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Solve : 'Windows failed to start '?

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Of my five PCs TWO are currently down due to Windows problems. This is my latest disaster- my wife's machine with all her photos on it.



For no APPARENT reason the machine failed to boot. Perfectly OK when switched off yesterday, fails to start today. Message reads;



Quote


Windows failed to start.

Insert installation disk.

Click Repair Computer.

Status 0x000000F



Fine. After inserting the disk- the same Windows 7 Home Premium installation disk- and choosing ' Repair '- message reads;



Quote

This version of system recovery options is not compatible with the version of Windows you are trying to repair.



Where do I GO from here, please ?

The OS was installed on NTFS with 64-bit and I'm trying to repair with the same disk.Is your original disc SP1 or not? If not, get the disc iso with SP1 here:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/
I'm sorry, c_c, but I can't find what you're suggesting on that link- but my installation disk is SP1, yes.Quote from: moono on April 11, 2013, 11:36:21 AM
I'm sorry, c_c, but I can't find what you're suggesting on that link- but my installation disk is SP1, yes.
They changed the webpage since yesterday. I've had it bookmarked for a few months.
Your disk should be OK as is.
I haven't tried a Win7 recovery & don't need to since I use Macrium Reflect for image backups.

New link for Windows iso's here: http://www.w7forums.com/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads-t12325.html

How to Do a Repair Install to Fix Windows 7
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

How to Run a Startup Repair in Windows 7
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.htmlThanks for that, but it's not possible to do a Repair Install or to run a Startup Repair. How can I retrieve my files from a HDD that Windows cannot access ?Quote from: moono on April 20, 2013, 01:03:16 AM
Thanks for that, but it's not possible to do a Repair Install or to run a Startup Repair. How can I retrieve my files from a HDD that Windows cannot access ?

If you want to recover the files, you can use a CD bootable image like Ubuntu Desktop to grab the files. You can run Ubuntu from the CD to access the hard drive of your computer using a Graphical User Interface similar to windows. It does look a little different but its free. You can then save them to an external Drive, and simply re-install windows.
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktopThe other 2 options would be to hook it up as a slave drive in a working PC...
Slave Drive Tutorial...
That's the no-cost METHOD...
2nd option would be to buy an external HDD enclosure and do it that way...Quote from: cengbrecht on April 22, 2013, 10:24:19 AM
If you want to recover the files, you can use a CD bootable image like Ubuntu Desktop to grab the files. You can run Ubuntu from the CD to access the hard drive of your computer using a Graphical User Interface similar to windows. It does look a little different but its free. You can then save them to an external Drive, and simply re-install windows.
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

Thank you. I'm currently looking at the Windows HDD with ' Parted Magic ' but it can't see the ' C drive ' files. It can see the contents of the second, data backup, HDD on that machine but not the OS HDD. Unfortunately, I hadn't backed up for a while.
I'll post the ' Parted Magic ' message- when I get a chance- and perhaps you can determine the problem from that ?Quote from: patio on April 22, 2013, 01:11:39 PM
The other 2 options would be to hook it up as a slave drive in a working PC...
Slave Drive Tutorial...
That's the no-cost method...
2nd option would be to buy an external HDD enclosure and do it that way...

I've bought another internal HDD just in case . Thanks for that, I'll look into it this week.


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