ShellExecuteEx Failed

Problem

When attempting to run or install a program, you encounter the error message:
ShellExecuteEx failed; code 3. The system cannot find the path specified.

Solution

Method 1:

Right-click on the program and select “Run as Administrator“.

Method 2:
Disable UAC, and try to install or run the program again
Please refer this post to disable UAC:
http://winostips.com/2011/07/12/how-to-disable-uac-user-account-control-2/
When you are finished with the above, don’t forget to re-enable UACagain.

How to disable UAC (User Account Control)

 

1. Click the Start orb->Control Panel.
2. Click “User Accounts and Family Safety“.
3. Click “User Accounts“.
4. Click “Change User Account Control Settings“.
5. Adjust the slider to the bottom to “Never Notify“, and click OK.
6. Click OK to the UAC prompt.

Note that you should only do this in specific scenarios such as installing an incompatible program. And don’t forget to re-enable UAC after having done so.

[Resolved] DllRegisterServer 0x80020009 error

Summary

• Platform: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, SP1.
• Problem:  Certain .dll and .ocx files were not registering upon the installation of 3rd party software ( in this case it was KennelSuite IX from http://www.planesoftware.com/ ). This was causing the installation to fail.
• Resolution: Restored system security settings to a known state by using the command:  “secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose”.

Full Solution

Today’s issue concerns a client who was trying to install a 3rd party application by the name of KennelSuite IX from http://www.planesoftware.com/. This software is used for management at pet care facilities. The client was a pet store owner, so it was pretty obvious he would have a need for this software.

Several minutes into the installation of said software, it would fail with a 1904 error that tishare8.dll failed to register.

tishare8.dll failed to register.

Upon clicking the OK button, the same error popped up, but this time with the c1sizer.ocx file. This happend a further 6 times on the following files: ticaldr8.ocx, tiholy8.dll, tidate8.ocx, xadb8.ocx, todgub8.dll, and IsLicense30.dll

Now these were all 32 bit files to be sure, as they were being copied to the C:\Windows\SysWOW64 folder, the location for 32 bit dll and associated files on a 64 bit system.

I looked at the system properties for these files, and everything seemed to be in order, they had a valid digital certificate, and there were no problems with the security permissions.

I tried to manually register one of the files with the regsvr32.exe command, but as soon as I pressed Enter, an error box popped up as shown below.

Error 0x80020009

The ticaldr8.ocx file failed to register with error code 0X80020009, indicating the the module was loaded, but the call to DllRegisterServer failed. The only information about this error according to this Microsoft KB article was this: DllRegisterServer (or DllUnregisterServer)in Dllname failed. Return code was: string

Hmmm, well that didn’t help me a whole lot. and in fact, there is not much useful information out there on this particular error. There was some advice to run the command prompt as Administrator, and then register the files, that was exactly what I was already doing with the same result.

I even copied the files to the System32 directory and tried to register them from there,  the same problem happened.

I was starting to be pressed for time on this particular issue, could it be permissions related?

I found this Microsoft KB article which explains how to reset security permissions to a known working state.

And on that page is a command for resetting the file and registry permissions for Vista machines and upwards, the command is  “secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose”

There was a disclaimer that the command may not work correctly,
and it could cause the system to become unstable, but I was pressed for time, therefore I went ahead with it.

Using the secedit command to reset file and registry permissions.

And what do you know? It worked! After the secedit command completed, I was able to register the .dll and .ocx files.

c1sizer.ocx successfully registered

This time the installation of KennelSuite IX completed successfully.

Successful installation of KennelSuite IX

Conclusion

Sometimes system-wide issues manifest themselves when performing a particular task such as installing a program, in cases such as these it helps to narrow down the cause by manually reproducing the issue. Also use intuition, and don’t be afraid to try things, but just remember to not do any damage, and if it is done, always reverse the damage done.

[Resolved] 0x80070020 (Windows Backup Error)

Summary

• Platform: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.
• Problem: Windows Backup was failing with error 0X80070020. on file C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies\index.dat
• Resolution: Created a selective backup that excluded C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies

Full Solution

A client came to us the other day with a complaint that every time he started a backup with Windows Backup, it would fail about 2 to 3 minutes into the process. I checked the Application Event log, and there was a Windows Backup error with event ID 4104, and in the General tab it indicated that the backup could not complete because a file could not be accessed, error 0x80070020.

