How to restore the boot (Win7)

How to Restore the Boot (Windows 7)

Having trouble? Your Windows 7 system is not booting, and you’re wondering how to repair it? Here’s a step-by-step guide to restore your system’s boot functionality.

Automatic Recovery

To use the automatic recovery utility, follow these steps based on your system’s behavior:

Option A1: If Your Computer is Not Booting at All

Insert the Windows 7 installation DVD or USB drive and restart your system.
When prompted, press any key to boot from the installation media.
Select your preferred input language and keyboard layout. Click Next.
Choose the Repair your computer option.
Follow the on-screen wizard (select the Startup Repair option from the menu). Windows will attempt to repair your boot automatically.

Option A2: If Your Computer Boots But Windows Fails to Load

Restart your computer and repeatedly press F8 during startup.
From the advanced boot options menu, select Repair Your Computer.
Follow the same steps as described in Option A1 to use the recovery wizard.

If the automatic recovery does not resolve the issue, proceed to manual recovery.

Manual Recovery

Use the following Microsoft utilities to repair your boot manually:

BootRec.exe
BootSect.exe
BcdEdit.exe

These tools are available in the System Recovery Options environment. To access them, follow steps from Option A1 or Option A2 and open the Command Prompt.

Step-by-Step Manual Commands

Open the Command Prompt in the System Recovery Options dialog.

Run the following commands one at a time:

BootRec.exe /FixMbr
BootRec.exe /FixBoot

List available operating systems and disks:
```
BootRec.exe /ScanOs
```
The /ScanOs command scans all disks for Windows installations not currently in the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store.
Rebuild the BCD:
```
BootRec.exe /RebuildBcd
```
This command scans all disks and lets you add compatible installations to the BCD store. Use this when you need to completely rebuild the boot configuration.

Forcing Boot Installation

If the above commands fail, try the following:

BootSect.exe /NT60 C:

Replace C: with the appropriate drive letter for your boot disk. For older systems (pre-Vista), use /NT52 instead of /NT60. To restore the boot sector on all drives, use:

BootSect.exe /NT60 ALL

Prevent Future Boot Issues

The boot configuration is stored in C:\Boot\BCD. If your system is functioning properly, back up this file immediately:

Copy C:\Boot\BCD to a safe location (e.g., C:\Boot\BCD.good).
If issues occur in the future, restore the file by renaming BCD.good back to BCD.

Note: The C:\Boot folder may be hidden. Enable visibility of hidden files and folders to access it.

Additional Resources

Microsoft Support: How to Use the Bootrec.exe Tool in the Windows Recovery Environment
EasyBCD Freeware: Download EasyBCD
EasyBCD simplifies bootloader configuration, allowing you to manage Windows, Linux, macOS, or BSD boot entries effortlessly.

By following these steps, you can restore your Windows 7 bootloader and get your system back in working order.