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

 

[ZKhan]

Ok im still getting an error, so heres what im doing: Clicked advanced in the startup repair, then it says X:\windows\system32 users, so what do i do from there? I tried putting C: then entering defrag C: /R, but it says that it is not recognized

 

[Brink]

What about at X:\windows\system32 instead.

In addition, try defrag C: /F instead.

 

[ZKhan]

Nope it says 'defrag' is not recognized as an internal or external comand, operable program or batch file

 

[Brink]

Hmm, ok.

Start over. When the command prompt at boot first opens at X:Sources>, type C: and press Enter. C would be the drive letter for the Windows drive at boot.

You should then see C:\Windows\System32>. If not, the C may not be your Windows drive letter at boot.

If you see that path, then Defrag C: /R should work. It will take a while to complete until the prompt reappears again.

 

[ZKhan]

The command prompt doesnt start off at X: sources, it starts at X:\sources\system32

 

[ZKhan]

When i did the diskpart thing, it shows the C: is OS and E is recovery is that something im doing wrong?

 

[Brink]

See if using the tutorial below to open the command prompt at boot will open to X:\Sources like below.

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

 

[ZKhan]

It doesn't work, still get X:\windows\system32

 

[Brink]

You might see if you may be able to do a system restore at boot using a restore point (if available) dated before this happened to see if it may help.

 

[ZKhan]

Nope, one of the first things I tried, doesn't work

 

[ZKhan]

I got it to defrag, by going to C:\windows\system32 then doing the defrag command defrag C: /R

 

[Brink]

Perfect. Now, to see if it will let you finish doing the tutorial on the first page when it's finished.

 

[ZKhan]

Hey Brink, well it is said invoking defragmentation on OS <C:> it said for an hour then blue screened

 

[Brink]

Looks like you may need to do a clean reinstall of Windows.

 

[ZKhan]

Ahh dang, is there any way i can get my files off the computer?

 

[Brink]

You may be able to use the tutorial below to recovery them.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ate-live-cd-dvd-usb-use-emergency-backup.html

 

[Spilled OJ]

I re downloaded windows 7 and my computer crashed at around 50%. I now have the startup repair loop. I followed these easy steps however when I reached step 13, my RegBack only shows
0 files 0 bytes
2 Dirs 26,513,408 bytes free
I am so lost. Please help.

Btw I have had crashing issues in the past I think because of my motherboard.
Ps: I use 64 bit

 

[Brink]

Hello Spilled OJ, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Where did you get your copy of Windows 7 from? Sounds like a bad copy.

 

[Spilled OJ]

I got it from a comp USA store in nc 2 years ago.
The thing is I was going to sell my comp so I was just going to reinstall windows but I was too stubborn knowing my comp has very bad crashing issues ATM due to ram or motherboard issues. During the beginning stages of the download my comp crashed. I'm still hating myself for trying it. Idk if it helps but I did see the required folders under x:. Maybe the issue is I do not have the right files under c: d: or e:?

Or maybe the issue is I did the tutorial using x:? I did that because i also didn't have the right files for step 8 for my c: d: or e:

 

[Brink]

I got it from a comp USA store in nc 2 years ago.
The thing is I was going to sell my comp so I was just going to reinstall windows but I was too stubborn knowing my comp has very bad crashing issues ATM due to ram or motherboard issues. During the beginning stages of the download my comp crashed. I'm still hating myself for trying it. Idk if it helps but I did see the required folders under x:. Maybe the issue is I do not have the right files under c: d: or e:?

Or maybe the issue is I did the tutorial using x:? I did that because i also didn't have the right files for step 8 for my c: d: or e:

Yeah, the download is most likely corrupted. You'll need to have an uninterrupted download to use. You could download it from another computer if needed.

Did the computer come with Windows 7 preinstalled? If so, you should still have an OEM factory recovery partition that you may be able to use reinstall Windows back to factory conditions. Post back with what brand and model the computer is, and I'll be happy to see if I can find instructions for how to.