Windows Backup not completing successfully.

Windows Backup error, Event ID 4104

Error 0x80070020, a file being backed up is locked by another process.

OK, so we see that a file is locked by another process that Windows Backup was trying to back up, therefore backup failed. Microsoft should really try to make Windows Backup more robust by allowing it to skip files that it cannot back up, but that’s another story.

Now back to the issue at hand, which file was the backup failing on? The event logs did not put forth any useful information in this regard. The error was reported to Windows Error Reporting, maybe the error report had some useful information.

Windows Error Reporting detailing an .etl log and a .wer log for the failed backup.

I first opened the WindowsBackup.1.etl log in the Event Viewer. But it gave me no useful information at all. It looks like the information was not recorded to the .etl log properly, because all I could see when I opened this log was a GUI ID, and a message that said “No Format Information Found”. This occurred with all the events in the log and there were hundreds of them.

WindowsBackup.1.etl log with no useful information.

Next I opened the report.wer file, but again, there was no information on what file the backup was failing on:

Location of the report.wer file.

Opened report.wer. Yes the backup failed, but on what file?

I had to turn to Process Explorer and Process Monitorto resolve this. Process Explorer would help me find out which backup process was running when initiating a backup, and Process Monitor would hopefully point me to the locked file which was causing the backup to fail.

To cut a long story short, when I initiated Windows Backup with Process Explorer running, I noticed about 40%-50% CPU usage on svchost.exe, The services hosting process. So I highlighted my mouse over that svchost process to see the actual service causing the higher CPU usage, and the command line that it was using.

Windows Backup running in the svchost.exe hosting process

The actual service was Windows Backup [SDRSVC], and the command line it was using was C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k SDRSVC.

I could now use Process Monitor to narrow down to the problematic file. I therefore created a Process Monitor filter that would contain the C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k SDRSVC command line as shown below.

Creating a Process Monitor filter on c:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k SDRSVC

I now initiated the backup with Process Monitor running, and it started to log all the files that were being backed up, as well as many other events. I scanned the log to right before the error logs started being created, and scanned up a bit more to where the files were being backed up, and I noticed a sharing violation on the C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\MICROSOFT\Windows\Cookies\index.dat file. Therefore there were open handles to the index.dat file which prevented the backup from copying the file.
I then set a filter to include the result of SHARING VIOLATION, and there was only one sharing violation event recorded, on the index.dat file. My suspicions were also confirmed that the index.dat file was the problem, as the backup seemed to fail when that file was being backed up.

Sharing violation on the index.dat file

According to Wikipedia:

“The index.dat file is a database file. It is a repository of information such as web URLs, search queries and recently opened files. Its purpose is to enable quick access to data used by Internet Explorer. For example, every web address visited is stored in the index.dat file, allowing Internet Explorer to quickly find Autocomplete matches as the user types a web address. The index.dat file is user-specific and is open as long a user is logged on in Windows. Separate index.dat files exist for the Internet Explorer history, cache, and cookies.”

I determined with the client that this file was not needed to be backed up. Therefore I could delete it, and maybe that would resolve the problem.

But deleting the index.dat file is a notoriously difficult process, because the file is usually locked by multiple processes, including the explorer.exe process. Usually you have to delete it offline, or go into Safe Mode, so that a minimum number of handles are open on it, kill explorer.exe, and then delete it from the command line.

I managed to delete the file in normal mode, but I almost had to jump through hoops to get it deleted. I then reran Windows Backup, and this time it completed. But I was worried that the issue was not completely solved, as next time the client would restart the computer, the index.dat file would be recreated, and next time the backup was attempted, it would fail again. My suspicions were confirmed after I restarted the computer and attempted the backup again.

The only way out, according to my opinion was to create a selective backup which would exclude the cookies folder (you can’t exclude individual files) with the clients permission, this is more of a workaround than an actual fix, but this was good enough for the client. So this is what I did as you can see below, after this the backup did not fail again. Issue resolved.

Creating a selective backup to exclude the C:\Users\<Username>\Appdata\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies folder.

Please comment if you have any thoughts to share.

