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

---

• 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]

I have done all the steps and did not miss anything, but when I restarted my laptop it still goes to the start up repair window. What should I do? Please help. I tried tapping on the F8 button repeatedly on the boot screen (black screen) and it only makes a beeping sound and goes straight to startup repair.

Thanks so much!

Hello Clare, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Sorry for the late reply.

Are you able to get to step 3 and 4?

If not, then you might see if you are able to also do what I posted above for Pradatorius to boot to the System Recovery Options.

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

 

[Aasish]

Problem still exists.....

 

[iyyuchtus]

Good Morning Guys!

I've tried the tutorial (Great and Easy tutorial BTW!) and followed it to the letter. I did not encounter any problems during the tutorial.

However, after completing the tutorial, my system is still stuck in the Infinite Loop.

I tried doing the tutorial again, and it's still stuck.

I'm still hesitant to reformat my computer, since it has been running great for 2 years, and there are a lot of programs already installed.

The problem only started when one of our carpenters suddenly switched off our electricity to make some adjustments.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Harun42]

The worst thing happened to me:

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.

Is there any solution for this? Please, this is urgent.

 

[Brink]

Hello Harun, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You might see if you may be able to do a system restore at boot using a restore point dated before this happened may be able to help. Otherwise, you may be looking at reinstalling Windows if you did not create a system image that you can restore.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Harun42]

Thanks Brink, I guess reinstalling is the only solution for me.

 

[SIW2]

Unless you have shadow copies....Do you think you have any?

You should be able to boot up external media, ( recovery disc/install disc/usb ) and do a system restore. ( Option 2 in the tut Shawn linked )

 

[Harun42]

I don't have any images or copies. Reinstalled Windows and the same happened again. I don't know what to do.

 

[Brink]

Was this a clean install that you did?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

 

[Harun42]

Was this a clean install that you did?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

Yes, that was exactly what I did.

 

[Brink]

Ok. When you did the clean install, did you delete all partitions on the HDD until it was a "Unallocated disk" to select to install to?

What brand and model is your HDD? It wouldn't hurt to test it to make sure that it's not bad or dying on you.

 

[Harun42]

Yes, I guess the problem is with the HDD.

Now, I've installed Ubuntu. It is working well, but at the beginning it is giving an error about HDD.

 

[Brink]

That's not a good sign. You might scan it with the program (ex: SeaTools) recommended by the drive manufacturer to see what it says.

 

[Harun42]

Ubuntu has a disk utility, this is what it says: Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting

 

[SIW2]

Get your important data copied off asap.

 

[Brink]

Yep, your HDD is getting ready to bite the dust. I would recommend to back up anything on it that you do not want to lose ASAP, then get a new replacement HDD.

 

[Harun42]

Thanks for your help. Fortunately I've backuped everything to an external HDD.

 

[Brink]

Well, at least you now have a good excuse for an upgrade. SSD

 

[iDvorak]

Hey guys. Tutorial works great, it's been successful several times. Unfortunately for me though the problem comes back when I restart my computer. I'm on a custom build that's about a year old. Windows is on an SSD. This problem arose as soon as I installed updates, I had found out that the computer hadn't been updated since I built the machine. If anyone can help me out that would be amazing. I just got to college, where you have to be updated to get internet, so fixing this is a must! Thanks in advance!

 

[Brink]

Hello iDvorak, and welcome to Seven Forums.

If you like, you're best bet would be to reinstall and start fresh to save time from troubleshooting.

However, you might see if doing a system restore using a restore point (if available) dated before this started may be able to help. If so, then afterwards only install the updates that are checked by default first, and repeat until they are all installed. This way you may be able to spot which one may have been the cause.