System Repair Disc - Create

How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc​

   Information

This will show you how to create a Windows 7 system repair disc to be able to use to boot to system recovery options to help recover your Windows 7 installation if you don't have a Windows installation disc, can't find your Windows installation disc, or can't access the recovery options provided by your computer manufacturer.

A system repair disc is not able to install Windows 7.

   Note

If you are unable to boot your Windows 7 to create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc, then you could create it on another computer to use on your computer.

   Warning

• A system repair disc is not the same as a OEM factory recovery/restore disc.
• A system repair disc is not an installation disc. You cannot do a repair install or install Windows 7 with a system repair disc.
• A system repair disc can only be used to repair Windows 7 through the system recovery options.
• 32-bit System Repair Disc can only be created on a 32-bit Windows 7.
• 64-bit System Repair Disc can only be created on a 64-bit Windows 7.
• 32-bit System Repair Disc can only be used to repair a 32-bit Windows 7.
• 64-bit System Repair Disc can only be used to repair a 64-bit Windows 7.

:note: For Windows 10, see the following link - System Repair Disc - Create in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Tutorials

EXAMPLE: System Recovery Options
NOTE: Using the System Repair Disc that you have created below, you can boot to the system recovery options screen below.



Here's How:
1. Open the Start Menu, then type recdisc.exe in the search box and press Enter.
A) Go to step 3.
OR

2. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click on the Backup and Restore icon.
A) Click on the Create a System repair disc link in the left blue pane. (See screenshot below)

3. Insert a blank unformatted CD or DVD into your CD/DVD drive and click on the Create disc button. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If you are prompted to insert a Windows installation disc, it means that the files needed to create the system repair disc cannot be found on your computer. Insert a Windows 7 installation disc.

4. It will now start creating the System Repair Disc. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If a AutoPlay window pops up, just close it.

5. When it's finished, click on the Close button. (See screenshot below)

6. Click on OK. (See screenshot below)

7. Remove and label your new Windows 7 System Repair Disc from the CD/DVD drive.

   Tip

If you would like to create a bootable System Repair USB flash drive, then you could use the free program ImgBurn to create an ISO file with this Windows 7 System Repair Disc (DVD), then use the Part 1 section in the tutorial below to extract the ISO file to a USB flash drive.

Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Tell if Windows 7 is a 32-bit or 64-bit System Type
• How to Create a Windows 7 Recovery Partition
• How to Create a Windows 7 Installation USB Key
• How to Boot to the System Recovery Options in Windows 7
• How to Boot to the Advanced Boot Options in Windows 7
• 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 Do a Repair Install to Fix Windows 7
• How to Extract Files from the Windows 7 Installation DVD
• How to Make a MS-DOS Bootable Flash Drive
• How to Create a System Recovery Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Create a Windows 7 Backup and Restore Shortcut
• How to Create a Windows 7 Universal Installation Disc
• How to Boot Windows 7 System Repair Disc from USB Pen Drive or External Hard Disk Using Grub4Dos
• How to Recover from an Infinitely Looping Startup Repair Loop without Reinstalling Windows
• How to Slipstream Windows 7 SP1 and Updates to Create a Bootable USB, Installation DVD, or ISO File
• How to Hide or Show "Do you want to create a system repair disc?" Message

 

[theog]

You can not use a USB Pendrive to do a startup Repair, as startup repair will find the MBR on the Pendrive & not the HD.
Therefore will not detect a problem.

Windows Vista or Windows 7 no longer starts, and the Startup Repair tool does not fix the problem

 

[VistaKing]

Thank you theog

FredyC, DON'T do post # 159

 

[FredyC]

Oh snap, it looked like nice and sophisticated solution So I guess my solution with virtual burner still applies, I just have to try it.

 

[erjoell]

where is repair disk

I can not find anywhere on this page to download the repair disk.

 

[Brink]

Hello Joell, and welcome to Seven Forums.

The tutorial is for how to "create" a system repair disc instead. It would be a violation of Microsoft's copyrights and distribution policy to have one available for download.