Windows Vista Startup Repair Guide Without the Windows Vista DVD

How many times have you turned on the computer in the morning only to find out that it will not start up, but it displays a cryptic but terrifying error? OK, not that many, but I do see cases quite often like this. The first thing to try would be to “Repair your computer” in the advanced startup options screen, but that option is not always there due to OEM customizations. You could also try Last Known Good Configuration, and then Safe Mode. But what if those options don’t work? What do you do then? What if your computer didn’t come with a Windows Vista DVD as is often the case? Take it to a PC tech who will charge you $150, backup your files, and restore your computer to factory defaults? Yes, you can do that, however, there is another way as detailed below.

This guide consists of three main sections:

1. Preliminary steps
2. Running a start up repair
3. What to do if the computer still does not start up.

Preliminary steps:

• Download the appropriate repair disk:

Find out if your unbootable system is running 32 bit or 64 bit Windows Vista, and then download the appropriate repair disc from the following locations onto an undamaged computer with a DVD/CD writer:
Download the Windows Vista repair disc for 32 bit systems from here: Windows Vista 32 bit repair disc
Download the Windows Vista repair disc for 64 bit systems from here: Windows Vista 64 bit repair disc

Once you have downloaded the repair disc, double-click it, and drag the iso file from the open window to your Desktop (or any location that you prefer). Then you will need to burn it to CD or DVD.

• Burning the repair disc iso file to CD or DVD:

If your computer has Windows 7 installed (not the damaged one), then please follow these instructions to burn the repair disc:

Click on the Burn button.

• Insert a blank CD or DVD into the CD/DVD writer.
• Locate the unzipped repair disc ISO file, and right-click it, then choose Burn disc image.
• This launches Windows Disc Image Burner, giving you the option to burn the ISO image to either a CD or DVD.
• Click the Burn button as shown on the right, and wait for it to complete.

Note that if you do not see the IsoRecorder window, but instead see a different window, then you may have an alternative 3rd party iso burning application installed. Therefore please burn the iso to disc with that 3rd party program.

If your computer has Windows XP, or Windows Vista installed (not the damaged one), then please follow these instructions to burn the repair disc:

• Insert a blank CD or DVD into the CD/DVD writer.
• Download and install the 32 bit version of IsoRecorder from here: 32 bit Windows XP and Vista version of IsoRecorder.
• For Vista 64 bit, download and install the 64 bit Vista version of IsoRecorder.
• Once you have done the above, locate the unzipped repair disc ISO file, and double-click it to open the ISO recorder wizard.
• Click on the Next button to initiate the burning process, and wait for it to complete.

• Then Click the Finish button.

Click on the Next button to initiate the burning process.

Note that if you do not see the IsoRecorder window, but instead see a different window, then you may have an alternative 3rd party iso burning application installed. Therefore please burn the iso to disc with that 3rd party program.

Running a startup repair with the repair disc:

• Insert the repair disc into the CD/DVD drive of the affected computer, and start the computer up.
• Press any key when you see the message to press any key to boot off the CD or DVD (if you do not see that message then please open the following link to configure your computer to boot off the CD/DVD drive: How to configure your computer to boot from the CD/DVD drive ).

Press any “any” key!

• After the repair disc has finished loading, you will be brought to the first screen where you can configure language and keyboard options, click on the Next button as shown below.

The repair disc language input screen.

• After you click on the Next button as shown previously, you will then be brought to the Install Windows screen, click on the “Repair your computer” link on the bottom right.

The repair disc install screen

• After clicking on the “Repair your computer” link, the recovery disc will then search for Windows Vista installations. After it has found the installation, it will be listed in the window, and you can go ahead and click the Next button.

Vista installation has been found.

• Depending on the problem, startup repair will launch automatically, or you should be presented with the System Recovery Options window to choose a recovery tool as shown below. If you are presented with the recovery tool options, click the Startup Repair link. Startup repair can take some time to complete, and your computer may restart during the process.

Click the “Startup Repair” link in the System Recovery Options screen.

Startup Repair attempting repairs.

• You may see a window asking if you want to restore your computer using System Restore, click the Restore button.
• The system should then be restoring, this can take some time to complete.
• You should then be presented with a message to restart the computer to complete the repairs, click the Finish button.
• Your computer should now restart normally.

What to do if the computer is still not starting up.

