System Recovery Options

How to Boot to the System Recovery Options in Windows 7​

   Information

This will show you how to boot to the System Recovery Options screen to select the Startup Repair, System Restore, Complete PC Restore, Memory Diagnostic Tool, or Command Prompt option to use on Windows 7.

   Note

The System Recovery Options menu is on the Windows 7 installation disc. If your computer manufacturer (OEM) has preinstalled recovery options, the menu might also be installed on your hard disk as a recovery partition. If your computer does not include the System Recovery Options menu, your computer manufacturer (OEM) might have customized or replaced the tool. Check the information that came with your computer or go to the manufacturer's website.

OPTION ONE

Using an OEM Recovery Partition

NOTE: This is if your computer did not come with a Windows 7 installation DVD, and has pre-installed recovery options (recovery partition) instead.
1. Start or Restart the computer.

2. Boot into the Advanced Boot Options screen.
A) Select Repair your computer and press Enter.
3. Select your keyboard language preferences and click on Next. (See screeshot below).

4. Select your user name and type in the password, and then click on OK.

5. Go to step 6 in OPTION TWO below.

OPTION TWO

Using a Windows 7 Installation or System Repair Disc

1. Insert the Windows 7 installation disc, slipstream Windows 7 SP1 installation disc, or System Repair Disc into the CD/DVD drive and restart the computer.
WARNING: Check to make sure that you set the BIOS to have the CD or DVD drive listed first in the boot order.

2. If prompted, press any key to boot from the Windows 7 installation DVD. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You will only have about 8 seconds to press this key.

3. Select your language preferences and click on Next. (See screeshot below).

4. Click on Repair your computer. (See screenshot below)

5. Select which operating system you want to restore and the click on Next. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If Windows 7 is not listed here, or it is blank, then it is ok. Click on Next anyway.




6. Select the system recovery option you want to do. (See screenshot below)

• Startup Repair
• System Restore
• System Image Recovery
• Windows Memory Diagnostic
• Command Prompt

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Boot to the Advanced Boot Options in Windows 7
• How to Start Windows 7 in Safe Mode
• How to Run a Startup Repair in Windows 7
• How to Do a System Restore in Windows 7
• How to Do a System Image Recovery in Windows 7
• How to Run the Memory Diagnostics Tool in Windows 7
• How to Open a Command Prompt at Startup in Windows 7
• How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc
• How to See Windows 7 Reliability and Problem History with Reliability Monitor
• How to Run Disk Check in Windows 7
• How to Do a Repair Install to Fix Windows 7
• How to Create a System Recovery Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Load SATA Drivers in Windows System Recovery Options
• How to Enable the Built-in Administrator Account from WinRE
• How to Recover from an Infinitely Looping Startup Repair Loop without Reinstalling Windows
• How to Use the Bootrec.exe Tool in Windows Recovery Environment

 

[Brink]

I'm happy to hear that you got it working great again.

 

[giancarlo]

Hi! In my problem, after step 2 in option 2, it doesn't go to the system repair after windows is loading files but instead it goes like this

It just loads and loads for a long time.. What should I do?

 

[Brink]

Hello giancarlo, and welcome to Seven Forums.

That screen would be normal after step 2. From that loading screen you would normally see the screenshot under step 3 or 4 afterwards. Do you see them afterwards? If so, how actual long is the long time until you do?

 

[giancarlo]

It just loads for hours, does it really work that way?

 

[Brink]

Does it ever finish loading?

If it's an old system with low specs, then it may take a while. Normally, it's only a few minutes at most though.

What are the system specs for that computer?

What are you using to try and boot to the System Recovery Options screen with?

 

[giancarlo]

Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit. I'm using Toshiba Satellite L310. I was gonna use it to repair my computer because of a boot failure..

 

[Brink]

Looking at the default specs for that laptop, things may run slower than usual on it since it only has 1GB RAM and is a older model.

You might try the DOS HDD diagnostics program at the Toshiba link below to see if there may be an issue with the HDD.

Software Utilities

 

[jazz614]

log in problems

hi i used option 2 and when i reached step 5 and clicked next it gave me an error telling me that "you to be logged in to access system recovery options" and then my computer restarts

 

[Brink]

Hello Jazz, and welcome to Seven Forums.