 

[DavidTango]

A very nice tutorial Brink and thanks for sharing.
It is a nice help. When you got trouble.

 

[Brink]

Welcome to Seven Forums David. I'm glad it was able to help.

 

[Roadrunnermd]

I have Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit. I assume that if I needed to create a repair disc using someone else's computer, that it has to be this version of Win 7 in addition to being 32-bit. Is that correct, or can it be any Win 7 OS that has 32-bit?

 

[Brink]

Hello Roadrunner, and welcome to Seven Forums.

That's correct.

However, if you have a retail 32-bit Windows Home Premium installation USB/DVD, then you could use that instead since it also includes this.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31541-windows-7-usb-dvd-download-tool.html
(see the blue note box at link for details about an ISO file)
Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Roadrunnermd]

Unfortunately I don't have the install disc because I downloaded from Microsoft, then copied the files to my flash drive after installation. That's why I'm scrambling to find someone with the same OS, so I can get the repair disc. I have an NTLDR error message that I'm trying to resolve.

 

[SIW2]

Unfortunately I don't have the install disc

Download it then. See Shawn's previous post.

 

[Rock777]

Thank you very much!!!

I registered especially to thank you! My kids could login but without admin rights (for obvious reasons) and I wanted to add a new wife connection which has blocks on certain words (child friendly) ... I needed the admin password to connect to a new wifi network and your advice did the trick... I created the repair disc as per your intructions and then reset the admin password. Give yourself a Scouts Badge for doing a Good Deed .
Cheers,
Rock

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Rock, and welcome to Seven Forums. I'm happy to hear that it was able to help.

 

[drkh]

As the message in the Tip box instructs, I tried to transfer the contents of the ISO of the Windows System Repair Disc to a USB flash jump drive, using Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (WUDT). But I failed, receiving the following error message from WUDT:

"We were unable to copy your files. Please check your USB device and the selected ISO file and try again."

The funny thing is WUDT did copy all the files in the ISO to the jump drive and the jump drive could boot indeed. It's just that WUDT could not reach the finish line, stopping at 99% on the progress bar.

After searching for a solution on the Internet, I finally found that my problem occurred because bootsect.exe was not in the boot folder in the ISO, as quoted from WUDT's log:

"04/04/2014 02:26:59: Error during backup., Usb; Could not find file 'I:\boot\bootsect.exe'."

(WUDT's log is the events.txt file in "%UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Apps\Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool\Log" )

So I extracted the ISO with 7-Zip, put bootsect.exe in the boot folder and re-built the ISO, using the Build mode of ImgBurn (i.e., Create image file from files/folders).

But WUDT was still not satisfied, displaying this message:

"The Selected File Is Not A Valid ISO File. Please select a valid ISO file and try again."

So, more searching on the Internet. And there was a solution for it:

"When ImgBurn is used to re-build the ISO, select ISO9660 + Joliet + UDF for file system."

Accordingly I did that. But WUDT still thought the selected file was not a valid iso file.

Finally it turned out that it's because I had selected, from ImgBurn, revision 2.01 for UDF, for the reason that 2.01 is the default revision that Windows 7's own Format tool adopts for DVD. However, WUDT did not want it.

I changed it back to revision 1.02 (ImgBurn's default) for UDF. This time WUDT accepted it and finished the job.

 

[Scoop]

Shawn,

Is the System Repair Disc (created with recdisc.exe) married to the PC that created it?

For example, I created the Repair Disc on my Desktop PC. Will that disc boot up on my Toshiba Laptop? Both PC's are running Win 7 Home Premium OEM version.

 

[Brink]

Hey Scoop,

You can use it on any 64-bit Windows 7 PC.

 

[Scoop]

Hey Scoop,

You can use it on any 64-bit Windows 7 PC.

 

[Brink]

De nada.

 

[homeboy]

Thanks so much for this. It is very helpful and I am hoping my health will stay well enough for me to absorb all the info. To be sure I have bookmarked this page for quick reference.
What a superb effort.
Thanks again.
Homeboy.

 

[Brink]

Glad it could help homeboy. Please let us know if you have any questions.