• If the computer is still not starting, assuming Startup repair Starts automatically, and you do not see the System Recovery Options screen, then click the Cancel button to cancel the repair, then click Yes to the confirmation prompt. And then click on the “View advanced options for system recovery and support” link.

Click on the Vew advanced options link.

• You will then be presented with the System Recovery Options screen again as shown below.

Click System Restore on the System Recovery Options screen.

• Click on the System Restore link to open up the System Restore Window and click Next.
• Choose a restore point to before the problems started happening, and click Next.

Choosing a restore point and clicking Next.

• Confirm the discs that you want to restore, and then click the Next button.

Confirm the restore discs and click Next.

• The system restore will then be in progress, after it has finished it will prompt you to restart the computer.

Click the Restart button.

• Your Computer should then restart normally.
• If your computer is still not starting up after this, then It’s more serious I’m afraid. The only option is a clean reinstall of Windows Vista. At this point, youre pretty much out of options, It’s time to take the PC to a tech, maybe he can recover it to a working state but don’t count on it, most likely he will set it back to factory default, remember to tell him to back up your important files first.

[Resolved] Non-Genuine Microsoft Security Essentials

 

Microsoft Security Essentials not genuine

In rare cases, Microsoft Security Essentials fails the Windows validation check. Usually this is due to a corrupt data.dat file. or incorrect security permissions on that file.

This was not the case here.

Read on to find out how it was solved.

Summary

• Platform: Windows XP Home.
• Problem: Microsoft Security Essentials would not pass Windows Genuine Advantage validation even though Windows was already validated.
• Resolution: Added the “Everyone” group read and execute permissions to the MsseWAT.dll and LegitLib.dll files in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Client

Full Solution

I regard Microsoft Security Essentials as a very good anti-malware application. It’s free, fast and relatively unobtrusive. It picks up alot of malware, and it’s graphical interface is clean and intuitive.
Recently, a customer of ours needed help. His Security Essentials was failing the Windows genuine validation check. If Security Essentials fails the validation check, it’s interface will turn red, the real-time protection will turn off, and the anti-virus definitions will not update, as you can see below.

Microsoft Security Essentials failing Windows genuine validation

Clicking on the “Resolve Now” button would open the Windows genuine validation site in Internet Explorer. Validation passed with no problems.

Windows XP in the process of validation.

Clicking on the “Run validation check” in Security Essentials would initiate the validation check, Security Essentials would turn green for a few seconds, and then go back to red. I first researched this issue online, and tried all the solutions offered, to no avail.

The first solution which I found, and is detailed here, was to make sure that the data.dat file in %AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\Windows Genuine Advantage\data had the correct security permissions. So I restarted into safe mode (the customer was running Windows XP Home, in order to see the security tab you need to restart into safe mode). And added the Everyone group with all available permissions to the data.dat file. Needless to say, this solution did not work, Security Essentials would still not pass validation.

The second solution, which I obtained from My Digital Life, detailed here, gave instructions for deleting the data.dat file, revalidating Windows XP here, running the wgatray.exe (Windows Genuine Advantage tray icon) program, and restarting the computer.

This did not help, again, the problem was unresolved!

The third solution I tried was to run MGADiag, the Microsoft Genuine Advantage Diagnostic tool.

This tool will revalidate your copy of Windows, as well as resolve any data.dat issues (provided the data.dat file has correct permissions). Well MGADiag found no problems with the Windows validation as you can see below, and again the issue was not resolved.

MGADiag showing that Windows XP passes validation.

By now I think it was getting pretty obvious that the problem was not with Windows itelf, but rather with the Security Essentials program. I was running out of options, and out of time. As a final recourse, I turned to Sysinternals Process Explorer and Process Monitor. Both extremely valuable and important tools in any type of software troubleshooting.

I first turned to Process Explorer. When I ran the Security Essentials validation check, I noticed that just before the Security Essentials window went red that MpCmdRun.exe was spawned as a child process of MsMpEng.exe. MsMpEng.exe being the main Security Essentials engine.

Setting a filter on MpCmdRun.exe

I next turned to Process Monitor, and created a filter on MpCmdRun.exe:

Then I started capturing events with Process Monitor and I reran the Security Essentials validation check.

