There was a problem with returning the computer to its original state. Windows System Restore
The problem of returning your PC to its original Windows 10 state may arise when you try to restore Windows 10. Now we will look at how it is solved.
Solving the problem of returning the PC to its original state
So you tried to do a system restore, but something went wrong. The problem may arise if the files needed for recovery were not found. When restoring the operating system, files located in the WinSxS folder are used; if they are not there, then an error may appear.
SFC
If you are unable to restore Windows 10 to its original state, you need to use a system utility that helps restore damaged system files or download missing ones. Let's run it, to do this you need to open the command line.
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Administrator rights are required to use the SFC program.
Therefore, you need to run it with administrator rights:
- Open Windows 10 search and enter in the search bar "CMD".
- Right-click on the found application and select from the context menu "Run as administrator".
- A command line will open, where you should enter the command sfc /scannow, and then press the key Enter.
Reinstalling Windows
If the previous method did not help and the computer froze again during recovery and an error appeared, you should reset the system. The operating system developers have created an excellent utility - Media Creation Tool. It will help you create a boot disk or flash drive with the official Windows 10 distribution. Its interface is intuitive, so there should be no problems.
Conclusion
Now you know what to do if such an error occurs. There's nothing scary about it. Read our recommendations and follow them carefully to solve this problem.
Returning your computer to its original state is one of the ways to restore damaged Windows 10. This is a relatively new method, it appeared only in versions of Windows starting with version 8, but has already proven itself to be very effective. This method can be used if you were unable to restore normal operation of the system using.
Returning the computer to its original state (instructions):
Before we start...
There are 2 options for restoring your computer to its original state: with and without saving personal files.
If you choose "Delete everything", then a complete “clean” reinstallation of the Windows 10 system will be performed, and no installation disk is required.
Recovery instructions (if the computer boots):
1. Click the "Start" button, select "Settings" from the menu, write "Recovery" in the search bar at the top right and click on the first item that appears "Restore the computer to its original state":
2. In the new window, click "Start":
After this, you will be asked to choose whether you want to keep personal files or delete everything, I talked about this at the very beginning of the article.
If you are restoring a computer for yourself, choose the first option. If for sale or transfer to other people, the second method is for you.
4. Now you will see the final window with all the selected recovery settings. Once you click the "Reset" button, you will no longer be able to cancel:
After rebooting, you will receive the Windows 10 operating system restored to its original state.
Recovery instructions (if the computer does not boot):
If your computer won't boot at all, you can still start the process of restoring your computer to its original state. To do this, restart the computer using the power button 2-3 times (hold down the power button and wait until the computer turns off, then turn on the computer again with the same button). As a result, you will see the "Windows Recovery Environment" window, select "Troubleshooting":
All other actions completely coincide with the main instructions, go to the beginning and continue.
What to do if restoring your computer to its original state did not help
If you have any questions or need clarification, I am always happy to help you! or leave a comment!
If you encounter a serious problem with your computer, then the best and easiest way to return it to an earlier, happier time is to restore the system. This way you will protect your personal files, even after they are eliminated by a recently modified registry, removing drivers and software that can only cause computer pain.
You may encounter many problems while using the device. If there is a problem with the system, it will not be able to boot successfully and you will not be able to use applications. In this situation, reverting Windows to an earlier date will help you return it to its previous state. Additionally, there are other reasons that may cause unexpected changes to occur on your computer. You can uninstall an incorrectly installed program or driver. However, if this does not solve the problem, try restoring your system to an earlier date. A good place to start is to get your computer in proper working condition.
How to restore a device to a specific date?
The first thing you should do is back up your system. Then, when you have to perform a restore, you can use it directly. Other versions have a snap-in that can create copies of the image and restore the last working state of the OS. Open this tool, create a backup and save it to your local or external hard drive. If something goes wrong, you can use it to get your computer back to working order.
However, many users find that the built-in tool in Windows is very difficult to use and creates a large backup image of the system. To solve this problem, try running a third-party utility.
Video - System Restore in Windows 7. Creating a restore point
Restore your computer to an earlier date using AOMEI Backupper
AOMEI Backupper is a powerful program that allows you to backup and restore your system, partition, disk, file/folder. Moreover, it has many other tools that create bootable media, synchronize two folders, etc. The free version of the program is designed for PC users with Windows 10/8/8.1/7/Vista/XP. So, to restore your system to an earlier date, download AOMEI Backupper Standard.
Step 1. Launch the utility. On the left, click "Restore". Then click on the "Path" button to select the image file for data recovery. Click Next.
Step 2. A window will appear reminding you to restore the system. Click Yes and select a backup time. Click on it and click Next.
Step 3. You will be taken to the Transaction Summary page. Confirm the information if there are no problems, and then click “Start Recovery.”
When the progress reaches 100%, click "Done".
