Author Topic: Run Windows Repair from external hard drive (Read 15622 times)

trahst99 · « **on:** March 21, 2015, 10:42:52 am »

Hey guys, I've got a computer that won't boot and I've tried everything under the sun to repair it. I was wondering if there is a way to take the hard drive out, plug it into another computer via USB, and then run the tweaking.com - windows all in one repair to repair this now external hard drive. Is this possible and how do I accomplish it?

I've downloaded the program to the external hard drive, and even open it from there. It opens fine, I didn't run it because I couldn't find a way to specify which drive I wanted it to fix, so I figured it would just try to fix the computer I'm on, and not the external hard drive. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I searched the forum fairly extensively for my problem, but couldn't find where this has been addressed before. So, I apologize in advance if this has already be answered somewhere else.

Shane · « **Reply #1 on:** March 23, 2015, 01:37:23 pm »

The only downfall of the Windows Repair program is it has to be running in Windows. The main reason for this has to do with anything in the registry, which is most of the repairs.

So when the program goes and is registering dll or ocx files it has no control over that, it just calls the register commands for those files and they write themselves to the registry, which is why you need to be in windows to run the repairs.

Anything not needed in the registry is fine though, like file permissions and such. But because of the registry, you have to be in Windows.

Are you able to at least get into safe mode?

Shane

trahst99 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 24, 2015, 11:39:58 am »

No, I can't get into safemode. I've tried everything you can think of. I guess I'm going to just wipe it clean and put a new version of Windows 7 on there. I was just trying to avoid it.

Your explanation makes sense, and I thought that was why it needed to be ran from Windows in order to make corrections, but I thought I would see if there was a way to accomplish it externally. Thanks for all your help and you guys software is a great tool.

Shane · « **Reply #3 on:** March 24, 2015, 03:06:40 pm »

Always happy to help.

What happens when you do try to get into safe mode? Have you done a bad sector check on the drive yet as well?

Reason why I ask is I had a customer bring a laptop to me that wouldnt boot up, would get a blue screen, tried safe mode and it was the same thing. Turned out the drive had a ton of bad sectors and one of the system files was on a bad sector, and so was corrupt and wouldnt let windows do anything at all.

So always good to check the drive for bad sectors, that way you dont waste your time with a reinstall on a bad drive

Shane

trahst99 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 25, 2015, 06:44:50 am »

It boots into the automatic Windows Startup Repair, which doesn't repair of course. I can hold F8 and get it to the "start up" menu where you see all the options, Start in Saftemode etc.. If I select any of the safemode options it automatically goes back into the Startup Repair. I've used a Win 7 disc to have the options in the startup repair.. boot from previous restore point, cmd prompt, etc. And nothing there helps it start up. I've ran CHKDSK and SFC /scannow etc from that command prompt option. I've tried to repair the boot sector, create a new one, etc. I've ran a couple of boot disc anti-malwares - Kapersky and System Rescue, it found a few things, but nothing major. All these things didn't work. If you have any other suggestions, I'm all open ears.

Shane · « **Reply #5 on:** March 25, 2015, 02:00:22 pm »

It is blue screening, when you choose safe mode and it goes to startup repair it is because it crashed and is set to auto reboot.

So in the F8 menu you can select the disable automatic restart, do that and lets see what the blue screen is

Shane

trahst99 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 25, 2015, 04:11:00 pm »

Well, at first it would blue screen when you booted it up, but I tried some startup repairs etc and it quit blue screening and just going into Startup Repair automatically. I've tried the disable automatic restart feature several times, but it makes no difference.

Shane · « **Reply #7 on:** March 26, 2015, 03:00:13 pm »

If it is bad sectors on the drive then it is possible it isnt even blue screening and it is just fully rebooting. I have had that happen on a few of my customers machines.

SO make sure to do that bad sector check before you reinstall

Shane