It’s hard to stop the fear and frustration from bubbling up when you realize that Windows won’t boot. Whatever the obscure cause of this misbehavior, the thought of your precious data being lost is too much to bear. If you’ve never been in this situation before, it’s hard to know what to do. But you can bounce back spryly from this nightmare scenario by having the right tools at hand.
It’s a rarity nowadays for users to transport data to and fro from a floppy diskette. Remember floppies? They came equipped with low capacity storage compared to today’s behemoth storage devices, and, worst of all, floppy disks weren’t too robust: I can’t count the number of times I lost data because of a defunct floppy, but I do recall crying a lot.
(Floppy disk picture)
Keep your Windows Boot Discs Handy
If disaster strikes your PC un-bootable, quickly locate one of the discs that came with your PC, popping it in and perusing the menus. Take heed not to inadvertently select an option that’ll demolish your data, as you’re searching for emergency tools to cure your ailing PC, a better option than resorting to a clean install.
If you’ve a full Windows CD or DVD—a disc loaded with a full version of XP,
(recovery console picture)
If you’re a bit squeamish about working from a console—a text-based environment—you may feel a little bit uncomfortable when navigating through the console menu. If you don’t have a real Windows disc, see if you can borrow one, but a word of caution: it’s not a good idea to install Windows from a borrowed disc, but if the installation disc contains the same version of Windows as yours, then you can use the repair tools on the disc to fix your PC.
When booting from an XP disc, pop it in and press the R button when greeted with the welcome screen; doing this will place you into the Windows’ Recovery Console screen. The Recovery Console will allow you to access many of the repair and recovery programs, giving you peace of mind in the process.
Select “Repair your computer” when booting from a Vista disc, and you’ll be presented with the System Recover utility; this program lets you rectify boot errors, fix memory problems, perform a system restore as well as other administrator options.
Linux: Giving Windows the Boot
Microsoft has a stranglehold on the desktop operating system market, but a small minority of users have made the switch to Linux, an alternative OS that rivals and beats Microsoft’s Windows in many categories for everyday computing tasks. Not only does Linux provide a wonderful replacement for Windows, but a Linux boot disc can also help you recover your data from an un-bootable system. Technically, a Linux boot disc contains a compressed image of Linux, the operating system that controls your computer’s hardware. When you boot your Windows PC with a Linux boot disc, Linux loads into memory and allows you to access your hard drives, letting you backup your data from your un-bootable Windows computer. Puppy Linux, one of the many distributions of Linux, was created for the sole purpose of booting an un-bootable system and safely backing up its precious data. With a USB flash drive in hand, Puppy Linux will afford you the chance to gracefully recover from a potentially disastrous data lose scenario.
Creating a bootup disk is easier than you think it is. Check out my blog where I outline the simple steps in more detail
When faced with a bratty Windows that refuses to boot, breathe easy, all is not lost; you’ve still got several options for recovering your important files by using either a Windows or Linux boot disc.
Just take a pc doc pro review for fixing Un-Bootable Windows Problems.
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