Startup Repair Infinite Loop Recovery

How to Recover from an Infinitely Looping Startup Repair Loop without Reinstalling Windows​

If you've ever experienced a Startup Repair that continously loops and fails to fix the problem of not being able to load windows, even in safe mode, then you'll know that usually the only way to recover from this when System Restore does not work is to do a clean install of Windows.

Until now.

This tutorial will show you how to use the System Recovery Options provided by Windows to recover your system to a working state so that you don't have to risk losing data by performing a clean install.

   Warning

The instructions presented withing this tutorial must be followed correctly, or you can damage your Windows 7 installation even further. This tutorial is designed to help recover from a bad registry that is causing the startup repair loop. You should note that there may still be some issues remaining that cannot be fixed by manually restoring the registry.

Recovering Your System

1. Boot to the System Recovery Options screen.
   • If Windows automatically opens Startup Repair, and subsequently fails to fix a problem, you can skip ahead to step 4 below.
2. In the System Recovery Options screen, click Startup Repair:
   
   
   
   
3. Windows will search for an attempt to repair startup problems:
   
   
   
   
4. If startup problems could not be repaired, you will receive the message Windows cannot repair this computer automatically. Click View advanced options for system recovery and support:
   
   
   
   
5. Click View advanced options for system recovery and support, which which bring you back to the main System Recovery Options screen.
6. Click Command Prompt:
   
   
   
   
7. Command Prompt should open to X:, which is an internal ram disk use by System Repair:
   
   
   
   
8. Now you need to find your system drive. Depending on how your system is setup, this could be either C: or D:.
   • Type C: and press <ENTER>.
   • Verify that this is your system drive by typing DIR and pressing <ENTER>. If you see the Program Files, Users and Windows folders, then you have found your system drive, and can continue to step 9 below.
   • If the drive is not your system drive, repeat steps I and II above, changing the drive letter to D, E or some other letter until the system drive is located.
     
     
     
9. When you have located your Windows system drive, type CD \windows\system32\config and press <ENTER>:
10. Type DIR and press <ENTER>, and verify that the following files and folders exist in the config folder:
    • RegBack (which is a folder)
    • DEFAULT
    • SAM
    • SECURITY
    • SOFTWARE
    • SYSTEM
      
      
      
11. Type MD mybackup and press <ENTER> to create a backup folder that you can use incase this procedure does not work as expected.
12. Type copy *.* mybackup and press <ENTER>.
    • If you are prompted to overwrite existing files, press A to allow all backups to be overwritten.
      
      
      
13. Now you need to check if you can use the automatic Windows backups to restore your registry:
    • Type CD RegBack and press <ENTER> to go to the RegBack folder.
    • Type DIR and press <ENTER> to view the contents of the folder. All the following files must exist:
      • The DEFAULT, SAM and SECURITY files should each be about 262,000 bytes in size.
      • The SOFTWARE file should be about 26,000,000 bytes.
      • The SYSTEM file should be about 9,900,000 bytes.
      • The file sizes presented here are approximate estimations, and may vary depending on your system. If any one of them are 0 bytes, then you should stop what you're doing now and seek an alternative method of recovering your system, because Windows cannot function with a 0-byte size registry hive.
    • If the hive files listed in RegBack are ok, then proceed to step 14 of the tutorial.
      
      
      
      
14. Type copy *.* .. and press <ENTER> to copy the backup hive files to \Windows\System32\config.
    • If you are prompted to overwrite existing files, press A to allow all file to be overwritten.
      
      
      
15. Type exit and press <ENTER> to close the command prompt.
    
    
    
    
16. Click the Restart button to reboot your computer. If all goes well, your system will boot normally.
    
    
    
    
    

Reference Information
This tutorial was made possible after learning how to manualy replace the Windows 7 Registry Hives after reading the Recovering Windows 7 Registry Hives/Files article on Microsoft Technet.

Related Tutorials

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• How to Enable or Disable Automatic Repair in Windows 10
• Advanced Boot Options
• System Recovery Options
• System Repair Disc Create
• How to Run a Startup Repair in Windows 7
• Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times to Repair Boot Issues

 

[joekat]

I tried the instructions in the tutorial. When i did step 10, each of the files were listed along with a duplicate-log, ie Security-log, showing 12 files and 6 directories. I continued with the next two steps. Many files were copied. On step 13 it showed 0 files and 3 directories listed as "." ".." and "mybackup". Are there any other solutions to this problem as I work from home and need the computer running?

 

[Rawad]

So I did what you asked but It's not booting up , the only thing I did different was name MD mybackup to backup, what should I do, should I do the process all over? Well I tried to do it all over but no result.

 

[dani31]

Help!

My computer won't let me get past step 10. As soon as i type in "dir" it only comes up with one reading/date.

3/01/2013 10:40am <DIR> -


and then nothing. It won't let me type or anything! Help! What does this mean and what do I do??

