What to do in Windows. What to do if Windows won't start. What is Safe Mode and what is it for?

Today my neighbor asked me to look at his computer with Windows 7 installed. His daughter was playing on it and accidentally launched all the exe using a notepad.

Of course, all this looks funny from the outside, I even came up with the implementation of this failure in the form of another joke on Delphi (I will soon write how to do this). However, for a person far from computers and capable, perhaps, of reinstalling Windows, this situation was akin to a disaster. It was necessary to urgently take measures to eliminate this failure.

Why am I calling this a glitch? It's simple - Windows itself must return everything to its place the next time it starts. If this does not happen, then another failure occurs. Well, we will fix the launch of Notepad instead of the executable program.

I have always told my students to study windows registry... After all, the "health" of Windows often depends on the integrity of the registry. And about the various fine settings I am completely silent.

This situation is a prime example of how an incorrectly modified registry can ruin the user's nerves. But what the user decides to run this or that file through is stored in the registry. Unfortunately, visitors to my blog are often just beginners, for whom many technical details are simply not interesting and I understand them perfectly. A person wants a solution to a specific problem, and not boring words about something incomprehensible to him. For this reason, I'll just show you what to do in this situation. For those who want to learn more, I invite you to read my articles on programming.

So, as you understand, the registry remembered that you want to run all files through notepad. In addition, Windows took the initiative and now all the shortcuts on the desktop have taken the form of a notepad. There is no need to think that this can only happen with notepad - someone can run it through paint, etc. In any case, there will be one way to eliminate it.

To eliminate this misfortune, you will need to import the default registry branches responsible for these parameters. You can download them here - responsible for the file association, - for the shortcut association.

Just double click on each of these files and restart your computer. Everything should work now. As you can see, everything is very simple.

In many cases, the impossibility windows boot 7 may simply be due to an incorrectly set boot order in the BIOS. This can happen if your computer has more than one hard disk... Typically, the BIOS is entered a few seconds after turning on the computer by pressing a button Delete or by pressing the dedicated function key. Entering the BIOS, make sure that your hDD with Windows 7 is in the correct place in the boot queue. If you don't know where to look, read the instructions for your motherboard.

Other possible reason not detecting windows computer there is a hardware problem during the download. If the BIOS cannot find your system drive, then make sure that all cables are connected to it properly. If your hard drive is making a strange sound, such as clicking and tapping, then it might be broken. Finally, it is possible that your hard drive is experiencing data corruption issues affecting important system data such as the Master Boot Record (MBR).

If you suspect that your drive is broken, then it's a good idea to back up important data, scan it for errors from another computer, and even consider purchasing a replacement drive. Attempts to fix the boot problem on damaged disk can result in data loss, so back up your data before you do anything else.

MBR and other important boot data can also be corrupted by trying to install more early versions Windows besides Windows 7 (like Windows XP) or third-party programs like viruses. In the event of a virus, it is recommended to check the disk using antivirus software... Otherwise, attempts to fix the disk with the virus may result in data loss.

Also, the appearance of messages about corrupted boot data can be caused by incorrect assignment of the active disk partition, which can come from an overly inquisitive Windows user with administrative rights.

Fixing MBR and other Windows 7 boot problems is most quickly accomplished with the Windows 7 installation DVD. But if you don't have one, you can alternatively use the system recovery Windows 7, the creation process of which we will show you below.

If you don't have an installation DVD or a recovery disc, then do yourself a lot by creating a recovery disc now to avoid unnecessary headaches in the future.

Step one: Turn on your computer by booting from either the installation DVD windows disk 7, or from the system disk windows recovery 7. Be aware, however, that you may need to change the boot order in the BIOS to boot from DVD.

Step two: When loaded from your installation disk or from a recovery disc, you may be asked to select a language. Select it and then continue downloading. When using the installation DVD, when prompted below (or similar in another language), select Repair your computer.

Step three: It will take some time for the computer to search for installed Windows, after which you will be presented with a list of possible recoverable Windows. Choose the appropriate setting and proceed. If, by chance, a problem is found in one of your windows installations at this initial stage, the system may ask you if you want it to automatically correct it. Here you can decide for yourself - should the system fix itself or not? If you do not want automatic correction, then simply select “no” (No).