Now process monitor takes some experience to use. It can be like looking for a needle in a haystack if you’re not sure what you are looking for. There were alot of events recorded, but could not find anything that immediately stood out.
However, I did notice one thing, MpCmdRun.exe was writing to a log file called MpCmdRun.log in the NetworkService temp directory:

MpCmdRun.exe writing to MpCmdRun.log

Well I opened that log file and I saw that that there was an error verifying the Security Essentials WAT dll file: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Client\mssewat.dll.

WAT stands for Windows Activation Technologies.
This file is part of Windows Genuine Advantage, although it is included only with Security Essentials, and it’s not part of the operating system.
According to Microsoft at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947821 error 0x80092003 means an error is occuring while reading to or writing from a file. Either the file is locked by another process, or it is being denied access to.

MpCmdRun.log: Error 0x80092003 when verifying mssewat.dll

I now felt that I was onto something. I did a search in the Process Monitor listing for mssewat.dll and this is what I found:

MpCmdRun.exe denied access to MsseWat.dll

MpCmdRun.exe was trying to query the MsseWat.dll file and was denied access. This was definately a permissions issue. I had to restart into safe mode to check and fix the permissions of this file.

Adding the Everyone group read and execute access to MsseWat.dll

Once in safe mode, a check of the permissions on MsseWat.dll  showed that the Administrators group had Read and Execute permission, and the System group had full control. Nothing looked untoward, however I added the Everyone group and gave it Read and Execute permissions as shown below.

I then restarted back to normal mode, and opened Security Essentials, this time the interface was orange, not red, meaning that realtime protection was on, but that it would shortly be disabled if I did not validate Windows. However it still would not validate when I clicked on the Run validation check link!

Security Essentials now orange instead of red.

Setting an access denied filter with Process Monitor

Again I turned to Process Monitor, and reran Security Essentials, this time I set a filter on the ACCESS DENIED result as shown below.

The process monitor results this time showed another file with an access denied error, this time it was LegitLib.dll: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Client\LegitLib.dll
Again, this file is part of Windows Genuine Advantage, but It’s only included with Security Essentials.

MpCmdRun.exe denied access to LegitLib.dll

I again restarted in Safe Mode, added the Everyone group Read and Execute permissions to the LegitLib.dll file and restarted the computer in normal mode.

And this time it worked! Security Essentials was green, activated, updated, and working properly!
The case was closed, the problem solved. As to what caused the problem in the first place, that is unknown, but issues like this happen all the time.

Security Essentials green and activated

I hope this post has been informative and educational. And if you learned something from this, or it helped you solve a similar issue, then please leave a comment or drop me a line.

Windows Vista Startup Repair Guide with the Windows Vista DVD

How many times have you turned on the computer in the morning only to find out that it will not start up, but it displays a cryptic but terrifying error? OK, not that many, but I do see cases quite often like this. The first thing to try would be to “Repair your computer” in the advanced startup options screen, but that option is not always there due to OEM customizations. You could also try Last Known Good Configuration, and then Safe Mode. But what if those options don’t work? What do you do then? What if your computer didn’t come with a Windows Vista DVD as is often the case? Take it to a PC tech who will charge you $150, backup your files, and restore your computer to factory defaults? Yes, you can do that, however, there is another way as detailed below.

This guide consists of three main sections:

1. Running a start up repair.
2. What to do if the computer still does not start up.

Running a startup repair with the repair disc:

• Insert the Windows Vista into the CD/DVD drive of the affected computer, and start the computer up.
• Press any key when you see the message to press any key to boot off the CD or DVD (if you do not see that message then please open the following link to configure your computer to boot off the CD/DVD drive: How to configure your computer to boot from the CD/DVD drive ).

Press any “any” key!

• After the repair disc has finished loading, you will be brought to the first screen where you can configure language and keyboard options, click on the Next button as shown below.

The repair disc language input screen.

• After you click on the Next button as shown previously, you will then be brought to the Install Windows screen, click on the “Repair your computer” link on the bottom right.

The repair disc install screen

• After clicking on the “Repair your computer” link, the recovery disc will then search for Windows Vista installations. After it has found the installation, it will be listed in the window, and you can go ahead and click the Next button.

Vista installation has been found.

• Depending on the problem, startup repair will launch automatically, or you should be presented with the System Recovery Options window to choose a recovery tool as shown below. If you are presented with the recovery tool options, click the Startup Repair link. Startup repair can take some time to complete, and your computer may restart during the process.

