How to Check / Repair the Windows System Files from a Command Prompt at Boot
This shows how to start the PC and open a command prompt at boot so the Windows system files can be checked and repaired if possible, if the PC will not start to Windows normally or in safe mode.
Note
For those that are dual/multi booting or if the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) does not 'see' the Windows Operating System needing repair, see Method Two below.
Let's get started!
In the BIOS set the boot orderto boot first from the CD/DVD Drive, insert the Windows full version installation DVD or a created repair CD and restart the PC.
Method One
For Windows 7 and Vista full version installation media, after the "Press any key ... " black screen do steps #1 & #2 then skip down to step #5 below to continue.
For a Windows system repair disk start at step #3 below.
1) At the Select Language screen click next.
click any image to enlarge
2) At the next screen click Repair your Computer.
3) For a Windows created repair CD, after the "Press any key ... " black screen there will be a Loading Files screen.
4) Then click Next for this System Recovery Options dialog box.
5) At this System Recovery Options dialog box, make sure there is a dot at "Use Recovery Tools" and be sure to make note of the Location drive letter as it probably will not be C: and the correct drive letter must be entered in the following steps; then click Next.
6) At this System Recovery Options dialog box click Command Prompt.
7) In the command window that opens type this command below and hit the <enter> key, be sure to use your drive letter, where mine is F: for this demonstration yours probably will not be the same.
8) You will get a blinking curser while it checks and attempts to repair any issues it may find, it could take quite a bit of time to complete.
9) To close the command window after the scan type exit and hit the <enter> key.
Though my demonstration / test found no errors to repair, yours may and if it does it may take you running this command a couple separate times to completely repair any issues it finds so don't give up after just one attempt.
For further important information on this process, see Option Two of this tutorial at the link below.
10) To restart the PC when the command window closes, remove the Windows / repair disk from the ODD and click Restart in the System Recovery Options dialog box that's still open.
Method Two
It has been suggested by Brink to include this method for those dual/multi booting and for those that have issues with WinRE 'seeing' the Windows Operating System partition needing repair.
In the BIOS set the boot orderto boot first from the CD/DVD Drive, insert the Windows full version installation DVD or a created repair CD and restart the PC so diskpart can be started, if need be, view this tutorial for those methods.
1) In the diskpart command window type list volume and hit the <enter> key.
2) After it lists the volumes type exit a single time and <enter>.
ckick to enlarge
3) Now type the command below using your specific volume drive letters <enter>.
If you are dual/multi booting or have a System Reserved partition as I do and the system boot files are stored on a separate partition than the Operating System partition needing repair, in any case, the volume drive letter where the system boot files are stored goes in the first part.
offbootdir=c:
In the second part you would use the volume drive letter for the Windows OS partition you want to attempt the repair on.
4) You will get a blinking curser while it checks and attempts to repair any issues it may find, it could take quite a bit of time to complete.
5) Though my demonstration / test found no errors to repair, yours may and if it does it may take you running this command a couple separate times to completely repair any issues it finds so don't give up after just one attempt.
For further important information on this process, see Option Two of this tutorial at the link below.
6) To close the command window after the scan type exit and hit the <enter> key.
Then remove the Windows disk from the ODD and restart the PC to start Windows.
System Manufacturer/Model Number Self Build 64bit OS Vista Ult64, Win7600 CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2400 MHz 64bit OS Motherboard Asus P5E3 Deluxe WiFi @p 64 bit OS Memory 4096 MB DDR3-SDRAM Graphics Card ATI Radeon HD 3870 Series x2 Crossfired Sound Card Realtek on board Monitor(s) Displays Samsung SyncMaster - 23 inches Screen Resolution 1680x1050 pixels at 60 Hz in True Colors
Keyboard Wireless Mouse Wireless PSU Cooler Master 1000w Case Cooler Master Cosmos 1000. Cooling Fans and fresh air, Hard Drives Hitachi (250 GB)/Samsung 750 GB. /Barracuda 160 GB.
My Book 1 TB external.. Internet Speed Never fast enough Other Info I use a Magnum.
Computer type PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number Compaq sr5410f case OS Windows 7 Pro 64 SP1 CPU AMD X2 4450E @ 2.3 ghz Motherboard Biostar MCP6P M2+ Memory 4.0 g Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT , 512mb Sound Card onboard Monitor(s) Displays auria eq2367 Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080
Keyboard logitech wave cordless Mouse logitech LX8 cordless laser mouse PSU 250 watts Case Compaq Cooling couple fans Hard Drives 1 tb Hitachi HDT721010SLA scsi, 500 gb external Internet Speed comcast hi speed 19 dn 8 up Antivirus Microsoft Security Essentials Browser IE10 Other Info Laptop specs: HP g7-1365dx /
CPU: AMD A6-3420M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics /
RAM: Crucial 8Gb (2x4Gb) /
SSD: Crucial M4-CT128M4SSD2 ATA Device/ FW 000F /
GFX: AMD Radeon HD 6520G /
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
Thank you Derek, I still have some additions to add, Brink has made an excellent suggestion; I'll post in the thread at chillout when I finish working them out.
Possibly? Your decision. This one is really for the Techs. If they understand it, it might matter to them. If they don't understand it, then less likely. A small reference would be enough. I also think that this error can be generated if you run chkdsk too soon before SFC. Often a few restarts are required. Can someone confirm all of this? I think it is right, but I am right on the very edge of my comfort zone.
System Manufacturer/Model Number Dell XPS 420 OS Vista Home Premium x86 SP2 CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz Motherboard Stock Dell 0TP406 Memory 4 gb (DDR2 800) 400MHz Graphics Card ATI Radeon HD 3870 (512 MBytes) Monitor(s) Displays 1 x Dell 2007FP and 1 x (old) Sonic flat screen Screen Resolution 1600 x 1200 and 1280 x 1204
Keyboard Dell Bluetooth Mouse Advent Optical ADE-WG01 (colour change light up) Case Dell XPS 420 Cooling Stock Fan Hard Drives 1 x 640Gb (SATA 300) Western Digital: WDC WD6400AAKS-75A7B0 1 x 1Tb (SATA 600) Western Digital: Caviar Black, SATA 6GB/S, 64Mb cache, 8ms Western Digital: WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 ATA Device Internet Speed Varies from 10kb/s to 170kb/s. So unreliable it is not funny Other Info ASUS USB 3.0 5Gbps/SATA 6Gbps - PCI-Express Combo Controller Card (U3S6)
Computer type Laptop System Manufacturer/Model Number Sony Vaio VPCEB47GM Laptop OS Win 7 Pro 64-bit CPU Intel i5 2.4 Ghz Memory 8GB DDR3 Graphics Card Intel HD 3000 Sound Card IDT High Definition Monitor(s) Displays 15.6 WGXA Anti-Glare LED Screen Resolution 1280x800
Hard Drives 640Gb 7200rpm Antivirus MSE Browser Opera (primary) with IE9 backup
Note