Step four: When you reach the System Recovery Options screen, which is shown below, you are presented with a selection list that can help you recover your damaged Windows 7.

If you wish, you can first try the Startup Repair option, which often automatically solves many boot problems in automatic mode. However, in this article, we will be using the Command Prompt option to solve our problems manually. Therefore, click on Command Prompt to continue.

Step five: At the command prompt, enter the following command and press Enter:

If successful, you will see a corresponding greeting message, such as “The operation completed successfully”. This is what you need! Your MBR has been restored!

Although the above command fixes the MBR (and sometimes it is enough), there may still be an error with the boot sector of the system partition and with the Boot Configuration Data (BCD). This can happen if you tried to install another operating system besides Windows 7, such as Windows XP. To write a new boot sector, try the following command:

If your Windows 7 is still not detected when the computer boots, or you want to include more than one operating system in the system boot list, try the following command to rebuild your BCD:

bootrec.exe / RebuildBcd

The above command will scan all of your drives for others operating systemscompatible with Windows 7 and will allow you to add them to the system boot list. If that doesn't work, then you may need to back up your old BCD folder and create a new one using the commands below:

bcdedit / export C: \\ BCD_Backup
c:
cd boot
attrib bcd -s -h -r
ren c: \\ boot \\ bcd bcd.old
bootrec / RebuildBcd

Some users just delete the old boot folder and try the above steps to fix their boot problems. But this is not recommended.

After deliberately changing the active section on our system disk During system boot, we encountered a BOOTMGR (BOOTMGR is missing) error that prevented us from booting Windows. This is a common error that occurs when you start to “play” with partitions on the system disk. And solving it can cause a serious headache if you don't prepare for it in advance.

To reverse the active partition, use your Windows 7 recovery disc or installation DVD and follow the steps below.

Step one: Follow the steps above (one through four). This should lead you to command line Windows recovery environments.

Step two: Type DiskPart and then press Enter.

Step three: Type List Disk and press Enter. This command will list all drives connected to your computer and assign numbers to them.

Step four: Enter Select Disk x, where x is the number of the disk containing the partition you want to make active. Hit Enter.

Step five: Type List Partition and press Enter. This will allow you to see a list of partitions on the selected drive. Determine which section you want to make active.

Step six: Enter Select Partition x, where x is the number of the partition you want to make active. Hit Enter.

Step seven: Now just type Active and hit Enter. This command will make the section you selected active.

How to create a Windows 7 system recovery disc

Windows 7 makes it easy to create your own system recovery disc, if, of course, your operating system is already installed and working.

Step one: Click on Start -\u003e Programs -\u003e Maintenance -\u003e Create System Restore Disc.

Step two: Insert a blank CD or DVD into your optical drive.

Step three: Click on the create disk button and let the program do its job.

What you need! The program only needs to write 140-160MB of data to disk (depending on the type of operating system), which should take only a few minutes. If you do not have an optical CD / DVD-R drive that you can use to create a recovery disc (and for later use), then you can download yourself an ISO image with a Windows 7 system recovery disc and then use it to create bootable USB flash drive.

Step one: Download the Windows 7 system recovery disk image (link).

To download you need a torrent client such as µTorrent. Alternatively (if you have a DVD drive), you can use the Windows 7 installation disc or the Windows 7 system recovery disc. In this case, you should skip straight to step seven.

By the way, with the help of the installation disk with Windows 7 in the seventh step, you can not only restore the system, but also install Windows 7 from a USB drive, which is very useful if you are a netbook user.

Step two: Open a command prompt with administrator rights. To do this, click on the Start button -\u003e Programs -\u003e Accessories -\u003e click right click mouse on the Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

Step three: After confirming all UAC prompts, you should be at the command line. Make sure your USB stick is connected to your computer, then type DiskPart and press Enter.

Step four: Type List Disk and press Enter. Determine which number corresponds to your USB stick. In our case, the USB stick corresponds to Disk 1. We determined this by the capacity of the flash drive, which we have for 2GB.

Step five: Enter the commands below in order, changing the disk number to your own. Warning - executing the commands below will erase all data on your USB stick or drive of your choice.