Click the “Startup Repair” link in the System Recovery Options screen.

Startup Repair attempting repairs.

• You may see a window asking if you want to restore your computer using System Restore, click the Restore button.
• The system should then be restoring, this can take some time to complete.
• You should then be presented with a message to restart the computer to complete the repairs, click the Finish button.
• Your computer should now restart normally.

What to do if the computer is still not starting up.

• If the computer is still not starting, assuming Startup repair Starts automatically, and you do not see the System Recovery Options screen, then click the Cancel button to cancel the repair, then click Yes to the confirmation prompt. And then click on the “View advanced options for system recovery and support” link.

Click on the Vew advanced options link.

• You will then be presented with the System Recovery Options screen again as shown below.

Click System Restore on the System Recovery Options screen.

• Click on the System Restore link to open up the System Restore Window and click Next.
• Choose a restore point to before the problems started happening, and click Next.

Choosing a restore point and clicking Next.

• Confirm the discs that you want to restore, and then click the Next button.

Confirm the restore discs and click Next.

• The system restore will then be in progress, after it has finished it will prompt you to restart the computer.

Click the Restart button.

• Your Computer should then restart normally.
• If your computer is still not starting up after this, then It’s more serious I’m afraid. The only option is a clean reinstall of Windows Vista. At this point, youre pretty much out of options, It’s time to take the PC to a tech, maybe he can recover it to a working state but don’t count on it, most likely he will set it back to factory default, remember to tell him to back up your important files first.

Windows 7 Startup Repair Guide With the Windows 7 DVD

Steps

• Start the computer, and insert the Windows 7 DVD into the DVD drive.
• Press any key when you see the message to press any key to boot off the CD or DVD (if you do not see that message then please open the following link to configure your computer to boot off the CD/DVD drive: How to configure your computer to boot from the CD/DVD drive ).
• The Windows 7 DVD will now load, after it has finished, you will see the “Install Windows” screen as shown below, click on the Next button to advance to the next screen.

• Click the “Repair your computer” link as shown below.

• The System Recovery Options will then be searching for Windows 7 installations as shown below.

• The System Recovery Options screen should then show your Windows 7 installation as shown below.

• Make sure that the top radio button is selected (Use recovery tools that can help fix problems…), and click the Next button.
• Depending on the problem, startup repair will launch automatically, or you should be presented with the System Recovery Options window to choose a recovery tool. If you are presented with the recovery tool options, click the Startup Repair link. Startup repair can take some time to complete, and your computer may restart during the process. These screens are shown below.

Startup Repair running

•  After the startup repair has completed, your computer should start up normally.

What to do if the computer is still not starting up.

• If the computer is still not starting, then redo the startup repair above, but this time during the repair, click the Cancel button, then click Yes to the confirmation prompt. And then click on the “View advanced options for system recovery and support” link.

• You will then be presented with the System Recovery Options screen again as shown below.

• Click on the System Restore link to open up the System Restore Window and click Next as shown below.

• Click on the Show more restore points checkbox, choose a restore point to before the problems started happening, and click Next as shown below.

• Click the Finish button button to confirm the restore point settings.

 

• Click Yes to the confirmation as shown below.

• The system restore will then be in progress as shown below.

• After it has finished it will prompt you to restart the computer as shown below.

• Your Computer should then restart normally.

Windows 7 Startup Repair Guide Without the Windows 7 DVD

How many times have you turned on the computer in the morning only to find out that it will not start up, but it displays a cryptic but terrifying error? OK, not that many, but I do see cases quite often like this. The first thing to try would be to “Repair your computer” in the advanced startup options screen, but that option is not always there due to OEM customizations. You could also try Last Known Good Configuration, and then Safe Mode. But what if those options don’t work? What do you do then? What if your computer didn’t come with a Windows 7 DVD as is often the case? Take it to a PC tech who will charge you $150, backup your files, and restore your computer to factory defaults? Yes, you can do that, however, there is another way as detailed below.

