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

 

[Brink]

Ricky,

Seems like you may need to backup what you can with the Pepermint3 USB or what you like, and reinstall Windows.

 

[skunky62]

That's what I thought. Thanks again and I'll let you know how it went.

 

[RickyTee]

Damn it. So i'm guessing I have to buy an external hard drive?
A shop wouldn't be able to do anything about it? /:

 

[Brink]

Sure, a computer shop would be able to do it for you for a nice price.

You don't have to buy another external HDD. Do you have another internal HDD or USB key that you could copy the files to?

 

[RickyTee]

Well, I honestly wouldn't mind the price at this point!
Only thing I'm afraid of is them losing my data! I've heard terrible stories. Haha.

But I posted in the other thread asking if I could transfer it to my desktop with a usb cable, but he said no..
Is that true?

 

[Brink]

Yes, you would need to copy to a USB flash drive, memory card, or some other external removable drive.

 

[RickyTee]

Okay, do you think I'd be wasting my time messing around with a repair disk?
This is my last resort before I take it to a shop..

 

[Brink]

Ricky,

Since it has failed to be repaired, then I would say it would be best to backup and reinstall Windows 7. Whether you pay a shop to do it for you or not is up to you.

 

[Golden]

Agree - we can help you reinstall quite easily, but use the PepperMint3 tutorial to backup your files as suggested.

 

[RickyTee]

Ah, so you're both saying the shop wouldn't be able to do any better? /:
Well, shit.

Okay, last question before I get an external hard drive and such:

Since I'm going to have to reinstall windows, do I need a product key?
Because mine came with a sticker on the bottom and it's worn out to the point where I can't read it.
And I only have upgrade Windows 7 discs.. guessing I'd have to torrent new ones?
And is there a way to figure out if I have a 32 or 64 bit system?

Thanks so much for your help, guys.
Much appreciated.

 

[Golden]

Hi Ricky,

The only difference between the shop and here, is that we don't charge.

You definitely need the Product Key - we don't provide support for non-genuine installations. Sometimes using a magnifying glass will allow you to discern the 25 characters - give it a try and see how you go with that.

Regards,
Golden

 

[RickyTee]

Touche.

Okay. I have a product key that was for my computer.. would that work?
And is there a way to figure out if I have a 32 or 64 bit system?

Also, would I have to have the install disk..?

 

[Golden]

Each computer has its own unique Product key, using one from a different computer will not work.

This tutorial has everything you need to do the install, including the download location for the installation ISO:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

 

[RickyTee]

Makes sense.
Well, see, now the only problem I have is the activation key.
It really is too worn out to the point that the letter isn't even there anymore.
Am I SOL?
Guessing I'd have to buy a new install disk?

 

[Golden]

Yes, unfortunately you will.

 

[djomla43]

Hello everyone this is my 1st post here,so I wanna say hi.
Last night i got windows update notice,I`m running WIN7 ultimate 64bit,so I click install,leave my laptop on charger and fell asleep, when I woke up it I saw a that system couldn't start normally and gave me start up repair option,tried it and no luck,tried again after few mins,no go. tried system restore 2 days before update,still no luck. So while I was reading this thread for solution (on my sisters laptop lol) I checked BIOS settings and in sata config I saw it was set on AHCI then I set to IDE and let it boot to see if that's got to do something with my issue,and it booted up nicely with ˝windows finished system restore successfully˝
Wanted to share this with you and to ask what caused this? coz I don't know if it was IDE or AHCI setup before.
Few weeks before I had same issue and resolved it with fresh win install
Anyway cheers.

 

[Lyndonbj]

Hello, i dont know if anybody is still answering here, but it appears that i have this issue and need help because one step doesn't work. I thank you for not being rude about my english, i'm french and haven't a good english level.
So, my problem occures at the step 11, where i should create the backup but when i type MD mybackup, that says they can't satisfy my order because of an error of peripheral E/S. So when i ask to copy it after 0 file are copied.
I dont know if i can go further even with this error and i'm rly afraid about crashing even more my computer.
Thanks you for reading and maybe answering me, have a good night.

 

[skunky62]

To whom it may concern (Brink et al):

I tried the Peppermint Software and I see everything except for the Document files or anything on the desktop. Are they hidden or I lost them for sure? The User Folder is there but I can't see Documents or My Documents. I'm not sure if doing the System Recovery will bring back those files. I'm going to try Knoppix Live to see if those Files are hidden from Peppermint but not to Knoppix.

 

[Brink]

skunky,

I hope it finds them for you.

 

[skunky62]

So are you saying they're lost? Why only the Document Files and not the whole Windows system?