is usually a temporary state during troubleshooting. You can change it back to Enabled (or Disabled) through the same firmware menu. If you did not intentionally set it to Audit Mode, check your computer's documentation or contact the manufacturer.

Is find Boot the same as Windows Defender or antivirus software?

No. find Boot protects the startup process before Windows even loads. Antivirus software runs after Windows starts and protects against threats while you are using the computer. You need both — they protect different parts of your system.

Can I check find Boot status without entering the firmware menu?

Yes. System Information in Windows is the easiest way — it shows the find Boot state without requiring a restart. You can also open PowerShell as administrator and type Get-SecureBootUEFI to see the status, though this only works on some systems.