Fix, Recover, Restore and Repair Windows XP - How to Create a Recovery Boot (Startup) CD/DVD for Windows XP - BartPE Recovery and Repair Utility

How to create a boot (startup) CD/DVD for Windows XP

Note well that if your computer has an SATA hard disk drive, the Windows XP installation disc does not have SATA device drivers (only device drivers for IDE hard disk drives), consequently, the installation disc won't be able to recognise the drive and you won't be able to go any further using it to boot from unless you have the SATA drives on a floppy disk and your computer has a floppy disk drive, which most recent computers don't have. That means that unless that SATA drivers are installed you won't be able to perform a repair installation or use the Recovery Console from the installation disc.

Most recent computers have SATA hard drives. You can find out if your computer has an IDE or an SATA hard disk drive by entering devmgmt.msc in the Start => Run box to bring up the Device Manager, opening Disk drives in it by clicking on the + beside that heading. If the hard drive's manufacturer's device drivers are installed for the drive (not the standard Windows drivers), the drive should be named. On my laptop the named drive is: Toshiba MK1032GSX. Enetring this make/model in Google reveals it to be an SATA drive. -

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/toshiba-sata-drives-lack-performance-increase,1173-2.html

Read the following article on this problem:

Resolving "Setup did not find any hard disk drives" during Windows XP Installation -

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/resolving-setup-did-not-find-any-hard-disk-drives-during-windows-xp-installation/

If something happens to your desktop or laptop computer, such as a malware infection or the result of virus/spyware removal, that makes Windows XP log off after you have logged on, or something of that sort has happened that makes starting up in Safe Mode impossible, then the following guide will probably result in a fix. It shows you how to create and use two recovery CD/DVD discs that can result in getting your PC back up and running. Of course, you will need access to a PC that has a broadband connection in order to create the recovery discs. Using this method of recovery allows you to scan the system for spyware and clean it.

Fix Windows XP Log On/Log Off Loop -

"Did you recently install some software, update a virus scanner, do a Windows Update or run a Spybot: Search & Destroy scan with an older version of Spybot and now when you try and log on to Windows XP it automatically logs you off?... Completely automated! * Live Spybot: Search & Destroy Scan! * Support for XP installations without ANY sort of Service Pack! * No more messy Offline Registry Editors! * No more Bart PE CD building! * No more Ubuntu CD burning!" -

http://thinkinginpixels.com/quick-fixes/fix-windows-xp-log-onlog-off-loop/

"No more Bart PE CD building! * No more Ubuntu CD burning!" means that you don't need a Windows XP installation CD in order to create a BartPE recovery disc and you don't need to create an Ubuntu Linux boot disc. Information on how to create both of those recovery discs is provided below this item, which is placed first because it is the best method of recovery and the only method of recovery if you don't have a Windows XP installation CD.

Here is an example of the kind of problem that was fixed by using this method of recovery: "I am trying to repair a computer for a friend. Her OS [Windows XP] came pre-installed, no CD-ROM [neither a Windows XP installation disc nor a recovery disc that restores the system to the way it was when it left the factory]. I found tons of spyware on her machine and started removing it. One of the trojans had altered a registry key, and the anti-spyware program quarantined/deleted it without restoring the original file. Now I can't log in, not even in Safe Mode. I have managed to get access to her files by using a Linux Live CD, so I can save her documents at least. I would like to create a XP CD-ROM from her C:/i386 file, but I don't know if I can use my computer and her files. I also considered using Ultimate Boot disk and its tools, but I need an XP CD-ROM, or access to her Windows, which I can't get since I can't log in. I might try reformatting once I save the files, but I still need the CD-ROM."

You can also try using a free bootable rescue CD that is provided by some of the leading anti-malware developers:

Bootable rescue CDs can fix your damaged Windows - "When your system is so corrupt with malware that it becomes unstable or won't even boot, a bootable rescue CD can give it the scrubbing it needs. The free anti-malware rescue CDs I describe today have all the tools you need to remove viruses and restore Windows' health." - http://windowssecrets.com/2008/08/14/07-Bootable-rescue-CDs-can-fix-your-damaged-Windows#

BartPE - An essential recovery and repair utility

BartPE (Bart's Preinstalled Environment) is a free utility that loads its essential files into RAM memory and allows you to create a bootable Windows XP startup CD that operates from the CD completely independently of an installed version of Windows, allowing you to troubleshoot, repair or reinstall an ailing installation of Windows XP.