Select Disk 1
Clean
Create Partition Primary
Select Partition 1
Active
Format FS \u003d NTFS

Step six: After DiskPart has successfully formatted your USB stick (which may take several minutes), you need to enter the following commands:

Step seven: Now you need to copy the contents of the ISO image (or DVD) you downloaded to your USB stick. It's just a couple of folders and a file. To extract files from an ISO image, you need a program like WinRAR.

Step eight: Now that the files have been copied, you need to make your USB stick bootable. To do this, you need to download a small file bootsect.exe. This file can also be found in the boot directory of the Windows 7 installation disc. After downloading, place bootsect.exe in the root folder of your USB stick.

Step nine: Back at the command line, you need to change the current directory to the root directory of the USB stick. In our case, the flash drive corresponds to the letter E, so we will use the following commands:

e:
bootsect / nt60 e:

The bootsect command will add compatible boot code to the specified volume. If all goes well, you will have a bootable recovery USB stick. However, when using it, do not forget that it must be specified in the BIOS boot list.

The easiest way to get started required programs in new version OS - update the program version to current state... Software developers usually respond quickly to the next generation of Windows and release new versions of products.

However, this method does not always work. Some programs are no longer supported by the creators, new versions are simply not released. This often happens with the products of small firms and single programmers. Often the rights to software products are bought by large companies, after which they disappear from the market.

Sometimes programs after the next update become worse and lose useful functionality. This can force users to stay on outdated software versions and solve compatibility problems with updated hardware and new OS versions.

Compatibility Mode

The easiest way to make old programs work on Windows 7 is to use compatibility mode. It only takes a few clicks to use.

Select the program shortcut on the desktop or the exe file in the program folder. Move the cursor over it and press the right mouse button. In the emerging context menu click Properties and go to the Compatibility tab. Check the box next to "Run this program in compatibility mode for". A drop-down menu will become active, in which you can select the OS version with which the program you need is able to work with.

Unfortunately, this method does not always work. If the choice of compatibility with previous windows versions did not help, you can try using other settings in the compatibility tab. For example, run the application in windowed mode, force the low resolution or limit the color gamut. For some very old programs, this can help get started.

Compatibility mode can also work in automatic mode. To do this, right-click on the program's shortcut and select "Fix Compatibility Issues" from the menu. A window will appear in which you need to select the "Program Diagnostics" item. Check the boxes and click Next. Select the OS version in which the program was launched. After that, you need to click "Start the program". If it works, save the parameters by selecting the appropriate item. Otherwise, discard saving and try changing the settings.

Run in Windows XP Mode

There is also a more serious tool offered by Microsoft. This is Windows XP Mode, or XP Mode. It is a virtual environment in which a full version of this operating system starts and runs. It can be run as a virtual OS, which allows you to do full-fledged work: install and run programs, open files, work with text. If you don't need this, you can use XP Mode as a means to open old programs in Windows 7. To start working in this mode, you just need to select the appropriate shortcut in the Start menu.

This feature is not available to all owners of Microsoft OS, but only to users of the "Professional", "Corporate" or "Maximum" versions of the "seven". You need to download from the Windows website Virtual PC - free virtual machine, with which you can run XP inside Windows 7. Your computer must match system requirementswhich you can find on the Microsoft website.

Often, users are faced with a problem when they cannot boot a computer, laptop, operating on Windows 7, not only in normal, but also in safe mode. This problem can be caused by a variety of reasons. System, hardware failures often lead to the fact that the operating system cannot boot or spontaneously goes to reboot, or after turning on the PC it appears blue screen of death. What to do if Windows 7 won't enter safe modehow to solve this problem and restore the performance of the PC. In this article, we will try to solve these problems.

What is Safe Mode and what is it for?

Safe mode in Windows OS (Safe Mode) - a special diagnostic mode of operation of the operating system, which is used to identify and eliminate errors in the OS registry. If you start Safe Mode, unnecessary system components will be disabled by default. In other words, when you turn on the computer, laptop with this option, only the most necessary system components of the device, important drivers will be loaded.

If your PC running Windows 7 shows any malfunction after turning it on, you can try starting the device through Safe Mode with Basic Services. After the system boots into Safe Mode, the user can perform the same actions as in the usual windows startup 7.

