Windows 7 SP1 - Reading Repair option to F8 boot

[Time-Bandit]

Hi there,

Would like some help on how to go about Readding Repair option to F8 boot for a Windows 7 SP 1 machine without needing to do a reinstall.

The system reserved partition some how got deleted/removed so I have managed to recreate that, move my boot to this partition aswell and I copied and pasted the recovery folder from my c drive to system reserved.

I have managed to add the repair option to my system however it appears in the menu where you can pick more than one OS rather than coming up in the menu after pressing F8.

I have changed the boot time to 0 seconds so it just loads my actual operating system however when I press F8 its not available so the only way to have it appear is leaving the countdown timer up abit higher to give me the chance to pick the other option. Sorry I am abit OCD and I like my OS to boot asap without any screen flashes of the boot options menu (tried to turn this off to see if this would make a difference the screen still flashes the two options only briefly but defies the whole point of readding the system repair function back).

If anyone knows what command or how I can add this back to the F8 function menu that would be great. Have both visual and easy BCD installed.

Edit - Also when I boot into the repair function that is currently there I try to run sfc /scannow and it claims there are pending repairs and to reboot, done this 5-6 times but it keeps saying the same. When I run it in windows it works and says its fixed issues have done this once per week and it keeps claiming to have fixed issues not sure where to go from here.

Regards,

Bandit.

 

[Alaric]

Have you tried running diskchk, with the sector repair option checked? It takes a while at boot for it to run but it may find something.

 

[trents]

Have you tried doing a system restore to an earlier period of time before there were problems?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

You can run repair without the sector by inserting the install media and booting to it.

 

[Time-Bandit]

@Alaric - Yes tried that and no difference to running SFC.

@trents - Not sure how far back the issue started and cleared restore points prior to knowing this error was occurring.

@ATMINSIDE - Would this be a different result than running from system reserved partition??

I noted SFC always works within Windows and claims to have repaired files but I reboot and run again and again with the same result so I thought through recovery would be better??? Only reboot after SFC correct???

 

[trents]

Using the install disc as a Repair/Rescue disk you can boot from it and choose "Repair" instead of "Install". Then go to the Advanced repair option. One of the choices under Advanced is Command Prompt. You should be able to run SFC from their. Don't know if it will gvie a different result but worth trying.

 

[Time-Bandit]

How would I go about clearing the issue where its claiming a reboot is pending. Had a look in the apt folder for the reboot pending file there was nothing there. Tried the restore health stuff which didn't work also.

 

[trents]

With all the fretting and time spent on this issue you could have done a complete fresh install more than once. There is brokenness somewhere in your system and the best way to fix it would seem to me to be a fresh install. Back up your data and bite the bullet.

 

[Time-Bandit]

@trents - Don't have space to move around data anymore so fresh install would wipe me out. Have managed to fix the SFC issues now at some stage I will need to sort out a legit Winows 7 key for now im just running out the trial days while they last.

Rather than give up may be useful to resolve the issue w/o a reinstall to help others in the future. If I can do it that is. The one kind of guide I saw on an MS forum didn't make a great deal of sense and there was a lack of screenshots with the screenies of everything I will have a go. If I can't resolve it I will live with it and have recovery work from OS menu.

 

[Time-Bandit]

Update ;
So far I have managed to successfully recreate the system reserve partition *Did this ages ago but thought I should document my progress*
Managed to readd the "Repair my computer option" back to F8

Now my current issue is something along the lines of boot volume unable to mount when I actually hit the repair my computer function. I used a VM to try and mimic how it was setup and managed to get this far. If anyone knows where I may have gone wrong that would be great. Can provide screens from both my busted repair and a working one however the working one on the VM auto installed w/o system reserve. Otherwise if someone has a working Windows 7 one that has recovery booting from system reserve can you please provide me with some screens from visual bcd with your GUI's aswell as the setup info from the "Windows 7/Windows recovery/ramdisk options tab".