BartPE is a wizard-style utility that runs on Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003. It automates most of the creation of a bootable copy of Windows on a recordable CD or DVD. The utility assembles the correct files and settings. You must provide a Windows XP (SP1 or later) installation/setup CD, because the files are copied from it. The utility's creator, Bart Lagerweij, says that it is possible to use a preinstalled version of Windows XP (without a CD) as a source for building a copy of BartPE. Bart says, it's "...a complete Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS file system support. Very handy for burn-in testing systems with no OS, rescuing files to a network share, virus scan and so on. This will replace any DOS bootdisk in no time!"

Instruction 2. on the page provided below reads as follows: "Start PE Builder (pebuilder.exe). At the main PE Builder dialog, enter the source path to your original Windows XP/2003 Installation/Setup CD. You can use the "..." button to navigate. If your Windows XP is not integrated with service pack 1 or 2, you must slipstream your files first. Please read Slipstreaming files from the help files to do this."

Clicking that last link leads to some confusing information. Click here! to go to information in this section on how to slipsteam Windows XP. For more information on the utility and how to use it to create the bootable CD visit Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD. - http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Read the FAQ page - http://nu2.nu/pebuilder/faq/. At the time of writing (August 2008), it said this: "Does PE Builder support building from WinXP SP2? - Yes, use PE Builder v3.0.32 or higher," and "I cannot build, my Windows XP installation CD is original (pre-SP1). - You must slipstream your Windows XP files. Easiest way to do this is to use the slipstream option in PE Builder. In the menu select source -> slipstream. Insert your Windows XP CD-Rom and enter the location at the "source" field. Enable the "source is read only" flag. If you have not done already, download Windows XP Service Pack 2 Network Installation Package. Enter the location of this service pack file at the "servicepack" field. Hit the [OK] button. PE Builder will first copy files from your CD to the fixed disk and after that the slipstream will be started. This will all take a while, just wait."

If your PC has Windows XP SP3 installed, you have to slipstream the SP3 update in the same way as SP2 update is slipstreamed. Use the Windows XP SP3 Network Installation Package (not the standard SP3 installation package).

When I followed the instructions, the utility created an ISO file called pebuilder.iso in the folder it created for itself during its installation. But after the ISO file was created, the CD writer's drawer opened and then closed before I could take the Windows CD out and replace it with a CD-R disc. The utility tried to burn the ISO file to the Windows CD, but couldn't because it is a CD-ROM disc. The utility left a message saying that the burning had failed. At the bottom of the list of what it had done there was another message saying that there was one error, press the << and >> to go to it. The message warned that the file name for an ISO file should not exceed 31 characters or a buffer overrun could result. There was no option to enter a file name, it used its own name for the ISO file, so it made no sense to me. To burn the ISO file to a CD-R disc, I opened Nero Express, chose the option to burn a Disk Image, chose the file type that had iso in it, and the ISO burned to the CD-R disk, which could be run from within Windows, or be used as a boot CD if the CD-ROM drive was set as the first boot device in the BIOS. If you boot the system with the BartPE CD, you can run the programs installed on the hard drive, but you have to enter the registration details for those programs that require them, because the boot CD hasn't loaded Windows, just its own files and its collection of Windows files into RAM memory, not on to the hard drive. Therefore, the programs behave as if they haven't been registered. By loading its files into RAM, the boot CD allows you to test the hard drive. You'll also know soon enough if the RAM is at fault if the BIOS can be accessed, but the boot process fails.

Here is an interesting forum thread: BartPE - http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198379.

Bart PE Builder Tutorial [Video] - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0reKK2ASEaU

The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows

There are also other boot CDs based on the BartPE CD, such as UBCD4Win (The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows). The documentation provided by its creators is very good. Visit http://www.ubcd4win.com/ for more information.

The creators of Ultimate Boot CD for Windows XP made version 3.0 available on June 5, 2006. (The current release in August 2008 is 4.1.1.) You used to have to download BartPE, but the new version now includes it, which means that you don't need to download Bart's packages separately.