If you only want to restore some drivers and not all, then try downloading the tool Driver Easy. It allows you to select only those components that are needed for backup and recovery, and thus save a ton of storage space for other important files and programs. In addition, with Driver Easy you can detect and update all the necessary drivers for free.
AOMEI Backupper allows you to perform a universal restore that returns the system to a working state from one computer to another. However, this feature only exists in the paid version of AOMEI Backupper Professional, which means you need to update your existing program.
Attention! Selecting recovery increases the likelihood that the process of returning the system to a working state will not be successful. In this case, perform all the steps gradually. To do this, first select a recent restore point and then move on to older ones. Selecting the old backup removes all software and hardware updates installed "in the interim" when they no longer work and require reinstallation after the system restore operation is completed.
Video - How to run System Restore on Windows 10
Using System Restore
Let's assume that you have enabled the function to return the system to a working state (we will discuss how to do this below). To reset the settings to an earlier date, follow these steps:
Step 1. Click the Windows icon (or Windows Search on Windows 10) on the taskbar and type “Recovery” in the search field. Select the Recovery Control Panel.
Step 2. Click "Run System Restore" and the "Next" button. You will see the restoration dates and times. This may only be one point, but there are usually more. Select the point that you think was created before the PC started. Click Next.
Step 3. To confirm your choice, click “Done”. The system will return the computer to its last working state.
Recovering using Safe Mode
There are cases when, due to serious problems with Windows, it is not possible to successfully run System Restore. Luckily, you can still do this by booting into Safe Mode.
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How to enable System Restore
As mentioned earlier, Windows 10 requires the recovery feature to be activated. To avoid the unpleasant surprise of missing restore points when you need them most, follow these steps:
- Type “Create a restore point” into the Windows 10 search box. Click on the output and select the recovery option.
- When System Properties opens, select Customize.
- The System Protection window appears. You can see that the restore feature is disabled by default. Click the switch next to “Enable system protection.” You will also see a slider. Move the pointer along the slider by 5%. Then click "Apply" and "OK".
- After confirming the action, you will return to the system properties window. Now you can create your first restore point. Click "Create".
- In the dialog box that opens, create a name for the recovery point.
- From now on, system backups will be created whenever significant changes are made.
In the Windows operating system, there is data recovery. The system automatically makes backups of changeable parts, with the ability to restore them.
Some PC users do not know that such recovery exists, and there is a good chance of recovering a deleted file. This restoration is otherwise called a system rollback, i.e. the system, all data relating to it and changed, are returned to the period for which you are restoring.
It should be noted that it is not possible to roll back the system on all computers, but only on those whose operating system automatically makes backup copies. Storing these copies requires an additional few Gigabytes of free space on the C drive.
Also, a system rollback is not possible until any time earlier, but for approximately the last 2 weeks, operating system restore points are saved.
Why is restoration needed?
Recovery may be useful to you if you deleted a file from drive C and now need to get it back. Recovery also helps when your computer is infected with viruses, roll back the system to the day when there were no viruses and that’s it - your computer is clean again.
Many people use recovery if they “break” something on their computer. This means, of course, programs. For example, some program was working for you and suddenly something happens to it and it stops working. You can fix this by rolling back the systems to the date when your program was functioning properly.
What negative consequences can occur after a system recovery?
No negative consequences were ever observed after recovery. As Microsoft assures, system recovery does not affect the user's personal files. In any case, after applying a restore, you can cancel the restore and return the system to the form in which it was.
How to restore the system?
1 . Go to Start, then select Execute. This component is in the right row.
In the window that appears, enter rstrui.
If you can't find the button Execute, run the recovery program manually. The recovery file is located at your address C:\Windows\System32\rstrui.exe. It is recommended to copy this path and paste it into the address bar of Explorer, click Enter.
If both points are impossible or difficult for you, go to Start >> Control Panel >> Recovery. In the window that appears, select Start recovery.
2 . You should see a window System Restore, click Further.
3 . The window will display all available restore points. You can choose any of them. I will also select and click " Find affected programs"You will see which programs will change after restoring the system.
4 . This screen will show you which local drives will be damaged after recovery. Click Further.
5 . This is the last stage of recovery. Click on the drive in the list and click Finish.
The system will be restored, which may take from 5 to 15 minutes.
During recovery, the computer will reboot, this is normal.
If you don’t like the changes, as described above, you can return everything back in the same window System Restore.
Mar 3 2015
How to restore Windows 7 on a laptop, a black screen appears when booting, the recovery environment does not work, I deleted all hidden partitions, there is no original disk with Windows 7.
I spent a lot of time, tell me what to do now, or at least how to insure myself against such situations in the future, preferably without using paid data backup programs.
