Gallery: Repair Windows Vista when it won't start

If you don’t have a Windows Vista installation disc, open a web browser on a working PC, type www.snipurl.com/2avjr into the Address or Location bar of your web browser and press Enter. You’ll see two links, one for Windows Vista and one for the rarer 64-bit version. These are torrent files, so follow the instructions on the page to install Utorrent to obtain the full 120MB file or look back at our Workshop on Bittorrent in issue 224. Once Utorrent is installed, click the ‘Windows Vista Recovery Disc x86 Edition’ link unless you have a 64-bit version of Vista.

When the folder window opens, double-click Setup followed by Allow. When the wizard appears, click Next and keep clicking Next until ISO Recorder is installed. Click Close. Now insert a blank CD into your DVD or CD writer. Locate the recovery disc file just downloaded, right-click it and choose Copy image to CD. Verify that your CD or DVD writer is selected under Recorder, and that ‘Blank Writable Usable’ is highlighted. Click Next and the disc will be copied. When the process is complete, the disc may or may not be ejected; click Finish if prompted.

If Windows Vista refuses to load, restart your PC and wait for the Windows Error Recovery window to appear. Try ‘Last known good configuration (advanced)’ first. If this fails, try Safe Mode, then use System Restore to return Windows Vista to a point in time when it worked correctly. Pick the recommended Restore Point and see if that works, or try an earlier one if it fails. If you can’t get into Safe Mode, try the Safe Mode with Command Prompt option . Type cd restore and press Enter, and then type rstrui and press Enter to open System Restore manually.

If none of these options works, place the Vista installation disc (or recovery disc created in steps one and two) into the drive and restart your PC. Press any key when prompted to boot from CD. If the prompt doesn’t appear, press the reset button. If asked to choose a boot device, press the appropriate key (typically F12) and choose CD or DVD; if not, press the key to enter the Bios setup (usually Del or F2). Explore the options for changing the boot device order and make sure CD-Rom or DVD-Rom is the first device. Save the changes and exit.

At the first screen, choose English (United Kingdom) under ‘Time and currency format’ and click Next. At the next screen, click ‘Repair your computer’. The recovery disc will attempt to find any evidence of Windows Vista on the computer - if it finds any, make sure it’s selected before clicking Next; if it doesn’t, and you believe that additional drivers may be required for the disc to recognise your hard disk, click Load Drivers to access them from a CD, floppy or USB-connected drive (including flash drives). If you’re not sure, check with your PC or motherboard manufacturer; otherwise, click Next.

There are five basic options for fixing startup problems: Startup Repair attempts to fix the problem automatically and is worth pursuing first, even if Windows Vista wasn’t recognised in the previous step. In many cases, the Startup Repair Wizard will work without any user interaction, but in some cases it will give you instructions or various choices before it can proceed. Follow the advice and - when prompted - remove your Windows or recovery disc from the drive before restarting the computer.

Ignore any request to boot from CD or DVD and see if Windows Vista now loads; if it still doesn’t, reset the PC and this time boot from the disc when prompted. If the Startup Repair wizard doesn’t run automatically, select Startup Repair again from the System Recovery Options screen. Sometimes the wizard needs to run two or more times before it fixes all outstanding problems, but if it’s unable to fix the problem, try the following steps before consulting the PC’s manufacturer for more help.

If the problem is linked to a recent hardware or software change or installation, click System Restore. When the wizard launches, click Next to see a list of available Restore Points. If none is visible, tick ‘Show Restore Points older than 5 days’. Select the most recent Restore Point and click Next to see the confirmation window. Click Next followed by Finish and the changes will be made. If Windows still won’t boot try System Restore again, but this time choose an earlier Restore Point.

Windows Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate Editions make it possible to back up an entire computer using the Backup and Status Configuration tool. If System Restore fails and you made a backup, click ‘Windows Complete PC Restore’ at the System Recovery Options screen. The wizard will scan for backup devices and - if it finds any - will make a recommended choice. Either select this and click Next, or choose ‘Restore a different backup’ to pick a different choice from a list of all available backups.

The summary screen has an option to ‘Format and repartition disks’ - tick this if the backup is recent and you don’t have any important files on the disk that aren’t included in the current backup. Once done, click Next and Windows Vista will overwrite the corrupt Windows installation with the backed-up files, which should fix the problem. Once complete, you’ll be returned to the point in time when the backup was taken - all subsequent changes (including emails received, programs installed and files created) will be lost unless backed up separately.

Seemingly random problems can be caused by faulty memory chips. Choose ‘Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool’ to scan the PC’s memory for errors, which may indicate a physical fault. Choose ‘Restart now and check for problems (recommended)’ to run the test immediately, which is recommended if it’s suspect. After restarting, the tool will run and display the various tests as they’re performed - press F1 for more options. Keep an eye on the tests to see if any errors are picked up; if they are, you’ll need to replace the memory in your computer.

The Command Prompt option can be used to check that the drive Vista is installed on is actually visible. When the X:\Sources prompt appears, type c: and press Enter. If the drive is accessible, the C:> prompt will appear. If this is the case, type chkdsk /r and press Enter to verify the drive. Press N when asked to forcibly ‘dismount’ the drive, then Y to schedule the drive check the next time you restart Windows. Close the dialogue box and click Restart. Ignore the prompt to boot from CD and the Disk Checking tool will hopefully fix the problem.

To copy your personal Documents folder on to your backup disk, type c: and press Enter to switch to drive C. Type cd users\username (replacing username with your username in Vista) and press Enter - if you don’t know your username, type cd users, press Enter, then type dir and press Enter again to find out. Now type robocopy Documents e:\Documents /E and press Enter. This will copy everything in your Documents folder to a new folder on drive E, including sub-folders and files. Make sure there’s a space before the /E option or the command will fail.

Your requirements may not exactly match our example but the robocopy command is a very flexible tool that can be used to copy most files to another disk. For help on how to use it, type robocopy /? at the command prompt. Similarly, the cd command is used to move between folders. For example, to move from c:\ to c:\users type cd users, or to move back again type cd .. - the two dots tell Windows to move up one folder. For more instructions, type cd /?.

Your requirements may not exactly match our example but the robocopy command is a very flexible tool that can be used to copy most files to another disk. For help on how to use it, type robocopy /? at the command prompt. Similarly, the cd command is used to move between folders. For example, to move from c:\ to c:\users type cd users, or to move back again type cd .. - the two dots tell Windows to move up one folder. For more instructions, type cd /?.