How to use BartPE to create a bootable Windows XP CD if your PC doesn't have one

Microsoft stipulates that every PC bundled with Windows XP must provide a method of restoring it in the event of an irrecoverable system crash. However, many manufacturers or system builders still bundle Windows XP Recovery CDs that return the PC's hard drive to the condition it was in when it left the factory. This usually wipes out all of the data files and the installed programs that the user has added.

Fortunately, many major PC manufacturers and builders are no longer providing data-wiping Recovery CDs. For example, new PCs from manufacturers such as Dell, Gateway, and Lenovo (the new owners of IBM laptops) are providing a Windows XP CD, or some other way of performing non-destructive reinstallations.

If a particular PC lacks a Windows XP CD, a folder named i386 that contains the Windows installation files will almost certainly be found in the root directory of the C: drive - C:\ - or in the C:\Windows\Driver Cache folder. A Windows XP system will probably have several i386 folders. The one you need has plenty of files with their extensions ending in underscores (_), and the executable files expand.exe, regedit.exe, and winnt32.exe. It is advisable to copy this i386 folder to a recordable CD or DVD disc in case the files on the PC get damaged. The i386 folder on the hard drive is used to reinstall Windows XP, so write the path to it on the CD-R disc so that you know where to copy it if that should prove necessary. You need the 25-character Windows XP Product Key in order to reinstall Windows. The key can be found on the back or side of a desktop PC, on the bottom of a notebook PC, and it it may be listed in the user manual the came with the computer. A bootable CD/DVD for starting the installation process is also required. A BartPE CD is the best one to use.

To reinstall Windows XP, start the computer and enter its BIOS setup program by pressing the required entry key(s). Make the CD/DVD drive the first boot device. Save and exit. (Don't forget to make the hard drive the first boot device afterward Windows has been reinstalled.) If you have the BartPE CD in the CD/DVD drive, it will now boot the system when the system restarts. Click Go => Programs => A43 File Management Utility. Navigate to the i386 folder on the hard drive (not the i386 folder on the CD). Double-click on the winnt32.exe file to start the installation process. When the installation program closes, reboot the PC, remove the CD, and select Microsoft Windows XP Setup from the resulting boot menu. The installation process should pick up from where it left off.

Create the ultimate [BartPE] recovery disc -

http://supportpcs.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=231&Itemid=39

BartPE plugins

Many plugins are available that you can add to the BartPE CD in order to increase what it can achieve. To find them, enter bartpe + plugins in the Google search box at the top of this page with its Web radio button enabled. Here is a site that offers such plugins:

BartPE Plugin Repository - http://www.bootcd.us/BartPE_Plugins_Repository.php

Article 307545 in the MS KNowledge Base that covers the problem: - How To Recover From a Corrupt Registry That Prevents Windows XP From Starting.

Read this forum thread for an example of a situation in which the use of the above plugin was used to recover a corrupt Registry that prevented Windows XP from being started: Cannot start Windows XP - http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=19849.

Moreover, you can add entire programs, such as this excellent free disk-imaging application:

DriveImage XML - Image and Backup logical Drives and Partitions - http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm

You could therefore make an image of an entire hard drive and save it to a recordable DVD disc if the system can be booted from a BartPE CD with this program installed on it. Restoring the image is very straightforward. You can also restore individual files from the backup image.

Booting a complete copy of Windows XP or a system rescue setup from a USB flash drive

If you have a flash drive that is bootable and your computer's BIOS allows booting from one, it is now possible to boot a full version of Windows XP from a USB flash drive. See the next item on this page for a link to a tutorial that tells you how to do it.

Alternatively, it is possible to boot to a recovery system - a 'preinstalled environment', such as BartPE - from one. You can add all kinds utilities to it that are able to diagnose hardware problems and/or aid in the recovery of a system. The following articles tell you exactly how to do it, including how to format a bootable flash drive. Note that not all motherboard BIOS setup programs, especially the older ones, support booting from the USB interface. If the BIOS doesn't support it, then you can't use a USB drive of any kind to boot the system, but if it is supported, the option to enable such a system boot exists in the BIOS. However, even though the BIOS supports booting from a USB drive, there may be other incompatibilities that prevent it from being possible. The following articles go into the details in depth.

