I Can't Create a System Repair Disk

Thrash, I watched the video on building a special USB installer. Although I used Diskpart to create my bootable USB flash drive, he did a few things that I didn't do (especially with the bootmgfw.efi file). So I am going to try that. I'm also going to talk with my computer vendor about the availability of a Skylake update.

Creating a Windows Rescue Disk should not be this difficult. Macrium is looking better and better to me, to complement my Acronis program. I always like two different ways of creating a system image, and Windows just ain't hacking it.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.....

ThrashZone said:

Hi,
Skylake is not exactly compatible with win-7 so I've read but windows recovery or system restore has always never worked when really needed to
System recovery :/
You could download a iso file and create either a dvd or flash drive installation media and see how well the tools work on it
Use Chrome and this process,
Download Windows 7 and 8.1 ISO Images from Microsoft - gHacks Tech News

Thrash, I finally communicated with the vendor's Director of Engineering where I bought my computer, and he confirmed exactly what you said regarding my Skylake system with the Samsung boot drive. His exact words were as follows:
"The specific boot drive selected in your system is a newer bleeding edge technology called NVMe. Windows 7 does not natively support this drive, so an external driver is required to get the OS to be able to recognize it. With that being said, the built in restore process in windows 7 will not function due to the NVMe drive being your boot drive. We actually do not recommend using the built in windows restore, because it is not as robust as other solutions out there that will allow you to make images to restore from."

As he suggested, I am going to forget about Windows restore and turn to Acronis and Macrium.

I didn't mean to lead anyone on a wild goose chase, and I thank all for their attempt to help me with this issue. I consider this problem resolved.

Thrash, as it turns out the hardware vendor actually did the Win 7 Pro install before they shipped the unit. He did say that a special driver was required just to get the system to recognize my Samsung drive.

So I just don't think I can get there from here. I will use Acronis and Macrium instead (I always like to use two different programs for generating system images).

FYI, when 'UEFI only' was activated under CSM, my DVD/CD device was not even recognized. So I had to change the setting to 'UEFI and Legacy". And I did try to disable secure boot, which as you indicated meant changing the setting to 'Other os'. But that didn't work either. I'm embarrassed to say, I must have 20 pages of notes where I kept track of all the setting changes I tried.

But now I'm tired of trying. Let's leave my thread marked as solved, and my personal thanks to you for sticking with me.

Sure, here it is. Do you seen anything unusual? Like I mentioned, the vendor installed Win 7 Pro for me on my SSD C: Drive.

I'm just curious as to why I don't get an email alert when there has been a new posting on my thread? Unless I remember to go to the website and check, I never know about a new posting. Is there a setting someplace that I missed?

OK, I found it and hopefully changed the email setting to instant notification. While I was there I completed my System Specs section and a little personal info. This is an excellent forum and since I have three computers all running Win 7 (one Pro and two Ultimate), I plan on being a frequent visitor. And I will contribute when I can.

Thanks. I had seen and used that guide before......I have already implemented some of the recommendations on my new computer.

Since I think this is such a neat forum and since I have received many good tips/advice from forum members, I would like to become a "Supporter". But I can't figure out how to do that.

So I guess I need some help in figuring out how to give you money, lol.