How to restore Windows 7 system
Unfortunately, there are many reasons for this problem, ranging from incorrectly written drivers, harmful effects of a virus, file system errors and ending with our erroneous actions when working with a computer. There is no need to be afraid of such problems, you need to learn how to deal with them effectively.
Let's think about how to restore a Windows 7 system, and also insure ourselves in the future against possible troubles using the backup and recovery tools built into the operating system.
We will learn how to restore Windows 7 without using third-party backup programs, even when System Recovery Options do not load and the F-8 button is useless.
It has in its arsenal a fairly powerful and good tool -> Recovery Environment, which is created automatically when installing Windows 7 in a hidden partition and contains five other tools that solve numerous malfunctions and problems.
Note: If you learn how to use Windows 7 recovery tools correctly, and this is not difficult, then you can do without additional and paid data backup programs.
You can launch the recovery tool by pressing the F-8 button on the keyboard immediately after starting the computer. After this, the menu Additional boot options will open in front of you: Troubleshoot your computer, then Safe Mode, Safe Mode with loading network drivers, etc.
A small digression: Before selecting Troubleshoot your computer, try the simpler option - Last Known Good Configuration - in simple words, the operating system always remembers the last successful boot of the computer and enters this information into the registry.
If there are problems loading, Windows can remember the registry settings and driver settings that were used when the system was last successfully booted and use them if you select the Last Known Good Configuration option.
If this tool does not help, select the first -> Troubleshoot computer problems.
Next, we get to the Windows 7 System Recovery Options menu, this is what we need, this is where we can select the System Restore Tool we need, there are five of them in total, let’s take a closer look at how they all work.
The first thing to do is apply Startup Repair (Automatically fix problems that prevent Windows from starting).
Required digression: After pressing the F-8 button when booting the computer, you may not have the item > Troubleshoot your computer, but only Safe Mode and so on, the question arises why.
When installing Windows 7, a recovery environment partition is created automatically and is located in the root of the drive (C:) in the Recovery folder. You can also see in the Disk Management window - a separate, hidden partition of the hard drive, its volume is only 100 MB, it is used to store boot configuration files (BCD) and the system bootloader (bootmgr file).
You can see it under Computer->Management->Disk Management. Under no circumstances should you delete this partition (many people delete it out of ignorance), otherwise you will not have the recovery environment start, that is, you will not have the Troubleshoot your computer option, and in more severe cases, you simply will not boot the system.
In the lower screenshot you can see another hidden partition, with a capacity of 9.02 GB, this is a hidden recovery partition with factory settings on my laptop, yours may be larger or smaller. It’s also better not to delete it; if necessary, you can always restore Windows 7 from it.
What should you do if you do not have a partition with a recovery environment and when you press the F-8 button in the Additional boot options menu, the Troubleshooting computer option does not appear? How then to restore the Windows 7 system?
An installation disk with the Windows 7 operating system can help here. You can run the recovery tool by booting from the original Windows 7 installation disk, selecting System Restore at the very beginning.
If you don’t have an installation disk, then you can use the Windows 7 Recovery Disk (you can make it in any running Windows 7) in five minutes, then you can also boot from it and do the same.
So we finally got to the System Recovery Options, either using the F-8 button and the Troubleshooting item, or the Windows 7 installation disk or the Windows 7 Recovery Disk.
In the System Restore Tools Selection menu, select the first one:
Startup recovery-> there will be an analysis of faults that interfere with the normal loading of Windows 7 and their further correction for the normal loading and functioning of the operating system.
During the process, we may be warned that problems have been detected in the boot parameters, click Fix and restart.
System Restore-> using this function we can select a previously created system restore point, if we have it enabled, and roll back to the time when our Windows 7 worked and loaded perfectly, everything is simple here.
Restoring a system image-> I personally use this tool; if used skillfully, it can replace paid data backup programs. If you are interested, read on.
What's good about it? It will help when you don't have the original Windows 7 installation disk and you've deleted the hidden partition with your laptop's factory settings, but that's not all.
Sometimes there are situations when, for various reasons or due to the actions of a virus, you will not be able to boot the operating system at all, or many people ask How to restore the Windows 7 system, even if the menu with Additional boot options is also unavailable. Should I reinstall the operating system again?
Therefore, immediately after installing Windows 7 on your laptop or computer, using this function -> Restore system image, we create an archived image of our Windows 7 on the hard drive, and take care of it.
You must create a Windows 7 Recovery Disk (read below), it will help you use the System Image if the Advanced Boot Options menu does not load.
Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Back up computer data.
Select “Create a system image”.
In my case, Local disk (E:), if you have several hard drives in the system unit, then of course it is better to place the backup on the hard drive where the operating system is not installed.
By default, the data archiving program will automatically select a partition with the Windows 7 operating system; if you wish, you can add Local disks for archiving, as long as you have enough space.
Note: You may notice that I have two operating systems installed on my laptop, so the archiving program selected two Local disks.