Regards,

Bandit.

 

[c627627]

• To edit the boot menu on a separate hard drive [drive disconnected from its system and temporarily connected to a working system], use EasyBCD to correctly set the booting process on the temporarily connected drive:
https://neosmart.net/Download/Register/1
[Scroll Down and use any Name & Email to Download]

Assign a drive letter to SYSTEM RESERVED PARTITION in Computer Management if it isn't assigned.

EasyBCD > File > Select BCD Store >

1. First Browse to the ROOT directory of the temporarily connected drive
2. Then type BOOT\BCD > Open

This will open the *.bcd file inside the hidden BOOT folder on the temporarily connected drive and inside its BCD subfolder.

Optionally delete existing entries then
Add New Entry > SELECT: Windows Vista/7/8 then SELECT its current drive letter on the existing system being used right now > Add Entry

FIRST SAVE THE NEW SETTINGS AND EXIT EASYBCD.

Then remove the drive letter you assigned to SYSTEM RESERVED PARTITION in Computer Management.

 

[Time-Bandit]

This is basically what I have done to make the system reserve again. I am trying to work out where I have gone wrong in linking to the recovery on the system reserve.

I have attached all screens GUID + shot of the linking I can't see where I have gone wrong if someone can see my mistake please let me know.

Please note anything that states ramdisk=() means this is linking to the system reserve the reason it is showing like this is because I have turned off the drive letter assignment.

 

[Time-Bandit]

If anyone can see where I have gone wrong with my linking I would really appreciate it. Still can't establish where I have gone wrong to get the volume boot error after hitting the repair my computer function (have run disk check etc).

 

[c627627]

Forgive me for not understanding the nature of your problem. But do you simply want to boot in?

If so if you can somehow boot into Windows using other media, then just use EasyBCD to set and rebuild your BCD drive.

If you cannot, then can you disconnect the hard drive per my post earlier in the thread and fix it on another, working system?

 

[Time-Bandit]

Hi c627627!

Yes I am able to boot into my operating system just fine I have created a new system reserve that was some how wiped out and copied my boot across to the system reserve aswell as the recovery folder for the WinRe to boot because my original "repair my computer" option from the F8 menu was wiped out I have managed to add it back to the system and looking at the screenshots I have provided I was sure I linked everything up to work correctly. When I hit F8 and select to "repair my computer" it does the windows 7 load thing exactly prior to it actually loading the recovery it then gives me the bsd of volume boot error so I am trying to work out exactly where I have messed up. I was looking at a virtual machine win7 install to mimic to fix my repair function which has got me this far the issue is now making sure it will load the recovery so I can actually do something in it.

Cheers.

 

[c627627]

If your computer is OFF.
And you press power ON.
And your computer boots IN just fine.

What is the end goal here, what are you trying to actually accomplish and for what purpose? What is actually wrong with your machine?
I apologize for missing this important part of your question.

 

[Time-Bandit]

Thats ok.

I am trying to get the windows recovery option back when I press F8 it will give the "repair my computer option" I am trying to ensure this is loading correctly in the event of a system crash it seems everytime I run repairs off USB with windows on it, it has problems and I don't have a CD/dvd drive in my machine.

Regards,

Bandit

 

[c627627]

I now completely understand.
I have had this happen to me.
There was *nothing* I could do to avoid a mandatory reboot every time I tried to accomplish what you would like to accomplish.

It is a scary scenario that I can only avoid through the use of organized hard drive partitioning and third party drive imaging of the OS partition to another partition.
I don't install large apps on the OS partition and do not store any personal files in any folders on the OS partition.

I reimage at least once a month using this
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-linux.htm

I make backups of images but found that imaging from one partition to another partition of an M2 drive is now a quantum leap in technology.
My entire imaging/reimaging process takes faster than a short bathroom break, less than two minutes to image my entire OS partition.

I hope you figure out how to get the Refresh Windows option to come up.