IT Professionals

System Recovery Options In Vista Part I

Posted by on Oct 3, 2008 | 2 Comments

Vista includes several options that you can choose from to recover your system — depending on what kind of an error you are experiencing. The System Recovery option let you perform tasks such as restoring critical files that Windows uses to start, to restoring your entire computer using a backup that you previously created.

The System Recovery options in Vista include:

  • Startup Repair
  • System Restore
  • Windows CompletePC Restore
  • Windows Memory Diagnostics
  • Command Prompt

You can access the System Recovery Options menu from the Windows installation disc. Alternatively, the menu might also be installed on your hard disk if your computer has preinstalled recovery options.

Startup Repair
Users often think that the best and easiest way to get rid of start up problems is to simply reinstall the operating system. However, this is time consuming especially when you have to restore data and reinstall your favorite applications. A lot of times, but not all, the problem is as simple as replacing a file or altering a setting. This is where Vista’s Startup Repair option can help.

The Startup Repair option is designed to detect operating system startup problems. If one is detected, it automatically launches a troubleshooter that will attempt to resolve the problem with little to no user intervention. The Startup Repair option can repair problems such as:

  • Missing or corrupt drivers
  • Missing or corrupt system files
  • Missing or corrupt boot configuration settings
  • Corrupt registry settings
  • Corrupt disk metadata

So what happens when the Startup Repair option detects a problem? It will automatically attempt to repair the system. If successful, the computer will reboot and an event will be written to the event log. If the Startup Repair option cannot repair the problem without user intervention, it will provide you with the tools to manually troubleshoot the issue. If the Startup Repair option cannot identify or fix the problem, it will start the computer using the last known good configuration.

In part II of this article, we will continue looking at the remaining recovery options included in Vista.

  • woody bean

    I think this is a great addition for vista as i am just switching to vista because windows xp gave my just such a problem.

  • fommy

    When in doubt,reformat.Although many dont like Vista i find it a good system.XP had it’s growing pains also.As of now i has a XP and a Vista machine and enjoying both.