 

[Rawad]

As you can see the image below I have a lot of back ups, now my question would be is how would you delete them as I am going to start the process all over. If you are wondering why I have so many copies its because I wanted to see if I try again to see if it works.

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

 

[Brink]

Hello Raiden,

No need to delete the backup. You will be prompted at steps 12 and 14 to override the current backup with the new one.

 

[Rawad]

So Brink your saying start at step 12th and keep on going?

 

[Brink]

That or start over if you like. Either way will work without having to delete the backup you already created.

 

[Rawad]

Brink I already tried that before , the only thing I did different was just change the backup folder name to whatever I want, should I try again?

 

[Brink]

Did you ever finish all of the steps?

 

[Rawad]

I just completed all the steps right now, and it seems windows don't want to start up. This is the messages it's giving me

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/268/img2013032800894.jpg/

It's really frustrating especially when you been working on it for a whole week and can't figure out the problem.

 

[Brink]

In that case, if you have anything you need to back up, then you could use the method in the tutorial below to copy and past what you like to another location.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/93347-copy-paste-windows-recovery-console.html
Afterwards, you might consider a clean install of Windows 7.

 

[Rawad]

Dam is that the only way , This Laptop isn't for me by the way I am fixing it for a client so I really don't know what they want.

 

[Brink]

I suppose you could copy the entire drive to another location, and save it back into a folder afterwards if there's enough space for them to copy back what they want.

 

[Rawad]

I just powered the laptop on and it give me a message about over heating. I think this laptop is pretty much gone. That would be a good idea but I only have the recovery disc for windows not the installation disc. I have to call and tell her if she has the installation disc if I can save her computer.

 

[Rawad]

Thank you for posting this man . I don't understand why this isn't working I have done these steps many of times and it won't reboot. I think it's a Laptop hardware issue.

 

[Rawad]

I suppose you could copy the entire drive to another location, and save it back into a folder afterwards if there's enough space for them to copy back what they want.

Hi Brick , I decided to try another method which was to use AVG Rescue . Every time I tried to access safe mode the last file that would load would be avgidsha.sys . I decided to use the AVG rescue disk but now I seem to be having a problem because I can't rename the files . when I press F6 it only goes down. I followed these guidelines below . I have a gut feeling that is what is stopping Windows from booting properly. This is an HP laptop btw so the key functions may be different.

AVG Support and Discussion Forums | AVG Worldwide

 

[Brink]

Are you able to connect the laptop's hard drive to another computer to make a backup of it?

 

[Bullington]

Hi Peter. Thanks for the tutorial. I read it and several others, followed procedures, but still having problems.
1) Initial Problem was Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. I tried startup repair and kept receiving message: Startup Repair could not cannot repair this computer automatically. Also, system Recovery Options not compatible with version of windows trying to repair on Win7 repair disks.
2) Went into Advanced Boot Options, Command Prompt and chkdsk /r. No problems found.
3) Ran sfc which also returned normal results.
4) Ran 2 system restores but PC failed to start.
5) Ran Windows Memory Diagnostic tool – PC froze during test 2 of 2 at 62% overall. Performed manual shutdown.
6) I followed the Startup Repair Infinite Loop Recovery tutorial on this forum, rebooted at step 16 and no joy.
7) Powered down, reset battery, mem modules, restarted and received the following message:
“Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem…
File: \EFCI\MICROSOFT\Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc0000034
Info: The Windows Boot Configuration Data file is missing required information.”
My PC: Desktop ; Custom Build; Win 7 Home Premium ; AMD A6-3650 APU with Radeon HD graphics; Quad core; MBD: F1A75-V PRO; 8192 MB DDR3 1333Mhz; SATA ST1000DM003
Any assistance would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[victorialoui5e]

Hi, I realise this is an old thread but I was hoping I could get some help..
Every single option under F8 sends me to the repair screen, so I tried the troubleshoot posted, however, when I hit the "view advanced options for system recovery and support" nothing happens. The box will vanish and I'm left staring at the background screen, eventually the computer will just shut itself off. Is there another way to get command prompt up so I may try to repair as per the suggestion? I'd rather not lose everything on my hardrive.

 

[Brink]

Hi, I realise this is an old thread but I was hoping I could get some help..
Every single option under F8 sends me to the repair screen, so I tried the troubleshoot posted, however, when I hit the "view advanced options for system recovery and support" nothing happens. The box will vanish and I'm left staring at the background screen, eventually the computer will just shut itself off. Is there another way to get command prompt up so I may try to repair as per the suggestion? I'd rather not lose everything on my hardrive.

Hello Victoria, and welcome to Seven Forums.

If you like, you could use OPTION ONE in the tutorial below with either a Windows 7 installation disc or Windows 7 System Repair Disc to open a command prompt at boot.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/682-command-prompt-startup.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn