Windows won’t start – Guide for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10

Windows won’t start – Guide for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10

This guide details how you can troubleshoot and fix a computer that won’t start (or won’t boot). This guide goes through various solutions and fixes that you can apply for most Windows versions: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10. 

 Fix with Easy Recovery Essentials Using Easy Recovery Essentials (EasyRE) and its built-in Automated Repair process, you can find and fix various boot errors that prevent your computer from starting. Everything is done in one single-click: 

1.  Download Easy Recovery Essentials. Make sure to note your Windows version (XP, Vista, 7 or   8) before you download EasyRE. 
2.  Burn the image
3.  Boot up your PC from the Easy Recovery Essentials CD or USB you created.
4. Choose “Automated Repair” option and click Continue. Choose “Automated Repair” in Easy Recovery Essentials
5. After EasyRE scans your computer’s drives, identify and select the drive letter for your Windows installation from the list, and then click on the Automated Repair button to begin. Choose the drive associated with the Windows installation you’re trying to repair. 
6. Easy Recovery Essentials will start analyzing the selected drive for problems. EasyRE will test for and attempt to automatically correct errors with the disk, partition, bootsector, filesystem, bootloader, and registry. No intervention is required, as EasyRE’s repair is fully automated: Easy Recovery Essentials searches for errors and makes corrections to the selected Windows installation.
7. Once the process is complete, EasyRE will report its findings. Click on the Restart button to reboot your PC and test the changes. 8. Your PC begins to boot again: Windows, booting up successfully. . 
8. General fixes if Windows won’t start 
9. Fix #1: Boot into Last Known Good Configuration If Windows doesn’t start, booting in the Last Known Good Configuration mode usually fixes this.
10.  To boot into this mode, follow these steps: 
11. 1. Restart your computer
12. 2. Press the F8 key before the Windows logo appears
13.  3. At the Advanced Boot Options menu, select Last Known Good Configuration The advanced boot options startup menu.
14.  4. Press Enter
15.  Fix #2: Boot into Safe Mode Here are the steps you need to follow to boot into the Safe Mode of your computer:
16.  1. Restart your computer
17.  2. Press the F8 key repeatedly as soon as your computer boots, but before the Windows logo appears 
18. 3. Select Safe Mode at the Advanced Boot Options menu The Advanced Boot Options screen in Windows Vista
19.  4. Press Enter You can now try to uninstall recently added hardware drivers or software applications.
20.  Fix #3: Remove recently added hardware If you recently added a new piece of hardware, follow these tips: 
21. • Remove the new added hardware and restart your computer to check if it now starts and boots correctly. 
22. • Remove any external hardware from your computer, except your mouse and keyboard. Restart your computer to test if it boots correctly. 
23. Fix #4: Run chkdsk and sfc The chkdsk and sfc utilities, part of Windows, can detect issues with your HDD. To run chkdsk and sfc, follow these steps:
24.  1. Open Command Prompt via the Windows original installation disc
25.  2. Type: chkdsk C: /r Replace C: is the letter of the drive where Windows is installed.
26.  3. Press Enter
27.  4. Type: sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows Replace c: with the letter of the drive where your Windows XP is installed.
28.  5. Press Enter 
29. 6. Type exit and press Enter. Restart your computer.
30.  If you don’t have the original Windows disc, use Command-line from Easy Recovery Essentials (our recovery and repair disc) to run these commands: 
31. 1. Download Easy Recovery Essentials
32.  2. Burn the ISO Image.
33.  3. Boot Easy Recovery Essentials from the CD, DVD or USB 
34. 4. Select Launch Command Line . Fix #5: Run msconfig If Windows won’t start because of a recently added software that runs at startup, you can use the msconfig utility to disable startup services or software applications:
35.  1. Boot your computer into the Safe Mode mode
36.  2. Click Start 
37. 3. Click Run and type msconfig or search for msconfig directly
38.  4. Go to the Startup or Services tab
39.  5. Disable all services listed in this tab
40.  6. Click OK 
41. 7. Click Restart to restart your computer 
42. Fix #6: Check for viruses If you don’t have an antivirus software that you can use, get Easy Recovery Essentials and use built-in antivirus scanner which can run outside Windows, if you can’t boot into your computer: The Professional Edition of Easy Recovery Essentials for Windows features a powerful antivirus and rootkit scanner that can normally resolve this and similar errors caused by viruses, rootkits, trojans, or spyware. EasyRE is currently available for Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 and can be downloaded and created on any PC. 
43. 1. Download Easy Recovery Essentials. Make sure to note your Windows version (XP, Vista, 7 or 8) before you download EasyRE. 
44.  2. Burn the image. 
45. 3. Boot up your PC from the Easy Recovery Essentials CD or USB you created.
46.  4. Once EasyRE is running, choose the “Virus Scanner” option and click Continue. Choose “Virus Scanner” in Easy Recovery Essentials
47.  5. After EasyRE scans your computer’s drives, identify and select the drive letter for your Windows installation from the list, and then click on the Scan button to begin. Choose the drive associated with the Windows installation you’re trying to repair.
48.  6. EasyRE will begin scanning the drive for viruses, rootkits, trojans, spyware, and other unwanted malware on your machine. No intervention is required, and EasyRE will repair viruses as it finds them, reporting its progress as it goes along: Easy Recovery Essentials searches for viruses and cleans infections on the selected Windows installation. 
49. 7. Once the process is complete, EasyRE will report its findings. Click on the Restart button to reboot your PC and test the changes. You can download Easy Recovery Essentials from here. Fixes if Windows Vista or 7 won’t start
50.  Fix #1: Run Startup Repair To run Startup Repair, follow these steps:
51.  1. Insert the original Windows Vista or 7 installation disc
52.  2. Restart the computer and press any key to boot from the disc
53.  3. Click Repair your computer Windows Vista Repair Your Computer Menu 
54. 4. Choose your operating system and click Next to continue 
55. 5. At System Recovery Options, select Startup Repair Windows Vista System Recovery Options 
56. 6. After Startup Repair is done, restart your computer
57.  Fix #2: Restore the MBR Restoring the MBR of your computer might fix the computer to boot again. To do so, you need to run the bootrec utility:
58.  1. Insert the Windows Vista or Windows 7 install disc and restart the computer
59.  2. Boot from the disc
60.  3. Click Repair your computer 
61. 4. Select Command Prompt at the System Recovery Options screen
62.  5. Type: bootrec /FixMbr 
63. 6. Press Enter
64.  7. Type: bootrec /FixBoot 
65. 8. Press Enter 
66. 9. Type: bootrec /RebuildBcd 
67. 10. Press Enter 
68. 11. Type: exit 
69. 12. Press Enter 
70. 13. Restart your computer
71.  Fix #3: Disable Automatic Restart Disabling the Automatic Restart option on a Windows Vista or 7 system might work and make the computer boot again. To do so, perform these steps:
72. 1. Restart the computer
73.  2. Press the F8 key as soon as the computer starts to boot, but before the Windows logo appears on your screen 
74. 3. Select Disable automatic restart on system failure
75.  4. Press Enter 
76. Fix #4: Use System Restore With System Restore, you can revert your computer to a working state earlier in time. Since you can’t start Windows, you can run System Restore from Safe Mode: 
77. 1. Start the PC and press the F8 key repeatedly until the Advanced Boot Options menu appears Advanced Boot Options Screen on Dell Computer 
78. 2. Select Safe Mode with Command Prompt
79.  3. Press Enter 
80. 4. Type: rstrui.exe
81.  5. Press Enter 
82. 6. Follow the wizard instructions to choose a restore point If you can’t access the Advanced Boot Options menu, Easy Recovery Essentials also lets you access restore points from an external DVD or USB drive. Fixes if Windows 8 won’t start . 
83. Fix #1: Restore the MBR Similarly to the Windows Vista or Windows 7 steps to restore the MBR, use the Windows 8 DVD or USB to perform the same bootrec commands: 
84. 1. Insert the installation media, the DVD or the USB, and boot from it
85.  2. Click Repair your computer Windows 8 Repair Your Computer Menu
86.  3. Click Troubleshoot 
87. 4. Click Advanced options
88.  5. Click Command Prompt
89.  6. Type: bootrec /FixMbr 
90. 7. Press Enter 
91. 8. Type: bootrec /FixBoot 
92. 9. Press Enter 
93. 10. Type: bootrec /ScanOs
94.  11. Press Enter 
95. 12. Type: bootrec /RebuildBcd 
96. 13. Press Enter
97. Fix #2: Refresh or Reset Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 can be refreshed or reseted. These 2 operations – Refresh or Reset – can be used to fix a non-working Windows. To perform a Refresh, follow these steps: 
98. 1. Restart the computer
99.  2. Insert the Windows 8 or 8.1 installation DVD and boot from it
100.  3. Click Repair your computer Windows 8 Repair Your Computer Menu 
101. 4. Click Troubleshoot
102. 5. Click Refresh your PC To perform a Reset, follow these steps:
103.  1. Insert the installation media and boot from it
104.  2. Click Repair your computer 
105. 3. Click Troubleshoot Troubleshoot in Windows 8 recovery options screen 
106. 4. Click Reset your PC Fixes if Windows 10 won’t start 
107. 
     
108. Fix #1: Restore the MBR Similarly to the Windows Vista 8 steps to restore the MBR, use the Windows 10 DVD or USB to perform the same bootrec commands:
109.  1. Insert the installation media, the DVD or the USB, and boot from it 
110. 2. Click Repair your computer 
111.  3. Click Troubleshoot
112.  4. Click Advanced options 
113.  5. Click Command Prompt 
114. 6. Type: bootrec /FixMbr 
115. 7. Press Enter 
116. 8. Type: bootrec /FixBoot 
117. 9. Press Enter 
118. 10. Type: bootrec /ScanOs
119.  11. Press Enter 
120. 12. Type: bootrec /RebuildBcd 
121. 13. Press Enter 
122. Fix #2: Refresh or Reset Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 can be refreshed or reseted. These 2 operations – Refresh or Reset – can be used to fix a non-working Windows. To perform a Refresh, follow these steps: 
123. 1. Restart the computer 
124. 2. Insert the Windows 8 or 8.1 installation DVD and boot from it
125. 3. Click Repair your computer 
126.  4. Click Troubleshoot
127.  5. Click Refresh your PC To perform a Reset, follow these steps: 
128. 1. Insert the installation media and boot from it 
129. 2. Click Repair your computer
130.  3. Click Troubleshoot
131.  4. Click Reset your PC