Windows 7 Pro won't boot
I am running Windows 7 x64 and today I received a windows update. I also ran Norton Utilities to clean the registry. After rebooting I can no longer get windows to boot. I get the animated window logo but then I get the BSOD (Code: 0x000000F4). Figuring the registry had been corrupted I ran the Recovery Counsel to go back to my system restore point just before the windows update. It won't let me continue with the system restore. I pick the date of the last restore point and on the next page I can't click on which drive to restore and it says "You must enable system protection on this drive" I tried one suggestion to run Net Start VSS however that doesn't work, I get an error. I also have tried to fixmbr and reload the boot loader also. All my data is backed up so if it isn't an easy fix I will just reinstall windows. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks
November 25th, 2009 5:43am

It appears you have not created animage backup of the entire computer so instead tryarepair installationsimilar to a retail upgrade. Start the installation from the dvd, choose upgrade rather than custom and wait for it to finish just as ifyou were upgrading from vista to 7. Seasons greetings!
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November 25th, 2009 7:04am

Hi,As this issue occurs during windows update, we can try using DISM to Revert Pending update to check the result. run the following command:dism.exe /image:d:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactionsIn addition, corrupt registry may also cause such issues, if you are unable to find another solution, try the following to repair system files:In the Windows Error Recovery mode, click "Repair your computer", highlight theoperation systemwhich has problems, click "Next".In the dialog box titled "System Recovery Options", click "Command Prompt" and type in the following command: SFC /SCANNOW /OFFBOOTDIR=<System Drive>:\ /OFFWINDIR=<System Drive>:\Windows Note: If your system is installed under C drive, please type the following command " SFC /SCANNOW /OFFBOOTDIR=C:\ /OFFWINDIR=C:\Windows" The process may take some time.
November 25th, 2009 8:40am

Mr. SevenIt is not a full image from windows just the restore point. Idid trythe inplace upgrade but it says I need to run that from within windows and since it won't boot it doesn't appear I can do that.My last full image is about2 months old but with acronis true image. Magon_67I did try the automatic repair and it gave me an error. I don't have the error off the top of my head, but I can check when I get home tonight.I also did try SFC /SCANNOW but said there was a pending repair everytime. I will try the extra switches tonight alsoThanks again
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November 25th, 2009 1:52pm

same problem here....did update today and then win 7 pro wont boot at all. ive tried all the suggestions thus far to no solution. amd trying my old vista image from before i installed 7 now cuz the one from 2 days ago or last month just arent cutting it either....help
November 25th, 2009 2:14pm

Hi,Disconnect all but the necessary devices (keyboard + maybe a mouse, network card...) and see if the computer can start.If it does not work, you also have the following optonis.1. Using Last Known Good Configuration2. Startup Repair in WinREThe above steps will take some time. I would like to know if your data were kept safe on external hard driver not only in the form of system restore point, if so, I think the most easy and time-saving way is to reinstall windows.
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November 26th, 2009 1:36pm

Well, when I got home last night I tried a few more things and decieded that I had already spent more time trying to fix it then it would take to reintstall everything. So, I just copied everything to another drive incase I needed any of the files that weren't backed up for some reason and then reinstalled windows and it is working fine now.Magon_67 -- I do keep all my data on a second hard drive, I have learned that lesson before!Thanks everyone for the suggestions. So additional info if anybody was wondering:The Automatic Startup Repair gave me this error:StartupRepairOffline6.1.7600.163856.1.7600.16385Unknown21215624External Media10Bad DriverAnd in another section this is the only errorSystemfilesIntegrityCheck and RepairError Code : 0x4005
November 26th, 2009 3:33pm

Just found the fix!! This exact problem happened to me, and while i was on the phone with the worthless Norton tech support i looked around google and found the fix. I first booted from the Windows 7 install disc to get to the system recovery console. I then selected Command Line. From there, I had to change from the X: drive to the C: drive by typing "C:". I then typed "cd\ windows\system32\config" to get to the registry file directory. By typing "dir" I could see that two of the five hive files (default, sam, security, software, and system) had recent copies with an "rmbak" extension: default.rmbak and software.rmbak. I then executed the following commands: ren software software.bak copy software.rmbak software ren default default.bak copy default.rmbak default I would suggest you execute the "ren" then "copy" commands as above for any other hives that have "rmbak" backups with the same date/time stamp. This ensures your registry remains in sync. You can now reboot and see if your computer comes up. Reboot.... You are now golden!! --- oh don't forget to uninstall Norton Utilities when you reboot....
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December 4th, 2009 2:21am

I have never cleaned my registry in any Windows and never had any problem.Registry cleaners cause more problem than solve any.
December 6th, 2009 4:26pm

