Restore your Win 7 PC fully from Windows.old folder

Abhishek Ghosh

Dr. is in the house
Guru
VIP
Local time
6:58 PM
Messages
936
Just messed up today with MBR in Win 7 Ultimate x64 .

I had no backup/restore point.

I did everything possible with repair- not worked. You know, there were thousands of apps :( I hate to get the feeling of installing the big programs like PS CS4, Office...

Then popped up Win 7 DVD, installed in the same directory ( I knew , Windows will create Windows.old folder with all programs, settings...) with same user name, password, Computer name.

It installed as usually, I first activated it. Then downloaded "take ownership" reg file. I went to C: drive. Took ownership one by one. The Windows folder took 15 mins to be completed.

Went to Windows.old . Cut the folders one by one and pasted them in right places.Several prompts came...its still running...it will take 6 hours or like that.
But,
All programs are running, I just checked PS CS4 ...voila!
I used cut instead of copy, because, I can see which files are not copied. I will copy them later.
Hope it helps someone!

I wanna hug the person who made the reg file :D
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
COMPAQ Presario Laptop
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, Mac OS X 10.6
CPU
Intel Pentium Dual Core @2.0GHz
Motherboard
Compaq Generic
Memory
12GB
Graphics Card(s)
NVIDIA Graphics For Mobile 512MB VRAM
Sound Card
IDT High definition Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
Laptop LCD Display
Screen Resolution
1280*800 Bright View Widescreen
Hard Drives
500 GB Primary Master@7200rpm + 1 TB External HDD
Cooling
Direct ; generic fan
Keyboard
Generic Laptop Keyboard
Mouse
Touch Pad
Internet Speed
3.1 Mbps wireless Broadband
Other Info
Generic Dock
Good on you. Nice feeling to accomplish something like that. A Guy

:thumbsup:
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
OS
Windows 10 Home x64
CPU
INTEL Core i5-750 Quad-Core 3.37GHz
Motherboard
ASUS P7P55D
Memory
HyperX Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1866Mhz
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Superclocked 1GB 128-Bit GDDR5
Monitor(s) Displays
LG 32MA68HY 32" IPS
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080
Hard Drives
Samsung 840 Evo 120GB, SEAGATE 500GB Barracuda® 7200.12, SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache
PSU
ANTEC TruePower New TP-550, 80 PLUS, 550W
Case
ANTEC Three Hundred Illusion
Cooling
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus, 4 x 120mm 1 x 140mm Noctua's
Internet Speed
85 + Mbps
Antivirus
Avast
Browser
Vivaldi
Is that the Takeownership reg mod that adds the option to the right click menu? Add "Take Ownership" to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista - How-To Geek

That can come in very handy at times to avoid need to manually go through the several steps needed in order to raise permissions. Glad to see you saw successful results restoring things from the Windows.old folder. :D

For repairing mbr problems there are a few other shorter steps you can take however like booting from the 7 dvd or selecting the startup repair option found in the F8 start menu in 7. This repairs most minor things prevently Windows from starting up normally.

With the 7 dvd you can also boot up from that into the repair tools section and use the command prompt option for the manual commands as well. "bootsect /nt60 C:/" without the quotes is one option. The more commands are "bootrec /fixboot" and "bootrec /fxmbr".

And if you happen to be one of those who occasionally tries out a live Linux distro, How to fix your Windows MBR with an Ubuntu liveCD | ArsGeek

