Win 7 how to restore the system. Windows System Restore

When working in Windows 7, serious errors may occur, after which the operating system simply stops starting in normal mode. However, this is not yet a reason to take out the Windows boot disk from a dusty corner to reinstall it. Win 7 has a Recovery Environment in its arsenal - a powerful tool that will help restore the previous state of the operating system, avoiding the loss of data on your PC or laptop. In addition, other tools for resuscitating Win 7 are available to users.

Windows 7 system recovery methods

You can revive Win 7:

  • using a restore point;
  • using safe mode;
  • via the command line;
  • through the Recovery Environment;
  • using a disk with a Win 7 image;
  • using the Win recovery disk.

Rollback to a restore point from Windows

If the OS boots normally, but you need to restore it to its previous state using a restore point, do the following:

Rolling back the operating system to a restore point will allow you to remove the software that caused problems with your PC, undo unwanted changes and return back to the state of the operating system when everything worked correctly and booted properly. And just as important: there will be no data loss, and all your recent documents will remain in place. Some files may remain duplicated, slightly changing their name. You can delete unnecessary copies of these files yourself.

Note: This process is completely reversible. If necessary, you can cancel it and restore the Windows 7 system using another point.

Reverting the operating system in safe mode

This Windows 7 system recovery method is almost identical to the previous one. It is used in situations where Win does not start in normal mode:


Running Win 7 recovery from the command line

In some cases, when Win 7 does not start in any mode other than safe, the following method helps: restoring the Windows 7 system using the command line. You can do it like this:


Reverting the OS state through the Recovery Environment

The Windows 7 recovery environment includes 5 tools that offer the PC user various ways to troubleshoot problems related to the performance of a computer running Win 7. It is created automatically in a hidden partition. This happens when installing Win 7, be it “Maximum” or any other version.

To restore Windows 7 using this method, do the following:


Note: the first step is to start the OS with the last known good configuration.

The operating system automatically remembers the parameters of the last successful start of the PC in normal mode and applies them when you select this option. As a result, you can quickly regain access to the system without the slightest loss of data. If this method helps a PC user solve the problem, the question “How to roll back a Windows 7 system?” will immediately stop bothering you.

Restoring Win 7 using an image disk

This method of resuscitating Windows will allow the operating system to return to its lost functionality, even if it categorically refuses to start in safe mode. You will need a bootable DVD with your version of Win 7 installed.. If there is no OS image on your PC, create one yourself. To do this, go to the control panel and select “Backup computer data”. Then select the option indicated in the screenshot below and follow the instructions.


Restoring Win 7 using a recovery disk

If, after pressing the F8 button, you do not find the line “Troubleshooting computer problems” in the list, restoring Windows 7 using a system repair disc will help. This happens if the user accidentally deletes the recovery environment partition, which is located in the Recovery directory of the system local disk. Do you think the only thing left to do is uninstall Win 7 and install it again? This is not necessary - the changes can be undone without having to reinstall the OS.

Detailed description of how to restore normal booting Windows 7 after various system failures.

Windows 7 boot problems and their causes

Many computer and laptop users have probably encountered problems loading Windows 7. The operating system simply refused to boot and gave an error. In such cases it is impossible to even enter Safe Mode By F8.

The first thing that comes to mind in such situations is reinstalling Windows itself. The procedure is simple and well described in the manuals:, and many others.

Reinstallation will solve the problem with loading the system, but I don’t want to lose documents, programs, and I don’t want to set everything up again. If the documents are still possible using Ubuntu Linux somehow get it and save it (guide: ), then installing drivers and applications, as well as configuring them, can take a lot of time.

Fortunately, there is a simpler way to solve the system boot problem. Bootloader corruption is usually the cause of system boot problems. Windows, disruption MBR. To restore the system, you need to restore this same bootloader and MBR. How to do this will be described below.

Restoring Windows to Normal Boot

MBR and bootloader recovery process Windows 7 almost completely identical to that for Windows Vista. This means that the recommendations described below can be safely applied to recovery Windows Vista.

Let's begin. First of all, we need a boot disk or flash drive with the distribution kit Windows 7. How to prepare them is described in detail in the manuals:, and.