This guide consists of three main sections:

1. Preliminary steps
2. Running a start up repair
3. What to do if the computer still does not start up.

Preliminary steps:

• Download the appropriate repair disk:

Find out if your unbootable system is running 32 bit or 64 bit Windows 7, and then download the appropriate repair disc from the following locations onto an undamaged computer with a DVD/CD writer:
Download the Windows 7 repair disc for 32 bit systems from here: Windows 7 32 bit repair disc
Download the Windows 7 repair disc for 64 bit systems from here: Windows 7 64 bit repair disc

Once you have downloaded the repair disc, double-click it, and drag the iso file from the open window to your Desktop (or any location that you prefer). Then you will need to burn it to CD or DVD.

• Burning the repair disc iso file to CD or DVD:

If your computer has Windows 7 installed (not the damaged one), then please follow these instructions to burn the repair disc:

Click on the Burn button.

• Insert a blank CD or DVD into the CD/DVD writer.
• Locate the unzipped repair disc ISO file, and right-click it, then choose Burn disc image.
• This launches Windows Disc Image Burner, giving you the option to burn the ISO image to either a CD or DVD.
• Click the Burn button as shown on the right, and wait for it to complete.

Note that if you do not see the IsoRecorder window, but instead see a different window, then you may have an alternative 3rd party iso burning application installed. Therefore please burn the iso to disc with that 3rd party program.

If your computer has Windows XP, or Windows Vista installed (not the damaged one), then please follow these instructions to burn the repair disc:

• Insert a blank CD or DVD into the CD/DVD writer.
• Download and install the 32 bit version of IsoRecorder from here: 32 bit Windows XP and Vista version of IsoRecorder.
• For Vista 64 bit, download and install the 64 bit Vista version of IsoRecorder.
• Once you have done the above, locate the unzipped repair disc ISO file, and double-click it to open the ISO recorder wizard.
• Click on the Next button to initiate the burning process, and wait for it to complete.

• Then Click the Finish button.

Click on the Next button to initiate the burning process.

Note that if you do not see the IsoRecorder window, but instead see a different window, then you may have an alternative 3rd party iso burning application installed. Therefore please burn the iso to disc with that 3rd party program.

Running a startup repair with the repair disc:

• Insert the repair disc into the CD/DVD drive of the affected computer, and start the computer up.
• Press any key when you see the message to press any key to boot off the CD or DVD (if you do not see that message then please open the following link to configure your computer to boot off the CD/DVD drive: How to configure your computer to boot from the CD/DVD drive ).

Press any “any” key!

• After the repair disc has finished loading, you should see a window to select the keyboard input method, click Next as shown below.

Click the Next button.

• The program will then search for Windows installations as shown below.

Searching for Windows installations.

• When it has finished, click Next again:

Click “Next” again.

• Depending on the problem, startup repair will launch automatically, or you should be presented with the System Recovery Options window to choose a recovery tool as shown below. If you are presented with the recovery tool options, click the Startup Repair link. Startup repair can take some time to complete, and your computer may restart during the process.

Click the “Startup Repair” link in the System Recovery Options screen.

Startup Repair attempting repairs.

• You may see a window asking if you want to restore your computer using System Restore, click the Restore button.
• The system should then be restoring, this can take some time to complete.
• You should then be presented with a message to restart the computer to complete the repairs, click the Finish button.
• Your computer should now restart normally.

What to do if the computer is still not starting up.

• If the computer is still not starting, assuming Startup repair Starts automatically, and you do not see the System Recovery Options screen, then click the Cancel button to cancel the repair, then click Yes to the confirmation prompt. And then click on the “View advanced options for system recovery and support” link.

Click on the Vew advanced options link.

• You will then be presented with the System Recovery Options screen again as shown below.

Click System Restore on the System Recovery Options screen.

• Click on the System Restore link to open up the System Restore Window and click Next.
• Click on the Show more restore points checkbox, choose a restore point to before the problems started happening, and click Next.

Click Show more restore points, and click Next.

• Click the Finish button button to confirm the restore point settings. Then click Yes to the confirmation.

Click the Finish button.

• The system restore will then be in progress, after it has finished it will prompt you to restart the computer.

Click the Restart button.

• Your Computer should then restart normally.
• If your computer is still not starting up after this, then It’s more serious I’m afraid. The only option is a clean reinstall of Windows 7. At this point, youre pretty much out of options, It’s time to take the PC to a tech, maybe he can recover it to a working state but don’t count on it, most likely he will set it back to factory default, remember to tell him to back up your important files first.