Just a few thoughts to add here since those can save you some time. With a second drive or partition another option would be creating a system image of the entire C primary or drive which is another way to preserve everything you have on the main drive. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
    Custom builds = 2
    OS
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 975 Deneb 3.6ghz - 965 2nd remote pc
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4-Gigabyte GA-880GM-D2H remote pc
    Memory
    Kingston Hyper X DDR3 1600 1.5v 16gb - Hyper X Fury 8gb 2nd
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI HD Radeon 5750 1gb - MSI HD Radeon 6450 on mini tower
    Sound Card
    Creative Labs X-Fi Xtreme Audio P - Realtek onooard 2nd case
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VW199T-P 19" HP 2082a Main-HP 2082a 20" remote pc
    Screen Resolution
    Asus 1440x900 - HP 1600x900
    Hard Drives
    WD Black 1TB HD per OS W7, W10, and pending W11 presently on 500gb OS Drive - Pending Triple 1TB HDs for Spanned Storage/backup volume
    Single 2TB external USB enclosure, single 1TB System 7 Host/Boot drive, Pending 8TB external HD for system image b
    PSU
    Corsair 750TX - primary / Corsair CX600 - second
    Case
    Antec 900-2 - SSD compatible / NZXT Vulcan mini tower
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900A
    Keyboard
    AZIO L70 Backlit Letters Gaming - ONN Cordless/USB
    Mouse
    MSI DS200 Programmable, Logitech Cordless
    Internet Speed
    30mbps upgrade - primary hard wired - mini tower usb WiFi
    Antivirus
    GFI VIPRE Internet Security 2014 on W7 2016 beta on W10,
    Browser
    Cyberfox, WaterFox 64bit FF variants, FireFox x64, Pale Moon
    Other Info
    Accomdata fan cooled usb 2.0 PIDE/Sata II, III external enclosure.
    Sambient usb/eSata PATA/Sata II, III external enclosure.
  • Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model Number
    CUSTOM ASSEMBLY
    OS
    W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
    CPU
    AMD Deneb 3.6ghz - 965
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-880GM-D2H remote pc
    Memory
    Kingston Hyper X Fury 8gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI HD Radeon 6450 DVI Output
    Sound Card
    Realtek onooard Creative or Other separate PENDING
    Monitor(s) Displays
    VIZIO 32" LCD TV Separate LCD Pending
    Screen Resolution
    1600x1080
    Hard Drives
    WD 500GB OS Host/Boot WD Green 1TB Storage/Backup
    PSU
    Corsair 600W - THERMALTAKE 600W spare case
    Case
    NZXT Vulcan mini tower
    Cooling
    Twin 120mm Top Fans - 240mm Side Cover
    Keyboard
    ONN Cordless/USB Logitech Cordless
    Mouse
    ONN USB/Cordless - Logitech Cordless
    Internet Speed
    DSL 5G
    Browser
    MS Edge, FireFox, WaterFox x64, FireFox Nightly
    Other Info
    OS Testing-Remote Access to Main TeamViewer
Thank you for the reply.
Yes, that was that "take ownership" that comes in context menu.

I tried to recover mbr with all methods (automatic,dos mode...all), but failed.
Thank you for the linux link !
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
COMPAQ Presario Laptop
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, Mac OS X 10.6
CPU
Intel Pentium Dual Core @2.0GHz
Motherboard
Compaq Generic
Memory
12GB
Graphics Card(s)
NVIDIA Graphics For Mobile 512MB VRAM
Sound Card
IDT High definition Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
Laptop LCD Display
Screen Resolution
1280*800 Bright View Widescreen
Hard Drives
500 GB Primary Master@7200rpm + 1 TB External HDD
Cooling
Direct ; generic fan
Keyboard
Generic Laptop Keyboard
Mouse
Touch Pad
Internet Speed
3.1 Mbps wireless Broadband
Other Info
Generic Dock
Hopefully that will be what you need there. Let me how it goes since I still have to try that one here sometime. :D
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
    Custom builds = 2
    OS
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 975 Deneb 3.6ghz - 965 2nd remote pc
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4-Gigabyte GA-880GM-D2H remote pc
    Memory
    Kingston Hyper X DDR3 1600 1.5v 16gb - Hyper X Fury 8gb 2nd
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI HD Radeon 5750 1gb - MSI HD Radeon 6450 on mini tower
    Sound Card
    Creative Labs X-Fi Xtreme Audio P - Realtek onooard 2nd case
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VW199T-P 19" HP 2082a Main-HP 2082a 20" remote pc
    Screen Resolution
    Asus 1440x900 - HP 1600x900
    Hard Drives
    WD Black 1TB HD per OS W7, W10, and pending W11 presently on 500gb OS Drive - Pending Triple 1TB HDs for Spanned Storage/backup volume
    Single 2TB external USB enclosure, single 1TB System 7 Host/Boot drive, Pending 8TB external HD for system image b
    PSU
    Corsair 750TX - primary / Corsair CX600 - second
    Case
    Antec 900-2 - SSD compatible / NZXT Vulcan mini tower
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900A
    Keyboard
    AZIO L70 Backlit Letters Gaming - ONN Cordless/USB
    Mouse
    MSI DS200 Programmable, Logitech Cordless
    Internet Speed
    30mbps upgrade - primary hard wired - mini tower usb WiFi
    Antivirus
    GFI VIPRE Internet Security 2014 on W7 2016 beta on W10,
    Browser
    Cyberfox, WaterFox 64bit FF variants, FireFox x64, Pale Moon
    Other Info
    Accomdata fan cooled usb 2.0 PIDE/Sata II, III external enclosure.
    Sambient usb/eSata PATA/Sata II, III external enclosure.
  • Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model Number
    CUSTOM ASSEMBLY
    OS
    W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
    CPU
    AMD Deneb 3.6ghz - 965
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-880GM-D2H remote pc
    Memory
    Kingston Hyper X Fury 8gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI HD Radeon 6450 DVI Output
    Sound Card
    Realtek onooard Creative or Other separate PENDING
    Monitor(s) Displays
    VIZIO 32" LCD TV Separate LCD Pending
    Screen Resolution
    1600x1080
    Hard Drives
    WD 500GB OS Host/Boot WD Green 1TB Storage/Backup
    PSU
    Corsair 600W - THERMALTAKE 600W spare case
    Case
    NZXT Vulcan mini tower
    Cooling
    Twin 120mm Top Fans - 240mm Side Cover
    Keyboard
    ONN Cordless/USB Logitech Cordless
    Mouse
    ONN USB/Cordless - Logitech Cordless
    Internet Speed
    DSL 5G
    Browser
    MS Edge, FireFox, WaterFox x64, FireFox Nightly
    Other Info
    OS Testing-Remote Access to Main TeamViewer
Hopefully that will be what you need there. Let me how it goes since I still have to try that one here sometime. :D