Now you should select the item below:


After this, a search will begin for installed copies of Windows on your hard drive:


As a result, the wizard should find the installed Windows 7. Select it and click Next:


The Windows recovery menu should appear:


Let's look at what each point is for:

  • - recovery of Windows bootloader and system files
  • - restoring the system from restore points. Restore points are created automatically when important system changes are made, system updates are installed, and can also be created manually by the user
  • Restoring a system image- restoring Windows from a disk image
  • Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool- checking RAM for errors. Quite a useful thing.
  • Command line- command line for manual recovery

The first two points, as well as the last one, are of interest to us. Let's look at it first. This is the easiest way to restore normal system booting. Let's launch it. The diagnostics should run:


After some time the problem will (or will not) be fixed:


Let's now consider the second menu item - . Let's try to restore the system from restore points. To do this we run:



Now select the last restore point and click Next:


Click on Ready We agree with the warnings:




Restart your laptop or computer:


If the manipulations described above did not bring results, then run Command line:


To restore the MBR, enter the command Bootrec.exe /FixMbr:


To restore the bootloader, enter the command Bootrec.exe /FixBoot:


To restore normal booting of several systems or in case of problems with partitions, you should use the command: Bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd:


As a result, you will get a report something like this:


Now you can simply restart your laptop. Windows should boot normally.

That's all. Thank you for your attention.

Please ask all questions about restoring Windows in this forum topic: .

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Windows 7 Recovery it didn't work, I was hoping for it, why? What are shadow copies and why are they not created for me? How to extract a single file from a system image? Why are my restore points missing? Such interesting questions are asked by both simple and advanced users. In this article, we tried to fully consider the rather complex issue of file recovery, as well as the Windows 7 operating system itself, with its built-in recovery tools. The topic of Windows 7 recovery is quite extensive; for ease of understanding, we have divided it into several articles. Best regards, Remontcompa.ru

Windows 7 Recovery

Windows 7 has many data recovery and backup tools:

And maybe you will be interested in How to restore Windows 7 using the Recovery Environment. We will consider all possible ways Windows 7 recovery, with a variety of problems and malfunctions, as you can see, there were a lot of articles, but I promise you, they are all interesting, much of what will be said below is known only to the most experienced system administrators.
Settings System protection Windows 7.

    Restore points->Start->Control Panel->System and Security->System->System Protection. It is System Protection that controls the creation of the point Windows 7 recovery, which includes an archived copy of System Settings, to quickly restore the state that was before any of your unsuccessful actions that led to unstable operation of the computer. When you restore your computer using recovery points, your personal documents and folders will not be affected. On the one hand, this is good, but on the other, if you need to return an accidentally deleted file, you will not be able to do this, but it is possible to restore your file using the Previous versions of files or shadow copies function (read in point No. 2 Previous versions of files), but only if the disk on which the file was located had System Protection enabled.

Also, if you want to archive not only Windows 7 system files, but also your personal data, you can use the Archiving computer data function (full description in point No. 3). You also need to know that if you changed after creating the point Windows 7 recovery password, the old one will be returned to you, create a password recovery disk.

Read more about how Windows 7 restore points work.

    Previous file versions->or shadow copies, are used to recover deleted or incorrectly edited files, such as your documents, photos, music, etc. Works only when the corresponding file drive is enabled System protection. You can enable protection for all disks of your computer, this will insure all personal folders, as well as system files. For example: if you have monitoring of the system drive C:\ enabled in the System Protection Recovery Options, then the Previous versions of files function is available for all folders and files on this drive (link to the full article at the top).

Backup Computer Data->Has two useful tools.


    Startup recovery-> We restore corrupted system files that prevent the normal startup of Windows 7 using a rather serious tool -> Recovery Environment, which is created when installing the operating system in a hidden partition and contains five other tools: Startup Repair, System Restore, System Image Restore, correcting both loading problems and other numerous malfunctions and malfunctions.

    This topic is very large and deserves a separate article, which I wrote for you -> How to restore Windows 7 using the recovery environment (link to the full article at the top).

    Windows 7 Recovery Disk->used when it is impossible to use the recovery environment and all the above methods. The Windows 7 recovery disk must be used to boot the computer; it contains Windows 7 recovery tools that can be used to repair problems loading the operating system or restore it completely with all the files from the backup copy, which is what we will do.

    Windows 7 Safe Mode, as well as safe mode with command line support, will help in case of serious malfunctions that occur in the operating system; in such cases it is not possible to load it in the usual way, but in Safe Mode, Windows 7 boots. In this mode, only basic system services and drivers are launched. After loading the system in safe mode, you need to think about what exactly your recent actions caused instability and fix them (link to the article at the top).

I would divide the system recovery methods into the following:
1 Using Last Known Known Configuration
2 Using the "System Restore" mechanism normally
3 Using the system recovery mechanism not normally (via safe mode or the original Windows 7 installation disk)
4 Using a previously created system backup.