What are you using to boot from to boot to the "System Recovery Options" screen?

 

[jazz614]

im using a windows 7 64 bit boot disk made off another computer

 

[Brink]

This sounds like it may be some sort of security feature included with a factory OEM computer with a factory OEM version of Windows 7 installed on it.

Is it a retail or a factory OEM type installation disc?

Is this on a factory OEM store bought computer? If so, what brand and model?

Are you able to do OPTION ONE instead?

 

[kisser]

I have to 5 option2 step, but it will not appear in the system recovery options, but only blue screen : Khóc:

 

[Brink]

Hello Khóc,

What type of installation media are you using to boot from?

 

[pwade112]

Ok..I have tried 3 things: the already installed repair system, the reinstallation disk, and also have tried making my own system repair disk. All three end up the same way...I choose my language and keyboard style and i hit next and after that..I choose repair which then shows the background with the mouse. The part where I choose my OS doesn't even try to pop up no matter what. Everything I try leads to this..please help me out if you can.

 

[Night Hawk]

Hello pwade112 Welcome to the Seven Forums!

I run into the same thing where no OS is listed and simply click the next button to continue on to the repair tools themselves. Originally while testing the beta and later RC builds the installation of one or the other would first be detected and listed.

Once the retail 7 was out I continue to see no OS listing while the repair tools still worked regardless of that. If you run the Startup repair tool a few times and are still seeing problems you may want to start a new thread for help.

 

[pwade112]

Well, I understand what your saying...but the whole window doesn't show up. I can't click next or do anything. I just stare at the background and can move my mouse around. I've tried it idk how many times.

 

[Night Hawk]

Have you tried using a lens cleaner on the optical drive as well as examine the disks you are booting from for any scratches or marked up from handling? It sounds like the repair tools are hanging due to that or possibly a hardware problem being realized.

With all 3 disks involved and seeing locks I would suspect the optical drive first but if you have been seeing a list of other problems in Windows lately bad memory? defect in a dimm? A good run of memtest on a live cd wouldn't hurt any while let's first rule the drive out.

And why I would say is simply due to not having any worry of driver issues when booted live since nothing software other then the repair tools are being loaded into ram. The hardware side is then reduced to media, optical drive, or bad ram which will cause OS installation problems as well as other things.

I think this was the main reason I made sure to have two not just one optical drive on the last two builds knowing one could fail or simply have problems at times providing a second to go to. When the second of two drives acted up on the last build I simply added the second on before the first replacement made grinding sounds suggesting that would fail!

With 3 disks being tried and each seeing freeze ups you know simply rebooting the machine won't fix the problem. Occasionally a restart will solve a hang up where everything finishes loading up on the next try when all is well.

 

[pwade112]

Well, the disks don't have scratches and no I haven't had any problems at all. It all started with my laptop giving me a blue screen (I assume it crashed).

 

[Night Hawk]

Any number of things could have been the cause for the blue screen(s) you ran into. If you can locate a memory dump file and zip up to post in the new thread in the crash support section someone can help analyze the information there for you.

As for not seeing the second repair screen at all appear that suggests a problem with the optical drive itself. You may have to make up a repair stick or go through the manufacturer's support in order to download the recovery disk in iso form and see it written to a usb flash drive made bootable in order to perform the repairs like opening the command prompt option to run the Check Disk tool "chkdsk /r" as well as run the Startup repair tool a few times.

For getting at the memory dump file(s) if any were created seeing if you can boot up in safe mode would be one option for that. The guide for creating a usb install key however would allow you to make up a live stick for either the 7 install media or repair cd turned into an iso image you then see written to a flash drive. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html

On the few occasions where the Startup repair tool was needed a flash drive took care of things faster then booting from optical media. If your drive is going on you this would then become the option for repair or recovery in any form.

 

[Jerakl]

Hey, My computer got its power supply cut off and now when I go to the start up recovery, none of the first couple screenshots come up. and when I try to do the start up recovery at the options menu it does it then just restarts my computer. Not to mention I can't find any files containing information about my hardware so I can't do the image recovery either.