Startup Repair

I set up the Gateway in my sig about a month ago. It's an older Vista machine which I wiped and installed Win7 Ult. It hasn't had much of a chance to get corrupted, and I didn't change any hardware. C is the boot drive, D contains all my data. There's also a fctory-installed "recovery" drive in front of C, which is useless with the new OS.

I started getting a Startup error, so I followed this tute:
Startup Repair

I've run the Startup Repair 6 times, which should have been enough. The root cause has officially been found as "because of unspecified changes."

In the list of Recovery Options, I can't do the Sys Restore or Restore from Backup because I haven't done those yet. (Yes, I know; don't say it.) I ran Memory Diagnostic, but it found nothing.

That leaves the cmd prompt and this tute:
Startup Repair Infinite Loop Recovery
I'm not good with DOS, I'm a bad typist, and I can't follow all of this.

That leaves a Repair Install, which I think might be easier than the cmd option. I've done one on this machine. What do you think?

Hi RoWin7,

RoWin7 said:

That leaves a Repair Install, which I think might be easier than the cmd option. I've done one on this machine. What do you think?

If you decide to proceed with the repair install, please follow my instructions below!

NOTE: The light blue text below are links to the relevant websites and programs, just click them!

Repair Install

A repair install differs from a clean install in the fact that it ONLY replaces the corrupted OS with a new fresh copy. This means that ALL your User Accounts, Folders, Files, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, Data Files, Icons, and any installed programs are left intact. It does however, delete ALL the Window updates, and can affect, sounds, services, visual effect settings and device drivers by re-setting them to default. You cannot do a repair install at boot, in Safe Mode, using a system repair disk, or using an integrated Windows update disk. Basically, this process can ONLY be performed from within the LIVE OS.

IMPORTANT: You must have MORE than the currently used HDD space available BEFORE you start the repair install process. This is because during this process, a C:\Windows.old backup folder gets created which is a FULL copy of the current OS.

NOTE: This backup folder can either be used to restore the OS back to the pre-repair install version, or to restore individual files etc that weren’t properly copied. Once you are happy, you can delete this folder.

IMPORTANT: REMOVE any connected drives BEFORE you start the repair install.

SUGGESTION: It is advisable that you run an Extended Disk Cleanup [with ALL the options checked] BEFORE you start the repair installation. This gets rid of all the superfluous files and will reduce the size, the install processing time, and the size of the C:\Windows.old backup folder.

You will need your Product Key for the version of Windows that you are re-installing. This is the ONLY version that you will be able to activate. On a laptop, it will either be on a sticker on the bottom, or in the battery compartment. If the sticker is too worn to read, or there isn't one, then you can retrieve it by either using Belarc Advisor or Magic Jelly Bean. Write this Product Key down and keep it in a safe place.

You will need either a Win 7 SP1 installation disk or a Win 7 SP1 ISO.

If you have a Win 7 SP1 installation disk, insert it into the DVD drive. When AutoPlay appears, click Run setup.exe. The process is the same as if you were doing a clean install, with the exception of when you get to the Which type of installation do you want screen, you MUST click Upgrade.

If you don’t have a Win 7 SP1 installation disk, you can download the latest and last Windows [Final] > Windows 7 SP1 [build 7601] > Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 ISO [build 6.1.7601 - July 2009] file from TechBench [make sure to use the correct language and bit type]. It is recommended that you download the Win 7 Ultimate SP1 ISO because all versions of Win 7 can be made available from it. This is achieved by creating a folder on the desktop and unzipping the ISO into it using 7-Zip, and then deleting the ei.cfg file in the sources folder, or by running the eicfg_removal_utility against the downloaded ISO. If the version of Windows you are installing is Windows 7 SP1 Ultimate, then there is NO need to remove the ei.cfg file as instructed.

To begin the repair install, go to the extracted ISO folder on the desktop and click Run setup.exe. The process is the same as if you were doing a clean install, with the exception of when you get to the Which type of installation do you want screen, you MUST click Upgrade.