1) Suppose you encountered a problem with Windows 7 and wanted to restore the system, the simplest thing you can do is boot into Safe Mode and load the last known good configuration, to do this, press the key when loading the operating system "F8" and select "Last Known Good Configuration", press "Enter".

Last Known Known Configuration is a recovery option designed to boot your computer using the last known working system settings. Booting in Last Known Known Configuration mode restores the system registry information and driver settings that were used the last time the system successfully booted. Use Last Known Good Configuration mode if Windows 7 cannot boot normally due to incorrect changes.


2) If the first method is not suitable or did not help, you can restore the Windows 7 system using the " System Restore“The principle of operation of this recovery method is quite simple; recovery occurs thanks to the created recovery points. A restore point captures the state of the system at a specific point in time. Restore points are created automatically by the system, but they can also be created manually (this is the subject of this article). There are several ways to run System Restore - The first method is to click "Start" and write in the search bar "System Restore", a menu will appear at the top "System Restore" click on it with the mouse. The second way is to go along the path “Start-Control Panel-Recovery-Run System Restore”. A window will open "System Restore", press "Next", you will see all possible restore points to which you can return/“roll back” if you click on the button "Search for affected programs", you can see which programs will be affected by system recovery (I recommend choosing recovery two or three days before the system problem). Having selected the date, click "Next".

Confirm the restore point by clicking "Ready"

Then a message will appear stating that System Restore cannot be interrupted, click "Yes", after which the process of restoring and rebooting the system will begin.

After the reboot, if the recovery is successful, a window will appear.

3) If you have suffered from a virus and you do not have the opportunity to start system recovery using the above method, then you can “roll back” the system using Safe Mode or using a disk with the operating system:

We go into safe mode (by pressing "F8" at the very beginning of system boot) and select "Troubleshooting your computer", a window will open

- We insert the original installation disk with the operating system (it must match yours), boot from this disk (to do this, in the BIOS we change boot from the hard drive to boot from CD/DWD). Select the language, then in the window "Windows Installation", choose "Recoverysystems".

After this a window will open "Windows 7 System Recovery Options."

So, no matter which method you used, the result is the same - you have a window in front of you "Windows 7 System Recovery Options",


I propose to analyze a little the capabilities of this window.

Startup recovery- analysis of faults that interfere with the normal loading of Windows 7 and their further correction for normal loading and functioning of the operating system.

System Restore- this is why this article was written, with the help of this function we can use a restore point to return the system to an earlier period of time when there were no problems.

Restoring a system image- this tool allows you to restore the system from a backup. This method is described in more detail in recovery method 4.

Windows Memory Diagnostics- checks system memory for errors.

Command line- allows you to load the command line and with it you can delete files that interfere with loading Windows 7.

Click on "System Restore", after which a window appears stating that "rollback" system can fix problems... click « Next», select the required restore point.

After this, we agree with everything proposed, including rebooting, and as a result of all these actions, when loading Windows 7, we see a window

4) Restore using a previously made backup; creating a backup is described in more detail in the article. Connect the USB backup storage device, press "Start" - "Control Panel" - "Recovery". If the system does not start and there is no way to boot the system, you must follow the third point of the article, just select Restoring the system image.

In the window that opens, select " Advanced recovery methods".

Then a window will appear asking you to reboot the system, click " Restart".

After restarting, you must specify system recovery settings. I recommend leaving everything as default and just clicking " Next".

In the next step, the system itself will find the system archive.

Next, you can specify additional parameters.

After that, confirm your choice and press " Ready".

Confirm system recovery by clicking " Yes".

If all of the above methods did not help you, then all that remains is to return the Windows system to factory settings, i.e. lose all your data and programs. Let me make a reservation right away that this method is suitable if you have a hidden recovery volume on your hard drive; it should be provided from the factory. You can see it if you right-click on the shortcut "Computer" and choose "Management - Disk Management"

Below are the hotkeys for restoring laptops to factory settings:

  • Acer- press the key combination Alt+F10
  • Samsung- F4;
  • Dell inspiron- when the dell.com splash screen appears, you need to type the key combination Ctrl+F11;
  • HP Pavilion- when turning on, hold F11;
  • Packard Bell- F10;
  • Rover- when starting the laptop, hold down Alt;
  • ASUS- when the ASUS logo appears, press F9;
  • Sony vaio- at startup press F10;
  • MSI- press F3 when starting;
  • Fujitsu Siemens- after turning it on, press F8;
  • LG- F11;
  • Lenovo ThinkPad- F11;
  • Toshiba- F8.

