There are actually several ways that you can get to the System Recovery Options, and the method you choose will depend on your situation.
- If your system will still attempt to start Windows, then you can attempt to access the System Recovery Options from your hard disk.
- If Windows won’t start at all, you can access the System Recovery Options by booting from the Windows 7 DVD.
- If you have created a System Repair Disc, you can boot from that disk as well and access the System Recovery Options. (I’ll cover the creation of a System Repair Disc next time.)
For example, let’s suppose that your system will still attempt to start Windows, but it fails to complete the boot-up process. To access System Recovery, you will need to first power down the system and then turn it back on. After the system boots up and as soon as you hear the beep that signals the beginning of the Windows boot, press and hold the [F8] key.
When you see the Advance Boot Options screen, select the Repair Your Computer option. As you can see from the description at the bottom of the screen, selecting this option will display a list of system recovery tools that you can use to repair startup problems, run diagnostics, or restore your system. To continue, just press [Enter].
When you do, you’ll see a screen that tells you that Windows is loading files. Then you’ll see a boot screen with a green animated progress bar. After a few moments, you’ll be prompted to choose a keyboard input method,. To continue, click the Next button.
You’ll then see the logon screen. You should log on with an account that has administrative privileges. When you do, you will see the System Recovery Options menu.
As you can see, there are five options on the System Recovery Options menu. Let’s take a closer look.
- Startup Repair: This should be your first choice if it did not run automatically when a boot problem was encountered. Keep in mind that Startup Repair is designed to fix only certain problems, such as missing or damaged system files. It is not designed to fix problems caused by hardware failures, such as a failing hard disk.
- System Restore: As you know, this tool is designed to restore Windows system files to an earlier point in time without affecting your data files, such as email, documents, or photos, in any way. To accomplish this feat, System Restore continuously monitors your system, looking for significant changes to the operating system, such as an application or driver installation or an operating system update procedure, and will automatically create a Restore Point when it senses such an impending change. Restore Points are essentially snapshots of your system state, which include crucial system files and certain parts of the registry. System Restore maintains multiple restore points, which gives you the choice of restoring your computer to any number of previously saved states. As such, running System Restore and choosing a recent restore point is a good way to recover from an unbootable system.
- System Image Recovery: If for some reason System Restore is unable to do its job and you have recently created a system image of your hard disk, you can use the System Image Recovery option to revive an unbootable system. A system image includes the operating system and all your system settings, your programs, and all your files. Keep in mind that when you restore your computer from a system image, it will actually perform a complete restoration of your entire system, which means that all your current programs, system settings, and files will be replaced with the versions that were current when you made the system image.
- Windows Memory Diagnostic: If in addition to having problems starting Windows, you’ve been encountering application failures, operating system faults, or Stop errors, you can use the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool to test the RAM chips in your system and investigate the possibility of defective or failing RAM. Essentially, the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool performs its test by repeatedly writing values to memory and then reading those values from memory in order to verify that the data has not changed.
- Command Prompt: When you select the Command Prompt option, you’ll be able to run a specific set of command-line tools that you can use to perform recovery operations as well as other types of diagnostics.