Just found the fix!! This exact problem happened to me, and while i was on the phone with the worthless Norton tech support i looked around google and found the fix.I first booted from the Windows 7 install disc to get to the system recovery console. I then selected Command Line. From there, I had to change from the X: drive to the C: drive by typing "C:". I then typed "cd\ windows\system32\config" to get to the registry file directory. By typing "dir" I could see that two of the five hive files (default, sam, security, software, and system) had recent copies with an "rmbak" extension: default.rmbak and software.rmbak. I then executed the following commands:ren software software.bakcopy software.rmbak softwareren default default.bakcopy default.rmbak defaultI would suggest you execute the "ren" then "copy" commands as above for any other hives that have "rmbak" backups with the same date/time stamp. This ensures your registry remains in sync. You can now reboot and see if your computer comes up.Reboot.... You are now golden!! --- oh don't forget to uninstall Norton Utilities when you reboot.... Hi cbournis,You are great! I had the same problem with Windows 7 x64, I only did not use Norton Utilities, but GlaryUtilities Registry Defrag and that caused my problems.For safety I renamed all the files without an extention that had a gbck extention and copied all the files with a gbck extention to the same filename without extention: Map van C:\Windows\System32\config 27-02-2010 21:45 <DIR> .27-02-2010 21:45 <DIR> ..26-12-2009 14:42 28.672 BCD-Template27-02-2010 21:45 59.244.544 COMPONENTS27-02-2010 21:38 262.144 DEFAULT27-02-2010 21:15 221.184 DEFAULT.bak18-02-2010 22:57 262.144 DEFAULT.gbck14-07-2009 03:34 <DIR> Journal11-02-2010 12:08 <DIR> RegBack27-02-2010 21:44 262.144 SAM27-02-2010 21:15 69.632 SAM.bak18-02-2010 22:57 262.144 SAM.gbck27-02-2010 21:38 262.144 SECURITY27-02-2010 21:15 49.152 SECURITY.bak18-02-2010 22:57 262.144 SECURITY.gbck27-02-2010 21:48 86.507.520 SOFTWARE27-02-2010 21:15 8.650.752 SOFTWARE.bak18-02-2010 22:57 86.507.520 SOFTWARE.gbck27-02-2010 21:48 19.398.656 SYSTEM27-02-2010 21:15 14.155.776 SYSTEM.bak18-02-2010 22:57 19.398.656 SYSTEM.gbck26-12-2009 14:46 <DIR> systemprofile18-02-2010 22:58 <DIR> TxR26-12-2009 14:33 262.144 userdiffThis solved my problems.Thanks a lot for your fix!Kind regards,Arie Maat
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February 28th, 2010 12:01am

I had the same problem on my Win7 Pro system.... No Norton.... So I tried every option on the boot menu (F8) Here's what I came up with: The only option that would boot (every other option went to the system recovery screen) was enabling unsigned drivers. I was leary of doing it, but I unhooked from the internet and did it anyway. It booted and After some diagnostics, it turned out to be Nero burning software causing the conflicts. Once I booted without signed drivers once... Everthing worked upon reboot normally.
June 10th, 2011 8:47pm

Hi! I'm from Brazil and I just wanna say thank you! Arie, I got exactly the same problem on GLARY UTILITIES DEFRAG TOOL on WINDOWS 7 64 BITS ULTIMATE. It booted my laptop after finishing defrag, then windows not worked after that. Even the SAFE MODE was corrupted. I simply followed your steps, and it brought my cpu to normality. just thank you. for the ones who are not used to DOS line commands, I'm gonna explain what I did in 10 steps: 1. I opened the windows 7 DVD installation on boot (just put your DVD installation on drive, usually your computer is configured to access dvd drive first, if not, you should go to setup bios, look on internet how to do it) 2. I acessed the repair tool 3.I chose the Command Line (DOS). 4. on Command Line, my windows folder was in D:, so i typed 'D:' . Usually is 'c:' 5. I acessed the folder with the files that I should substitute. I typed 'cd windows', then 'cd system32', then 'cd config' 6. I typed 'dir' to see the files. There were 5 files with the termination .gbck, and 5 files without any termination. They were the following files: DEFAULT, SAM, SECURITY, SOFTWARE and SYSTEM. 7. I renamed all the files without termination to .bak . One by one. just like that: 'ren COMPONENTS COMPONENTS.bak' (you should do it for the others 4 files) 8. I renamed all the .gbck to without termination. One by one. just like that: 'ren COMPONENTS.gbck COMPONENTS' (you should do it for the others 4 files) 9. I typed 'dir', to see if the files names were exactly I was expecting to. 10. I booted the pc, and voilá, it worked just fine. that's all. thank you!!
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September 21st, 2011 4:42pm

It helps me also. I copied files from C:\Windows\System32\Config\RegBack. And my virtual machine runs. Thank you. Greetings from Poland.
April 22nd, 2012 3:35pm

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