Microsoft Windows 7 Questions & Answers

Windows 7 boot error - Windows failed to start.

Follow Problem Posted by outdated on Jul 05, 2011

I just got a weird Windows 7 error - when switching the notebook on, it gives me a black screen with "Windows failed to start" and a couple of suggestions how to fix that.

Screenshot of the error: http://i.imgur.com/7Uqg3.png

I followed the instructions and clicked Repair your computer > Startup repair after booting with the original Windows 7 Install disk. Unfortunately, the auto repair option didn't fix it, so I'm looking for suggestions. Is there a way to fix that?

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Problem solved

For some (unknown) reason, Windows auto-repair could not find the Windows installation, thus could not apply the repair procedure. What I did, is using a couple of commands as suggested in one of the posts below, flagged the Windows partition as active and then again tried to repair it through the auto-repair option. This time Windows found the problem and repaired it almost instantly.

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3 mindhacker on Jul 06, 2011

Level 2 First, consider backing up all your important data. To me it sounds possible to be caused by broken MBR (Master Boot Record) as I've had similar problem. If that's the case, boot again with your windows 7 install disk, go to Repair your computer and select Command Prompt (CMD) this time. Run the following command: bootrec.exe /FixMbr

If that doesn't help, here you may find useful suggestions how to proceed further http://www.tomshardware.com/news/win7-windows-7-mbr,10036.html

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1 Sickness on Jul 05, 2011

Level 2 Try to repair your Windows, if you have the disk. If not, try to restore the OS to previous state

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2 Cyrax on Jul 05, 2011

Level 3 Did you try with the "Last known good configuration" option? You can access when starting your PC and pumping the F8 key like a mad man till the advanced startup menu appears. If it doesn't work you can give safe mode a shot.

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