We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not startsuccessfully.

[steve]

Im trying to help a friend with his laptop.

Basically he boots and gets "We apologize for the inconvenience, but
Windows did not start successfully"

Eventually he tells me that he gets to this menu

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt

Last known good configuration

Start Windows normally

However no matter what option he chooses he gets the same thing all
over again.

If this was XP I would first rebuild the boot. eg.
Boot from XP cd into the recovery console.
I would try to rebuild the boot by deleting the boot.ini and typing
bootcfg /rbuild then chkdsk then type fixboot c:
enter load identifier etc.

OR
If that didnt work I would do a no-reformat, nondestructive rebuild

However its not XP. So I dont know if these things still work or what.
Can I do these things on Vista or what methods can I use to get this
booting properly.

Thanks.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

Rebuilding the boot won't help, his problem is beyond that point. In Vista,
there is a startup repair option that can be reached by booting the disk
that achieves the same thing as using bcdedit (the Vista equivalent or XP's
bootcfg). But again, this is not the problem so that option is not likely to
resolve anything.

Reinstalling non-destructively in Vista is called an in-place upgrade, but
it has to be started from within working, fully booted system. He/She cannot
do this, so this is not an option.

What is an option is a new install without formatting provided there is
sufficient free space. In this type of install, essentially a clean install
to a new folder, the existing installation is move to a windows.old folder
on the root of the drive where data can later be recovered from. Programs
will need to be reinstalled from their original installation media, and user
profiles and settings are not preserved.

Another option is to boot the Vista disk and load the Recovery Console, then
run rstrui.exe to load system restore (unlike XP, in Vista you can load SR
this way) and try a point prior to the failure.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[steve]

thanks for your helpful answers.

Is there a web site that lists some of these vista emergencies
routines that you can recomend.
I suppose I should start boneing up on it as I need to learn it. If I
learn the new methods for recovery on vista do you or anyone know if
they are differnt on 7, do I have to learn yet another series of
recovery options.

Regards

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

Vista Recovery Options:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/...-the-system-recovery-options-in-Windows-Vista

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[steve]

Thanks again.