-MS softwares those needs WGA pass will not work (= reinstall over the current one), but your settings will be saved.Office will not ask you serial number :geek:

-Shortcuts may be broken (not all!) both from desktop and start menu.

-For the core files, you may have to take ownership for even individual file or stop the process (like explorer.exe)

-Windows 7 Manager will ask the serial number, if registered.

-If you had anything in the recycle bin, that will be restored too :D

-PS thinks there is no problem :)

-No problem with IE and Opera

-No problem with HP drivers.

-Windows thinks you are doing something wrong, gives alerts (perhaps checks WGA), but obviously nothing happens.

One can develop some software which can perform these actions in one click

Dont try it if you can restore the MBR in usual normal way...keep this one as last the option.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
COMPAQ Presario Laptop
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, Mac OS X 10.6
CPU
Intel Pentium Dual Core @2.0GHz
Motherboard
Compaq Generic
Memory
12GB
Graphics Card(s)
NVIDIA Graphics For Mobile 512MB VRAM
Sound Card
IDT High definition Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
Laptop LCD Display
Screen Resolution
1280*800 Bright View Widescreen
Hard Drives
500 GB Primary Master@7200rpm + 1 TB External HDD
Cooling
Direct ; generic fan
Keyboard
Generic Laptop Keyboard
Mouse
Touch Pad
Internet Speed
3.1 Mbps wireless Broadband
Other Info
Generic Dock
A little help if still out there...

Just messed up today with MBR in Win 7 Ultimate x64 .

I had no backup/restore point.

I did everything possible with repair- not worked. You know, there were thousands of apps :( I hate to get the feeling of installing the big programs like PS CS4, Office...

Then popped up Win 7 DVD, installed in the same directory ( I knew , Windows will create Windows.old folder with all programs, settings...) with same user name, password, Computer name.

It installed as usually, I first activated it. Then downloaded "take ownership" reg file. I went to C: drive. Took ownership one by one. The Windows folder took 15 mins to be completed.

Went to Windows.old . Cut the folders one by one and pasted them in right places.Several prompts came...its still running...it will take 6 hours or like that.
But,
All programs are running, I just checked PS CS4 ...voila!
I used cut instead of copy, because, I can see which files are not copied. I will copy them later.
Hope it helps someone!

I wanna hug the person who made the reg file :D


I had a similar event happen to me and I have some labor intensive programs to reinstall not to mention several projects I was working on in which the links are incredibly important in encore cs5 & premiere cs5. I tried your solution with little success in restoring the programs to their former working condition. Here is what I did...I installed a new Windows 7. Then I went and took "ownership" of each individual folder in the new win 7 as well as each individual folder in win.old. Tehn I cut each folder in win.old and pasted it in the same place where that folder resided in the new win 7 install. Dialog box came up and asked if i wanted to replace the one there with the one I was pasting and I said yes. Was this my mistake ?!? If anyone could help I would appreciate it , as I am not a true computer techie just one who utilizes technology such as video editing. Thanks in advance!!

PJ
 

My Computer

OS
win 7 ultimate 64 bit
CPU
amd quad core
Install in the same directory

How do you install in the same directory? Does this take place automatically?
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Back
Top