15 responses to “Fix “Windows Won’t Boot” Problems [Windows 7/Vista]”

  1. Tony

    In windows xp their was a secound repair . this is no longer available in vista and 7. Is their a tool for this ?I use to be able after pressing f8 the nexted screen had a press r for repair and all was done for you.

    1. sell textbooks

      Check out the windows website they generally have fixes there.

  2. Computer Tips Tricks

    In this case, I would always recommend users to remove their HDD and retrieve important data on another computer, before further fix.

  3. Rohit | Ipod Touch 4G

    thanx a lot for this post….it sometimes happens with my Vista also….:)

  4. Jasmine

    Luckily, no problems with my Windows 7 so far. ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. Tamas from Hungary

    Hello,

    The “Bootsect and Bootrec” section saved my life ๐Ÿ™‚
    Thank you, thank you, thank you!

    plus info: if you haven’t a recovery disk then use an installation disk. Select recovery, start command prompt. In this case bootsec and bootrec are located in x:\windows\system32

    Regards,
    Tamas

  6. sell textbooks

    Thats good to know thanks. I did have problems with this awhile ago.

  7. diacad

    With a system that will not boot Vista, I followed the directions and selected “Repair Your Computer”, but no “Command Prompt” option was given. Instead, a box appeared labelled “System Recovery Options”, which listed the Vista system. That being selected, clicking “Next” brought a box “Startup Repair” and “Your Computer Was Unable to Start – Startup Repair is checking your system for problems”. After a long time, it claims the repair was made and asks to reboot. But system still does not boot.

    How do you get the “Command Prompt” option?

  8. Michael Fuller

    Did the drill – worked like a champ – my question is how did the bootsector/bootrecord get goofed up? I’d like an ounce of prevention as well.

  9. erichv

    I read all the above BUT I am not able to get to a Repair screen. I had t drives in this system, a 500GB as the Boot/c: drive and a 1,5TB as another drive.
    on the 500GB drive:
    If I try to boot from the original Windows 7 CD OR from a repair CD I made a while ago, itdoes the loading files and then either the 4 glowing panes of the windows 7 logo (Using the original disk) ir a live status bar (on repair CD) but thats it! I have left it for a day or night – nothing more happens.
    On the 1,5TB drive I can install a new Windows 7 But that means I lose my set-ups on the original drive – A year+ work!

    I did get to an Install mode once but the box where tyhe drive is supposed to be, is empty.

    I looked at the 500GB drive using the Ultimate Boot disk and compared it with a similar disk in another PC (This one I am typing on now) and they look the same, start sector final sector

    Is there a way to transver the NTBOOT whatever from thei drive to the other?

    ANything!! I really don’t want to rebuild my main set-up on the main PC!

    Regards

    Erich

  10. sonylaptopfrank

    hello,

    i cannot start my windows 7 in safe more or use recovery function, what can i do ?

    problem happened after windows 7 update, then after restart windows defender asked me to restart again, and then blue screen or auto restart forever.

    i would like to disable or uninstall windows defender as i can access the command prompt but i can’t find how to do ?

    And do you know how to uninstall windows latest update with command prompt ?

    Thanks for help.

  11. erichv

    A few months has passed since my entry 4 up but:

    What always gets me is that problems get posted but never reported back on when it is solved – That goes for me as well! Only getting a message in the mail from Rode Ntk reminded of my plea for help earlier this year.

    Well I got the 1.5TB drive running with a new Windows 7 install but kept the 500GB aside to attempt to recover it regardless – there was too much on it installed and tweaked over the past year or 2.

    I luckily also had an exact similar drive I could clean and copy “The Driveโ€™s data to using various packages I downloaded – best result pas with Paragon Backup & Restore Lite.

    Also found that my Intel DX58SO was not too keen to start up in other modes – think it’s bios was “too clever” so I moved to and older generation motherboard to work with.

    Then with Ultimate Boot Disk and Casper Boot disk I managed to get the MBR better and then the target file in the Windows 7 installation sorted out.

    This took many iterations and unsuccessful attempts until the last one (of course – who will go on when you achieved your goal! (I found the sock on the last place Iooked!) When, Viola! My boot screen (Pic of Table Mountain) came up on my main system and I could log in.

    After there was one or 2 repairs required and I was home and dry!

    I DO NOW have MHS running solidly and backing up my 3 system and I do have recovery disks from them as well as the MHS.

    But the bottom line was: I did succeed ! and the young “Computer Boffins” around do not have the will, tenacity nor the experience to get my system back as I knew it should be able to be done.

    Regards

    Erich Aged 64 and living in Cape Town, South Africa.

  12. emobile_developer

    Thanks a lot for sharing these helpful gadgets. These are really good solution to reply any window boot loader related debacle.

  13. andrew cameron

    Hi in windows 7 you can run the startup repair options which you should run it about 3 times to give yourself the best chance of a recovery