[Using the "Bart PE Builder"] - Windows In Your Pocket -

"All it takes is a minor error in the Windows Registry or a virus infection, and your operating system can become unbootable. But with a properly configured USB flash drive on hand, you'll always have a compatible replacement no further away than your pocket or keychain. In addition, the flash drive can also provide a secure browser and virus scanner, and lets you take your favorite DVD burning and Office software with you wherever you may go. All that's needed is a bootable USB Flash drive with at least 256 MB of storage capacity and a Windows Setup CD. Using the program Bart PE Builder (Freeware), you can install Windows XP on the flash drive, along with other software as needed (and as available space permits)." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/windows-in-your-pocket,review-1427.html

Build Your Own System Rescue CD [Uses BartPE] -

"...instead of using Linux as a foundation, our System will be built on Windows XP with an integrated SP2. This solution is much easier for most users, as you’re not forced to deal with an unfamiliar operating system and user interface in the middle of a data-loss crisis and can attempt to fix your problems from within a familiar environment. In this article, we show you how to create your own rescue CD based on Windows XP SP2 and integrating helpful tools that will make the recovery process easier..." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Rescue-CD-System-Recovery,review-29976.html

6 downloadable boot discs that could save your PC [includes BartPE] -

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?...

Free download - Paragon Rescue Kit 9.0 Express - Non-commercial
use only -

"Don't wait for a disaster to strike - get an instant data and system recovery kit today to ensure your protection! Rescue Kit professionally fixes boot problems as well as retrieves your data when your system fails to boot. It even rescues deleted partitions. All, you need to do to achieve complete control over any situation is burn the software on your CD/DVD!" -

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/rk-express/features.html

Here are some alternative methods of recovering Windows XP:

Projects » PeToUSB - Boot BartPE From USB - "PeToUSB is a Win32 GUI application for formatting and making bootable, USB Flash Memory Drives and USB HardDisks and optionally copying the output from a successful BartPE/WinPE build to the device. There are options to backup/restore the MBR on a device. - Boot your BartPE/WinPE from a USB Flash Disk Drive! Also supports USB HardDisks. " - http://gocoding.com/page.php?al=petousb

Windows XP a Goner? First Aid for your Windows PC -

Deals with the Windows XP Recovery Console and using a bootable Knoppix Linux CD to recover Windows XP.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/windows-xp-a-goner,review-1174.html

Boot disks of the above-mentioned kinds can use the NTFS file system, and therefore allow you to access the folders and files in Windows XP. The following how-to article shows you how to use Ubuntu Linux go about it.

How To: Reading Files From Windows Partition(NTFS) in Ubuntu Linux -

http://www.obharath.net/blog/2005/10/05/reading-files-from-windows-partitionntfs-on-ubuntu-linux/

[Windows] XP On Your Thumb Drive - http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=177102101

Click the Print option in a box at the top of the article and use your browser's Save As option to save it as a single page.

It is also possible to boot some versions of Linux from a flash drive.

HowTo: Linux bootable USB key - http://openfacts.berlios.de/index-en.phtml?title=Linux_bootable_USB_key_HOWTO. More information can be found via this customised Google search: http://www.google.com/search?q=linux+bootable+usb.

Puppy Linux

Mission Statement

"Puppy will easily install to USB, Zip or hard drive media. Booting from CD, Puppy will load totally into RAM so that the CD drive is then free for other purposes. Booting from CD, Puppy can save everything back to the CD, no need for a hard drive. Booting from USB, Puppy will greatly minimise writes, to extend the life of Flash devices indefinitely. Puppy will be extremely friendly for Linux newbies. Puppy will boot up and run extraordinarily fast. Puppy will have all the applications needed for daily use. Puppy will just work, no hassles. Puppy will breathe new life into old PCs." - http://www.puppylinux.org/

Click here! to go to information on USB flash drives on this site.

CONTENTS OF RECOVERING AND REPAIRING WINDOWS XP

Click the relevant link to go to that information

Introduction: Recovering and repairing Windows XP

Methods of recovering Windows XP

System Restore

How to find out the cause of a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error message - Shutdown and reboot in Windows 2000, XP and Vista

How to perform a repair installation/install of Windows XP

Recovery by reinstalling Windows XP over itself and the consequences of so doing

Using the Recovery Console and the CHKDSK Hard-disk-drive Diagnostic Tool/Utility

How to use the Recovery Console to restore a corrupt Windows XP Registry when the PC/computer won't even boot into Safe Mode

Copying files and making backups: Using the Xcopy and Robocopy commands from the Command Prompt in Windows XP and Windows Vista