Member Avatar for crotty99

Hey guys,

So my my computer started throwing up a BSOD error message upon startup which forces it into an endless loop of startup and reboot. This even occurs when trying to launch safe mode. To get around this I have decided to do a system restore using the windows 7 disc and a backup point I made when I first ran the computer. The backup is currently sitting on an external hard drive. However I can not get the system restore tool to find the backup point. It tells me:

"the selected backup could not be found. System restore is looking for a restore point that is on your backup. Choose a different restore point"

Note, the backup that windows made for me is not an image. It's a folder labelled with my pc's name and contains a folder called "backup set 2010-02-22 221022" and a .bin file called "mediaID." Within the backup set folder there are two extracted folders called "backup files 1" and "backup files 2"

Any help getting my computer to find the backup files and restore itself would be greatly appreciated. It's currently driving me crazy!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Rik_

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Quick, practical plan that follows what and the helpers have already tried and fills the gaps: System Image Recovery looks specifically for a WindowsImageBackup-style system image (the MediaID.bin / WindowsImageBackup folder layout). A file-level “Backup Set” (the Backup Files folders you described) is not the same thing and therefore won’t be found by the image restore tool. (learn.microsoft.com) (WindowsImageBackup layout).

Two safe ways to get your data back without a full reinstall:

  • Easiest: copy user files directly from the external drive (you can do this from Fedora). The Backup Files folders are often ZIP-style incremental archives — you can mount the NTFS volume (ntfs-3g) and copy out the Documents, Desktop and other user folders you need. If the backup contains a VHD/VHDX (system image) you can mount that on a Windows machine and extract files. (howtogeek.com)

Example (on the Linux stick you already booted):

# find and mount the external NTFS volume, then copy
sudo lsblk
sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdX1 /mnt/backup
cd /mnt/backup/"ComputerName"/"Backup Set YYYY-MM-DD ..."/"Backup Files 1"
cp -a Users/YourUser /media/usb/Recovered

If you want to recover selected files from the backup using Windows tools (no reinstall), boot the Windows DVD/Repair environment and use wbadmin to list and recover versions. Example commands (from the repair command prompt): (learn.microsoft.com)

wbadmin get versions -backupTarget:E:
wbadmin get items -version:MM/DD/YYYY-HH:MM
wbadmin start recovery -version:MM/DD/YYYY-HH:MM -itemType:File -items:C:\Users\YourUser -recoveryTarget:D:\Recovered -recursive

If a third‑party driver/service (AV) is stopping boot, disable it offline so Windows can start: boot Repair > Command Prompt > regedit, select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, File → Load Hive and open C:\Windows\System32\config\SYSTEM (give a temp name). Under that loaded hive go to ControlSet00x\Services\<ServiceName> and change the Start DWORD to 4 (Disabled). Unload the hive and reboot. That disables drivers/services that block startup without doing a risky manual delete. Use caution — editing offline registry hives can break the system if done incorrectly; back up the entire disk first. (learn.microsoft.com)

Tiebacks: as suggested, the Windows Backup/Restore GUI or wbadmin on another working Windows machine will often detect backups that the installer repair will not. As pointed out, Linux is perfect for rescuing files but not for a clean program uninstall — for that use the offline registry method or run a vendor removal tool from Safe Mode / another Windows install. If the above still fails, copy everything you need and proceed with a clean reinstall.

Recommended Answers

All 11 Replies

Member Avatar for Rik_

Backup and system restore are 2 different things and work in different ways. A backup should contain most if not all files within windows whereas a system restore is more like a "save state"!

Have a look at the microsoft website for more info!

Member Avatar for crotty99

I see, I guess that option is out of the equation then..I'll keep working on it.

As a side note, do you know how to fix the bsod associated with the Irql not less or equal error message? I have done a google search but most require that you can at least boot for some amount of time. All my troubleshooting needs to be done through the install cd or the bios. I'm quite lost!

Thanks for your reply.

Member Avatar for Rik_

Did it have AVG free on it by any chance?

Member Avatar for crotty99

It did actually, yes.

Member Avatar for Rik_

AVG free had a bad update that took out quite a few windows 7 computers including my own laptop. I got my laptop going again by doing a system restore via startup repair.
Hope that info is of use to you!

Member Avatar for crotty99

Interesting to know, unfortunately my system restore only givess me one restore point option and that gives me the error message described in the first post. I guess my system was not creating restore points automatically for some reason.

Atleast you have narrowed the cause down. Is there anyway to remove a program via the cmd prompt on the windows cd?

Thanks so much for your responses.

Member Avatar for crotty99

I managed to boot the computer using a usb Linux OS (Fedora). Any way to remove a program on my windows drive, such as avg, using linux?

Member Avatar for Rik_

AVG have a recovery cd image on their site along with instructions about getting the system going again, google will find it!

Member Avatar for khakilang

I managed to boot the computer using a usb Linux OS (Fedora). Any way to remove a program on my windows drive, such as avg, using linux?

Linux cannot remove Window program because of different platform all together. You need to go to control panel and select Add/Remove software or click on Uninstall in the Program task bar. But of course you can manually remove the program but that would be very risky. Why not use it to test your RAM or hard disk to check whether it is a hardware problem.

Member Avatar for crotty99

Update:

So after trying all methods mentioned above, the system is still bugging out (although not as badly). I have confirmed it to be a software error and not a hardware error, however the specifics of the error still elude me. I have decided to remove my hdd, backup important files, put the hdd back in and reinstall windows.

Thank you so much for all your help. Greatly appreciate that you are willing to take time out of your day to help me!

Member Avatar for Rik_

No problem and good luck! :)

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