I hope this article has relieved you of your question. How to restore Windows 7 system and helped return your operating system to the point of stable operation.

Before you figure out how to restore Windows 7 to start, you need to understand what the cause of the problem is. To do this, it will be useful to learn a little general information about how the download occurs and what stages it includes.

General information about downloading

Conventionally, the launch of Windows 7 can be divided into three stages, which, in turn, are divided into several phases.

OSLoader

This is the first stage of system startup, which starts immediately after the BIOS code is executed. First, a small group of drivers starts working, allowing you to read data from the hard drive. The Windows 7 boot loader (winload.exe) then begins initializing and loading the kernel. The registry hive “SYSTEM” and another group of drivers are loaded into RAM. The first stage lasts about 2 seconds and ends with the appearance of the operating system logo on the screen.

MailPathBoot

The main and longest stage of system startup. Visually, it continues from the appearance of the logo until the desktop starts loading. It consists of several phases, the duration of which can vary - from a few seconds to a couple of minutes.

PreSMSS

During this phase, the Windows kernel is initialized, the plug and play device manager starts working, and the remaining drivers are launched. Errors that occur at this moment are usually associated with problems with the main components of the computer or incorrect operation of their software.

SMSSInit

The visual start of this phase is difficult to determine, but part of it is already the empty field that appears between the splash screen and the appearance of the welcome screen. The system at this moment performs the following actions:

  • Initializes the registry.
  • Starts the next wave of drivers that are not marked "BOOT_START".
  • Starts subsystem processes.

Most often, problems during this boot phase are related to video card drivers.

WinLogonInit

WInlogon.exe is the file that launches the welcome screen, so the “WinLogonInit” phase begins at this point. During this stage, group policy scripts are executed and services are started. The duration of the phase varies greatly depending on the processor power.

Failures at this stage are often caused by incorrect operation of third-party applications, including antivirus.

ExplorerInit

Begins with the start of the shell and ends with the start of the window manager. During this phase, program icons appear on the desktop and services continue to start. These processes are accompanied by an increase in load on the computer hardware - processor, RAM, hard drive.

Problems at this stage are usually associated with insufficient power of the equipment or its malfunction.

PastBoot

The last stage, which begins with the appearance of the desktop and ends after all startup components have loaded. At this stage, all applications that start with Windows begin to work. After the “PastBoot” stage ends, the system goes into idle mode.

Problems that arise at this stage are usually related to virus activity or incorrect operation of automatically downloaded programs.

Crashes at various stages of loading

Problems at different stages of Windows startup manifest themselves differently: some are related to hardware, others to the registry, and others to drivers or important system files. Therefore, it is so important to understand what processes occur when the system starts up so that you can quickly determine the cause of the problem.

Hardware problems

It is often difficult to determine what is not working - some specific hardware or operating system. However, based on some signs, certain assumptions can be made about which device has failed:


All the errors described are usually related to the computer hardware, however, there may be exceptions.

Boot files are damaged

The appearance of a message like “Bootmgr is missing” at an early stage of system startup indicates the absence of critical files, without which Windows cannot boot.
However, sometimes no notifications appear - the cursor just blinks on the screen, but no progress occurs.

Bootmgr is a standard Windows boot loader that is not accessible to the user, as it is stored on a separate hidden partition. You cannot accidentally delete it, but you can unknowingly format a hidden volume using external media.

When booting from external media, the hidden volume with the bootloader looks like this:

Other files important for startup are stored on the system disk in the “Windows” directory. System registry data is also stored here.

The registry is damaged

If the registry is damaged or inaccessible, Windows may not even start loading. In this case, the system usually diagnoses the error on its own and offers to run the recovery tool.

Often, the built-in system restore tool can help you fix a registry problem by copying its configuration files from a backup store. However, there are situations when there are no registry files on the hard drive or they are inoperative. In this case, the user must manually perform the system registry recovery procedure.

Startup recovery tools

The easiest way to restore startup is to use the built-in Windows tools:


A list of means for restoring system functionality will appear, in which you must select “Startup recovery”.
It will scan and automatically correct detected errors, if possible.

If nothing worked with the startup, you can try to restore the system by rolling it back to its previous state. Everything is standard here: select a control point with a working configuration and return the system to that period.

Another method that often helps is restoring the Windows bootloader via the command line. You can also launch it through the “Recovery Options” menu. On the command line you need to enter several queries (all commands are entered without quotes):


After all commands are completed successfully and the report appears, Windows 7 should start up normally.