Click Archive and the process of creating an archive with our Windows 7 will begin.
Created, it will look like this.
Now, if necessary, you can deploy the archive with Windows 7 to your computer in 20-30 minutes. It would be better if you additionally copy the archive with the system onto a portable hard drive, this will doubly protect you.
Let's imagine that we can't start Windows 7 and deploy the backup we created, let's do it together.
We launch the Windows 7 Recovery Tool by pressing the F-8 button on the keyboard immediately after starting the computer.
The Advanced boot options menu opens, select Troubleshoot your computer.
Restoring a system image
Use the latest available system image.
Of course, all our data on the Local Disk, where the operating system is now being restored, will be deleted, so you can first boot from any Live CD and copy what you need.
How else can you restore your Windows 7 system? Of course, using the Windows 7 Recovery Disk.
Let's create one that can be used to boot the computer; it will contain recovery tools that can be used to repair Windows 7 boot problems, as well as restore the operating system from the backup copy that we created in advance.
Important: For a recovery disk, the bitness of the system is important, you can use a 32-bit recovery disk for any 32-bit Windows 7, and a 64-bit recovery disk for any 64-bit Windows 7.
Let's go again Archiving computer data.
Create a system recovery disc, insert the DVD into the drive, click “Create disc”.
When the Windows 7 Bootable Recovery Disk is ready, put it in a safe place.
To restore Windows 7 from a Recovery Disk, you basically don’t need any working operating system at all.
You will only need to change the boot priority to the disk drive in your computer’s BIOS, insert a recovery disk into it and restore your Windows 7 using the archive.
Many here can draw an analogy with data backup programs, and this is correct, they work on the same principle, only their functionality is, of course, more convenient.
Recovering Windows 7 from a Recovery Disk. I show you how to do it. Let's say we're in trouble, we can't start Windows 7, when we press F-8 on the keyboard immediately after starting the computer, nothing happens.
We cannot get to the menu with Additional boot options and an error message is displayed. In this case, the system archive on the hard drive is not available to us. This is exactly the kind of trouble that happened to our reader Ilya, who wrote us a letter asking for help.
In this situation, many people reinstall Windows 7 from scratch, but not you and me, because we have a System Recovery Disk.
We insert it into the drive and reboot, set the BIOS to boot from the drive, as I said, the disk is bootable, the System Recovery Options program starts.
Press Enter until the prompt to boot from the disk disappears.
Automatically, the recovery tool running from the disk will try to restore Windows 7 to start.
If nothing works, select any tool, for example, try Restoring a computer using a previously created operating system image.
We use the latest available system image.
What other ways are there to restore Windows 7?
There is another little-known way to restore Windows 7 boot after a failure, and I’ll tell you about it. At first glance, it may seem difficult to many, but nevertheless it often helps me out.
The fact is, friends, that a very large part of the problems due to which you cannot boot Windows 7 lie in registry errors. And Windows 7 would not be Windows 7 if it did not have a mechanism that protects registry files. Such a mechanism exists and creates backup copies of the registry in the RegBack folder every 10 days, regardless of whether you have system recovery enabled or not.
If you cannot solve problems loading Windows 7, you should try replacing the existing (and apparently damaged) registry files from the Config folder with archived files from the RegBack folder. To do this, we will have to boot the computer from the Windows 7 installation disk or the Windows 7 recovery disk.
Boot into the recovery environment and select the command line.
We type in it - notepad, we get into Notepad, then File and Open.
We go into the real explorer, click My Computer. Now we need the system drive C:, pay attention, the drive letters here may be mixed up, but I think you can recognize the system drive C: by the Windows and Program Files system folders located inside.
We go to the folder C:\Windows\System32\Config, here are the active registry files, specify the File Type - All files and see our registry files, we also see the RegBack folder, in which every 10 days the Task Scheduler makes a backup copy of the registry keys.
So, we will replace the current registry files from the Config folder with backup registry files from the RegBack folder.
So, first of all, let’s delete from the C:\Windows\System32\Config folder the files SAM, SECURITY, SOFTWARE, DEFAULT, SYSTEM, which are responsible for all registry hives (my advice is to copy the registry hives somewhere before deleting, just in case).
In their place, let's copy and paste files with the same names, but from the backup copy, that is, from the RegBack folder.
Note: The SAM, SECURITY, SOFTWARE, DEFAULT, SYSTEM files cannot be deleted all together; delete them one by one. Then copy the same files from the RegBack folder in their place.
Friends, if this does not help, use Windows 7 file integrity recovery; if the operating system does not boot, it is done in exactly the same way as in Windows 8.
What else do we have left of Windows 7 recovery tools?
Memory diagnostics 7-> checks system memory for errors. Command line-> using it you can delete files that interfere with loading Windows 7.
I hope our article on how to restore Windows 7 system helped you.