How to Boot to the System Recovery Options in Windows 7
Information
This will show you how to boot to the System Recovery Options screen to select the Startup Repair, System Restore, Complete PC Restore, Memory Diagnostic Tool, or Command Prompt option to use on Windows 7.
Note
The System Recovery Options menu is on the Windows 7 installation disc. If your computer manufacturer (OEM) has preinstalled recovery options, the menu might also be installed on your hard disk as a recovery partition. If your computer does not include the System Recovery Options menu, your computer manufacturer (OEM) might have customized or replaced the tool. Check the information that came with your computer or go to the manufacturer's website.
OPTION ONE
Using an OEM Recovery Partition
NOTE:This is if your computer did not come with a Windows 7 installation DVD, and has pre-installed recovery options (recovery partition) instead.
3. Select your keyboard language preferences and click on Next. (See screeshot below).
4. Select your user name and type in the password, and then click on OK.
5. Go to step 6 in OPTION TWO below.
OPTION TWO
Using a Windows 7 Installation or System Repair Disc
1. Insert the Windows 7 installation disc, slipstream Windows 7 SP1 installation disc, or System Repair Disc into the CD/DVD drive and restart the computer. WARNING:Check to make sure that you set the BIOS to have the CD or DVD drive listed first in the boot order.
2. If prompted, press any key to boot from the Windows 7 installation DVD. (See screenshot below) NOTE:You will only have about 8 seconds to press this key.
3. Select your language preferences and click on Next. (See screeshot below).
4. Click on Repair your computer. (See screenshot below)
5. Select which operating system you want to restore and the click on Next. (See screenshot below) NOTE:If Windows 7 is not listed here, or it is blank, then it is ok. Click on Next anyway.
6. Select the system recovery option you want to do. (See screenshot below)
System Manufacturer/Model Number Tx2500z Tablet Pc/Homemade Server OS Windows 7 Ult x64(x2), HomePrem x32(x4), Server 08 (+VM), 08 R2 (VM) , SuSe 11.2 (VM), XP 32 (VM) CPU Turion X2 ultra (oh well came with laptop)/P4 @3.2 (yes P4) Motherboard IDK HP Motherboard / Intel DG965SS Memory OCZ Dual Channel 4GB kit/ 1gb Dual Channel Graphics Card HD 3200 graphics /GMA x3100 (yay for intergrated!!) Sound Card Realtek HD Audio(mic working, well sort of)/Siig IC-70012 Monitor(s) Displays built-in Hp 12" laptop screen/ Acer 19" Screen Resolution 1280x800 /1440x900
Mouse Logi MX Rev. /MS Wheel Optical 1.1A /Logitech Optical Mouse Cooling All Air Cooled Internet Speed College baby but its still routed through vpn to 1536k... Other Info love my wacom pen and pressure sensitivity...
wished it worked in 7, SUSE for that matter though
Windows 7 recovery is definitely improved over previous versions, its saved me from reformatting at least twice now. Is there a way to add recovery options directly to the boot menu like you could in XP?
Brink, Another option, which I use, is to put WinRE.Wim on a bootable PE memory stick. The procedure is highly similar to making a minimum PE USB stick. If it willl be of interest, I'll send a couple of .docx files giving a detailed, step-by-step. I've not read up on how to attach a file for upload to this forum and whether such is even permitted. Karl
Brink, Here goes an attempt at including two .docx attachments.
Brink,
Looks like that didn't work. Have saved as .doc files and will try to attach them.
Karl
Last edited by Brink; 08 Jun 2009 at 11:45 PM..
Reason: Merged multiple posts
System Manufacturer/Model Number Toshiba Satellite S875D-S7239 laptop OS MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit CPU AMD A10-4600M Motherboard AMD Pumori (Socket FT1) Memory 6.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 798MHz (11-11-12-28) Graphics Card AMD Radeon HD 7660G Sound Card High Definition Audio Device Monitor(s) Displays Generic PnP Monitor (1600x900@60Hz) Screen Resolution 1600x900@60Hz
Keyboard Standard PS/2 Keyboard Mouse HP Wireless Optical Mobile Mouse Model FHA-3410 Hard Drives SSD 119GB Corsair CSSD-V128GB2 ATA Device Internet Speed What the local pub, local coffee shop offers. Other Info Optical Drive:MATSHITA BD-CMB UJ160B ATA Device
Also have an Asus ha1002xp netbook with Win 7 Ultimate installed.
Boot into Windows 7 to retrieve docs before reinstall
Okay, here's my issue, my install went south about 4 days after install, don't know why. Spent all day yesterday going through the various system recovery options described in this site and available via booting up using my windows 7 install disk. No luck. Fairly convinced the boot mgr became corrupt and no matter what I do none of the fixes work. So, I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that I will have to reinstall. But before I do that I'd like to pull some data off the HD that I had not yet had a chance to back up before the computer crashed. What method would best allow me to simply boot into Windows 7 just to recover the information (documents, file folders, etc.)? Help!
Brink's answers are always excellent. Here are a couple of other things which I have tried and which worked. 1. Get hold of a Windows 7 system that works and via the Backup and Restore option of control panel, Create a Recovery CD, boot from the recovery CD, choose applicable option. 2. Boot from a Knoppix CD and copy off your important files before doing a normal Win 7 restore. Knoppix is a Linux-variant which will allow you to access your NTFS Windows 7 partition and files. Just google Knoppix to find latest version. You will find Knoppix easy to use if you have a Linux user with you when you use Knoppix. I strongly advise (I learned the hard way.) that after you're back to a stable system, then do a full and complete backup t9 an external USB drive using the Control Panel Backup and Restore applet. This will create a VHD-format file on the external USB. Using DiskMgmt.msc you can even mount and copy off whatever you want if you only need cetain files. Good luck, Karl
System Manufacturer/Model Number Toshiba Satellite S875D-S7239 laptop OS MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit CPU AMD A10-4600M Motherboard AMD Pumori (Socket FT1) Memory 6.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 798MHz (11-11-12-28) Graphics Card AMD Radeon HD 7660G Sound Card High Definition Audio Device Monitor(s) Displays Generic PnP Monitor (1600x900@60Hz) Screen Resolution 1600x900@60Hz
Keyboard Standard PS/2 Keyboard Mouse HP Wireless Optical Mobile Mouse Model FHA-3410 Hard Drives SSD 119GB Corsair CSSD-V128GB2 ATA Device Internet Speed What the local pub, local coffee shop offers. Other Info Optical Drive:MATSHITA BD-CMB UJ160B ATA Device
Also have an Asus ha1002xp netbook with Win 7 Ultimate installed.
Information
Note
OPTION ONE 
