HOWTO: Make a System Repair Disk, NOW! - Comments Page 1

My problem: would like to restore acer netbook to factory setting- the partition is there and I tried several times- the computer goes through all the steps to restore,then says "restore was successful",you restart computer and... no change whatsoever!Anybody been through this?

A system repair disc is all very well as long as you know how to use the tools it opens. But the name is a bit of a misnomer really, as the disc alone does not actually repair your system! All it does is open the tools, so that you can try start-up repair (although this has never fixed anything when I've tried it!) or gain access to a system restore point, from which you can roll back your system to a time when it worked properly. But even rolling back your system is not even a repair as such - it's just a rollback. And whilst rollbacks are definitely better than having to re-install your system, they can still cause minor problems by partially reinstalling programs that you may have uninstalled since the last restore point.

What would be more useful would be a disc that actually repairs Windows by overwriting any corrupted system files with new ones. Is there such a disc?

You can make a recovery disk in Windows 8, or 8.1, the same way as in Windows 7. It doesn't have to be a USB drive.

EDITOR'S NOTE: As fas as I can tell, the option to burn a recovery disc on CD is gone in Windows 8.1. I think it was available in Windows 8, but no longer.

I am on your page "How tomake a S "System Repair Disk," but for the life of me I cant find how to make one. I have Windows XP Pro with SP3, and Windows 7, and Windows 8.1. Help, I can't figure out how to make one for the Windows XP from all your information. HELP.

EDITOR'S NOTE: See: http://askbobrankin.com/recovery_console.html, and perhaps more importantly: http://askbobrankin.com/windows_xp_the_end_is_near.html

I have Vista Home Premium and have gone to maintenance and cannot find any way of creating a recovery disk. What is wrong? Anyone know?

Maybe this will be the geeky comment of the day, but there's another alternative: A Linux LiveCD. In an emergency, it may help you start the computer, extract the relevant files, work with the Free & Open Source alternatives for common tasks (web browsing with IceWeasel, office stuff with OpenOffice or LibreOffice, etcetera), and repair the hard drive. I keep a copy of Knoppix (http://knoppix.net/) at hand for that kind of things, and it has saved my skin many times.

Interestingly, my programs>maintenance has no option to make such a disk. Anyone have any ideas as to why?

EDITOR'S NOTE: According to my sources (I don't have a Vista machine to test) it should be available with Vista SP1 and higher. Perhaps you need to be logged into an admin account? Also, try going to Start -> Run, then type recdisk and press Enter.

This is actually a reply to Skip Henry... as far as I know the Windows XP operating system does not have a option to create System Repair discs like Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1

Your last sentence in the box about the difference between disc and disk gave me a much needed chuckle!

There is also UBCD (http://www.ubcd4win.com/) and Hiren's Boot CD which both have many tools on them including anti-spyware. Hiren's works on 32-bit and 64-bit. As far as I can tell, UBCD works only on 32-bit.
Windows 7 and 8 recovery disks are here: http://neosmart.net/blog/2009/windows-7-system-repair-discs/. A recovery disk for Vista is here: https://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/.
Various downloadable bootable anti-malware disks are here: http://www.techmixer.com/free-bootable-antivirus-rescue-cds-download-list/

Very informative and useful as always, thanks Bob. One question though, can one make a system repair disc on one computer and use it on anther if the operating system is the same? In my case Windows 7 Professional 64bit fully updated. Same question with the AVG rescue disc. Or are the repair/rescue discs specific to the computer on which they are created?
Thanks.

Bob:
I made a Win 7 repair CD. The 5th option therein is "Command Prompt" Where Oh where do I find commands to place therein. and proceed to repair?
And while I still have you cornered in the laundry room, for weeks I've tried everything to "Install 19 Windows 7 Updates". I am really ticked. Is that because I'm a 79 year old Canadian?

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'd recommend you try the Startup Repair option first. If you opt for the command line, enter HELP to get a list of commands. Here are some of them:

CHKDSK /R - Scans your hard drive and attempts to repair any problems found.
DISKPART - Displays a table of all hard drive partitions. You can also add or delete partitions, but this is the stuff of wizardry.
FIXMBR - Replaces the Master Boot Record on the hard drive, if you are having trouble booting. (See Repairing a Damaged MBR).
FIXBOOT - Creates a new startup sector on the hard drive, if you are having trouble booting.

My system is already shot and the PC won't boot so its too late to make a repair/recovery disk. Where can I get one that will work on an old Win XP computer without paying an arm and a leg? Thanks!

EDITOR'S NOTE: This should help: http://askbobrankin.com/windows_xp_repair.html

I have an older HP laptop running Vista Service Pack 2. When I go to Maintenance there is no option to choose "Create a Recovery Disk." Where is it?

EDITOR'S NOTE: According to my sources (I don't have a Vista machine to test) it should be available with Vista SP1 and higher. Perhaps you need to be logged into an admin account? Also, try going to Start -> Run, then type recdisk and press Enter.

@ Sheri:

"What would be more useful would be a disc that actually repairs Windows by overwriting any corrupted system files with new ones. Is there such a disc?"

Yes. It's called the installation disc. This link includes instructions on how to do a repair install including info on how/where to obtain a legal installation disc for Windows 7. NOTE: You'll need your product key to reactivate after the repair is finished.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html?ltr=R

There's no point in creating and saving a Windows Defender Offline disc/k. The virus definitions are updated often, so you need a new one each time. Make it on an unaffected computer when you need it.

@ Sheri Thank you for saying that in your experience none of the repair disks have ever worked. My Google research has shown this to be the case with contributors saying the same thing. I possess a library numbering over 20 rescue disks downloaded from the best known names in the business.

I experienced system crashes on my XP viz; 1) opening up my desktop during a Windows update, 2) downloading AVG's 2013 update (thousands of users crashed with this also) and 3) removing a Cnet interloper which piggy-backed itself on a requested program.

In each case I could not boot up or get into 'safe' mode. A re-install was the only way I could use the system again. Examination of the hard disk on each occasion was only by using Hiren's who let me look at folders and, in some cases, transfer details but its other tools would not allow me to boot up.

Thank you Bob for the article - I will use the links you provided - perhaps a rescue disk will only work when copied by a particular system before it crashes?

The advice for VISTA does not work. After you reach "maintenance", there is no further step available for creating the disk (disc).

OK, that was spooky. Within a day of getting this email and thinking, oh, yeah, I should do that, I came home to a blue screen of death and a computer that would not reboot. I had just removed some IOBit software because I didn't like the Yahoo! search it had installed against my wishes and run Avast and Malwarebytes. I don't know if the IOBit removal was the cause of the crash. I will certainly never use their software again. Finally after several restarts and using system restore it is restarted and I've created the System Repair Disc and I'm downloading your other suggested emergency methods.

Mr. Rankin. Thank You.

I just successfully burned a System Repair Disc . . . did not know that I could do it so easily via Windows 7 (My second favorite version of Windows after XP!)

. . . speaking of XP, I am now installing Linux Lite on a few of my neighbors' computers (as an XP replacement). Of course one has to make sure that the PAE is enabled on the CPU before installion!

Good Day,

TR