You now need to get Windows updated, because ALL the Windows updates were deleted through the repair install process. There are at present, over 240 updates. Now rather than letting M$ Windows update update your OS, which involves many hours of downloading, installing and re-booting, you can use DISM++ [see below] to do it all for you. DISM++ is discussed and explained here => Update your Win 7 installation media.

DISM++ [Deployment Image Servicing and Management]

DISM++ Direct download [zip] => DISM++.
DISM++ Website [you will need to translate the page] => DISM++ | New Windows Utility.

DISM++: DISM++ is a FREE implementation tool that has the ability to perform Windows Update [WU]. Some of the advantages [but not all] are:

[1] The GUI is very easy to understand and use.
[2] It is much faster than M$’s WU because it uses a different engine.
[3] It downloads the latest WU DB from the M$ servers, scans your OS, and then lists the updates available.
[4] It doesn’t install superseded updates like M$ does.
[5] It gives you the option of what you want to install.
[6] The pre-ticked updates are what is recommended and are similar to the WU critical and recommended updates. The un-ticked updates are similar to the WU optional updates.

[7] It warns you if an update:

• Includes telemetry.
• Has known issues with certain hardware.
• Needs exclusive access.
• Is suspect.
• Your OS doesn't need it.
• Has any other known issues.

[8] It doesn’t require re-booting between updates.
[9] It can be used to either update an install.wim image OFFLINE, or to update the LIVE OS.

If you decide to use DISM++, then it is best to run the DISM++ Windows updates a couple of times to make sure you get ALL the updates that are needed. DON’T install ANY of the ORANGE updates though [see numbers [6] and [7] above]. It can also install the required .NET Framework updates. Then just run WU to see what other updates are available, if any.

IMPORTANT: Although a repair installation leaves ALL your User Accounts, Folders, Files, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, Data Files, Icons, and any installed programs intact, it is still strongly advised that you backup ALL your essential files [excluding installed programs of course because these have registry entries and other data including product keys etc] to an external HDD or USB BEFORE you start in case of any unforeseen problems. You should also create a system image as a secondary precaution. This way, if things go wrong in the future, you will be able to restore your OS back to the exact same state that it is now in a very short time. There are two imaging programs which are very popular among members here, the first is AOMEI Backupper Standard [FREE], and the second is Macrium Reflect [FREE].

SUGGESTION: Once you have your OS updated and running the way you like it, create a system image. This way, if things go wrong in the future, you will be able to restore your OS back to the exact same state that it is now in a very short time. There are two imaging programs which are very popular among members here, the first is AOMEI Backupper Standard [FREE], and the second is Macrium Reflect [FREE].

I hope this helps!

Hi RoWin7,

Megahertz07 said:

If you did not detached the other drives when you installed win 7 the boot loader can be on another drive.

As Megahertz07 has pointed out above, if this is the case, then you will need to re-install Win 7 [without any other drive attached]!

I hope this helps!

Can't run Repair Install from OS desktop, so that's out. But I am familiar with using Dism++. It's possible I didn't do the original install properly, but it's been humming along for a month.

Drives are C(system +programs) partition + D(data) partition on 1 drive. If the bootloader is on D, how do I find it?
K--CD/DVD drive which is empty
Bunch of empty slots, L, M, N, P for SDS card, HDMI etc. that are empty.

The only thing I've changed in that machine lately is Win Update, and we know about those. Probably screwed up my boot. I remember boot repair from XP, but I can't find a tutorial here. Looked for Boot Repair, Repair Boot, MBRfix and FixMBR.

Megahertz07 said:

So you have only one drive with two partitions. That is OK.
I didn't say to run Repair Install. I mean to run boot repair from Win 7 installation disk.
With the Win 7 installation disk, open a cmd window and type:
diskpart
list volume
exit

See if under list volume c: is boot and active

I know; I was considering Repair Install, but wrongly.
Couldn't get cmd with disc, removed it and went back to Sys Recovery Options

diskpart
Vol 0 F DVD-ROM
Vol1 C GATE_SYS-PROG partition
Vol 2 D GATE_DATA part.
Vol 3 E PQSERVICE part. hidden

I see the word "healthy" for the partitions, but not "boot and active." I've kept it on the screen.