Windows 7 won’t launch after updates – I just want to save the files

By Posted on

Problem :

I have Windows 7 64-bit and I did a lot of updates after I didn’t do for a long time. And now Windows won’t start, it’s stuck in the colurful swinging logo and restart again. It suggest doing a REPAIR but it doesn’t do anything. Also there is an option of RESTORE to the point before the updates but it fails due to a file missing “%systemroot%registration”.

Safe mode won’t launch either, it just stuck and restarts. My HardDisk is l, I just did some updates.

What I want is to access all the files and saving them and then install Windows 8.1, I don’t really care to “save” this Windows 7.

My DVD-ROM isn’t working but I do have an external HDD (and a laptop with DVD-ROM which is ok) so I need solutions using external HDD, not discs.

I thought maybe installing Windows on the external HDD and plug it to to PC and then access to the harddrives and save from them the files I want. but what exactly do I need to do?

Thanks

Solution :

Possibly you’ve got the same problem as mine.

I do not know how to restore your system installation, but if you install Windows anew on the same drive, all your settings, documents and downloads will be preserved in the Windows.old directory. This includes not what you had in Windows directory, but all your user profiles, browser data and everything else.

If you had some your files in non-standard locations on the drive (like in the drive’s root directory etc), they will remain where they are.

Regarding your question about installing Windows on another computer and then booting from it, yes, it is possible.

After installing Windows on another computer make sure no hardware-sppecific drivers are installed.

  • Uninstall all video drivers, video adapter should be standard VGA
  • Uninstall all chipset and mainboard drivers
  • Uninstall all network drivers

Then it should boot on another computer smoothly.

If the computer is booting into Windows Recovery Environment you can always access the files and perform backup

Both the methods require booting into Windows Recovery Environemt

Command Prompt Method :

  1. Once booted in Windows Recovery Environment, choose Command Prompt
  2. Locate your System disk and backup disk
  3. Perform Copy/Move using DOS commands

System Image Recovery Method :

  1. Click on System Image Recovery
  2. Click on Select a System Image & Next
  3. Click on Advanced & Choose install a driver in next wizard
  4. Click OK in Add Drivers Wizard
  5. Voila ! You have a graphical access to your files and backup HDD