This way of downloading will help to detect the presence of virus, adware, spyware in the system, which interfere with the normal functioning stationary computer or laptop.

If Windows 7 boots only in safe mode immediately after turning on the PC, this indicates that there is a problem that prevents the operating system from starting normally. In this case, the reason, as a rule, lies in the recently installed software.

To solve the problem, you can try to restore the system. To do this, go to " Start» - « Control Panel» - « System Restore».

But what to do if the device with Windows 7 does not enter not only safe mode, but does not want to start even in normal mode. Let's try to understand this issue.

Reasons why Windows 7 cannot boot in Safe Mode

As already noted, most often the need to enter safe mode on any version of Windows, including the "seven", is due to the need to scan, check the PC for viruses, the presence of virus software. Of course, in the event that the computer does not turn on normally.

Despite the fact that Windows 7 on this moment occupies a leading position among all the operating systems presented, it cannot be said that this version of the OS is the standard of absolute quality. Unfortunately, Windows 7 has many bugs and shortcomings of its own, which affect the stability of your device. Especially if you neglect to install licensed software.

If the safe does not turn on windows mode 7, this problem can be caused by:

the presence of viral, potentially dangerous software (viral advertising, software);
failure of hardware power;
damage to the file system;
technical problems.

As a rule, if Windows 7 does not want to turn on in safe mode, according to experts, this problem lies in the presence of "evil" viruses in the registry due to the installation of applications, software from unverified dubious sources. Most likely, under the influence of modified spyware, the registry branches that are responsible for entering Safe Mode have been deleted in the system files.

How to boot a PC in Safe Mode

Everyone knows that you can boot your PC in safe mode by pressing the F8 key immediately after turning on the PC. But pressing this key does not always bring up the safe mode menu, which can be caused by a number of problems.

If Windows 7 does not boot in Safe Mode, then there are several ways to fix this problem:

reinstalling the OS;
by changing the system configuration;
using a special utility AVZ.

The most radical method is complete reinstalling the OS... The only thing worth noting is that this option is suitable only if you have a removable media at hand, a distribution kit with this version of the operating system. That is, the one that has already been installed on the PC. This will require “ System restore point". The last saved system restore points will open in a special window when this function is activated.

It should be noted that if the system has important files, and there is no way to install the system from the installation disk, this option cannot be called the best solution Problems.

Sometimes, if turning on the computer is impossible in Safe Mode, you can perform the so-called "knurling" ( system rollback) - a process that is identical to a complete reinstallation of the OS, which allows you to save all previously installed important programs, applications, software. If necessary, you can do backup data, important information on the PC.

When complete reinstallation systems, you can recover lost registry data using a utility application, namely system recovery. But remember that using this console is not effective in all cases. To guarantee to return the OS boot option in Safe Mode, we need a recovery REG file that fully corresponds to this OS.

The best option that will help in the event that Windows 7 does not want to boot, start in safe mode is aVZ utilitywhich can be downloaded from the official web portal without any problems. In addition to restoring your PC this program will help eliminate various threats, malware in the system of your laptop or personal computer. To do this, you need to follow the sequence of actions:

To boot Windows 7 in Safe Mode, you can also try change OS configuration... In this case, the main thing is not to make mistakes in your actions, adhering to the following sequence:

We go to the menu " Start", Click" Execute».
In field " Open»Register the msconfig command and press the OK button. Then you can see the appeared window " system configuration», As well as other active tabs at the top.

Safe mode

Check the box “ Safe mode", Confirm the action by clicking OK.

Now you need to restart your PC and check the functioning of Safe Mode. To do this, during the reboot process, at the very beginning of the system boot, press ". Now you need to re-enter the " system configuration» - «» - « Safe mode". Uncheck the box next to the item " Safe mode", Click OK.

As you can see, if Windows 7 does not boot in Safe Mode, you can solve this problem using several of the above methods. The main thing is to adhere to the established sequence. If the system continues to work unstable, the computer does not boot in safe and normal mode when turned on, the system reboots spontaneously, perhaps the main reason is technical malfunctions. In this case, qualified specialists will help to troubleshoot the problem after carrying out a comprehensive diagnosis of a laptop or PC.