Windows 7 keeps going into automatic start-up repair [partly Resolved]

Hello, my friend has a problem with his desktop tower. He installed some windows updates and after that it keeps booting into start up repair mode. However the automatic repair can't actually fix the problem. So i have tried going into safe-mode and do system restore, well at first it seems that it's about to load safe mode but then goes to Repair mode again.

After the repair mode fails there are options for advanced settings. And one of them is System Restore Point. So I run it from there but that fails as well saying Windows can't access the restore point maybe to due to AV blocking.

Then i tried running the CHKDSK C: /F command and the result of the told me that some windows errors were found and fixed. But when I restart it goes to repair utility again. After that I tried running these commands.

At the last command I noticed that PC is trying to boot from D: partition which is wrong. All the other commands didn't help. Moreover on the last one where it asks me to whether I want to add the installation to boot list I chose yes. So when i restart now I get two Windows 7 installations to boot from.

When I chose to boot from Windows 7 Home Premium it installed new profile. I managed to get into the Desktop but none of the original settings were in place. In addition lot of errors were popping up and internet wasn't working.

Right now the boot partitions are pretty messed up and I don't really know what to do at this point. Any help will be appreciated.

It's a shot in the dark but have you tried IDE mode in Bios?

It says Primary IDE Master not detected. The the HDD is using SATA interface but when i go into sub settings there isn't any option to chose IDE.

LBA Large Mode - Auto
Block Multi Sector Transfer - Auto
PIO Mode - Auto
DMA Mode - Auto
SMART Monitoring - AUTO
32-bit Data Transfer - Enabled

That screenshot looks like a failed sysprep operation. Those are pretty scarry because failed ones trash the machine irrecoverably.

Pull the data. Grab an install disk/USB. Reinstall. After installing basic apps, create a system image using Macrium Reflect or Windows Image Backup prior to recommissioning the new OS for general use in case this happens again.

Are you sure he wasn't upgrading to windows 10 instead of just updating? The windows.old directory is used to save the entire old windows installation in case the windows upgrade goes wrong or the user want's to go back. It is possible to recover the entire installation and boot from it, or you could browse the folder to retrieve individual files. Check the links below for more info

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/971760/how-to-restore-a-windows-7-based-computer-to-a-previous-windows-installation-by-using-the-windows.old-folder

Backing up pictures and songs will be easy however he has around 4GB of emails inside Thunderbird. And lot of those emails are not on the email server anymore. So i don't know if Thunderbird will be able to open the emails if i copy those emails onto new profile of Windows.

Normally you would export the emails into one large file and them import them, however I can't do that as the PC can't boot into windows.

EDIT: I managed to find the email files but I have no clue how to impant them into newly installed instance of Thunderbird.

I will ask but I doubt it. The free upgrade lasted until June 2016 so he shouldn't be able to do that.
EDIT: He says no, never installed Win 10 upgrade.

Looks like you have a failing HDD

What makes you think it's failing? Bizarrely it's just trying to boot from D: partition.
@Kubuksa I did find Windows.old folder on the C: partition so it does look like it was trying to upgrade and then messed up the boot record or something. However he said it was just ordinary windows update.

random repeating chkdsks will be indicative of a failing hdd.

CHKDSK and those BOOTREC commands I run my self.

sorry, must've misread.

Yeah if the computer itself keeps running chkdsk at startup, its usually a failing hdd. but for your friends install, i'd suggest wipe/reinstall

Format and reinstall. That's always the one true answer to windows issues.

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I thought some of you here might be Command Line wizards that would manage to recover from this.

Ok, I think managed to successfully migrate the emails from from his Thunderbird onto my fresh installation of thunderbird. I overwrote my default profile with his existing profile and then I had to change the name inside the INI file. It even asked for password so it must be working. Win! Win! I can probably proceed with re-install.

I gave up trying to fix windows problems long ago. At work we just re-image them in 30 minutes vs an hour of troubleshooting. At home I have backups of everything so I just blow it away.

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I get how you feel but what will you do if the same problem occurs after you re-imaged the machine.

Right. I nuked the whole thing and re-installed Windows 7. Installed some drivers and now I'm doing windows updates. After the first 7 updates installed, i re-booted and suddenly HOLY SHIT. Full screen takeover. I never seen this one before.



Oh how generous of them trying to protect me from spyware with their own spyware. Thanks but you can piss off now M$.

You are not even updated to the latest service pack ? I willing to bet that you will have to install windows 7 and fully update it before even trying 10

Doing it now.

Here is a little secret. Just make a new usb drive installer of windows 10 and use the window 7 license to activate it. Worked for me a couple of months ago. skip all that nonsense. You should always keep your data separate from the os.

I could try doing that later on. I have re-installed Windows 7 but now I can't activate it. I gave him the Ultimate version because that's the only one I had but the OEM key on his PC is for Professional. I also tried the windows loader and microsoft toolkit but they don't seem to work anymore. I forgot how i activated my Ultimate copy.