If Windows 10 suddenly suffered a critical failure and stopped loading, the best way out of this situation may be to roll back to a restore point. Even if there is a system backup on a non-system partition, created using backup software, it will be of little use if you don’t have a boot disk with the appropriate program at hand.
Restoring the operating system by returning to the initial settings - preserving user files, but losing installed programs and system settings - is too radical a step, which should be taken only after attempts to roll back to a restore point have failed.
How to roll back Windows 10 to a restore point if the computer won't boot?
Recovery Environment
As in the two previous versions of the platform, a special recovery environment is provided for resuscitation of Windows 10, implemented in the form of a menu for selecting various actions on a blue screen background.
In fact, this environment is an analogue of the menu for additional boot methods, which is familiar to many who have encountered problems starting Windows 7. This menu in the seventh version of the system is called up when the computer boots by pressing the F8 key. Among the Windows 10 recovery environment tools, there is also the ability to roll back the system.
So, we have a computer with the system protection function enabled, which provides the ability to roll back to one of the restore points in the event of unwanted changes. The Windows 10 protection feature is active by default, and if it was not intentionally disabled, the system can be returned to the state captured in one of the restore points. These must be created, if not manually by the user, then at least automatically by some kind of software.
How to get to the recovery environment?
If the computer is still able to boot, you can get into this environment by holding down the Shift key and pressing the system restart button.
In a situation where the computer does not boot at all, you can try to get into the recovery environment by holding down the Shift+F8 keys while the system boots. But achieving the desired goal will not be easy. Few people manage to press these keys at the right time due to the reduced boot time of the latest versions of Windows. As soon as the computer starts to boot, you need to quickly press the Shift key, and then frantically fiddle with the F8 key. After training, perhaps the efforts of some will be rewarded.
It is much easier to enter this environment either through an installation disk or a specially created recovery disk.
Below we will consider both of these options and roll back the “ten” to the recovery point.
Using the Windows 10 installation disc
It doesn’t matter which installation DVD (or flash drive) is on hand - with the same edition of Windows 10 that is installed on the computer, or with a different one, in any of these cases the issue with access to the recovery environment is resolved. Moreover, for these purposes you can use the Windows 8.1 installation disk or even the test edition of Insider Preview, which is available completely free of charge on the Microsoft website.
Insert the installation DVD with either Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 into your computer's drive, or connect a bootable USB flash drive if the distribution package is stored on it. In the BIOS, set to boot from the appropriate media. Click "Next" in the first window of the system installer.
Select "System Restore" at the bottom of the window.
The same recovery environment will appear in front of us, in the menu of which we need to select one or another action. We need a diagnostic section.
Click "Advanced options".
Select Windows 10 if, as in my case, you have two operating systems installed on your computer.
The system rollback process to the restore point will begin. Click “Next”.
In the window for selecting recovery points, you need to check the option to show other points. Then we will be able to choose a suitable date - not too old to restore Windows to the most current state, but not too recent, when problems may have already existed. Select the optimal point and click “Next”.
Click “Finish”.
We confirm the decision to roll back the system.
Once the process is complete, reboot.
Not every system rollback process to a restore point can be completed successfully. But I was lucky - everything went very well. Welcome to the restored system.
Creating a Windows 10 Recovery Disc
If you don’t have an installation disk with system versions 8.1 or 10 at hand, you can’t do without involving a second computer device in solving the problem. And instead of waiting for the image with the distribution to be downloaded from the Internet, it’s easier to create a Windows 10 recovery disk using its standard tools. Naturally, this requires that the same Windows 10 be installed on the second computer device. In general, the availability of such a disk must be taken care of in advance. This way, the resuscitation disk, recorded on a flash drive, will always be there for you if problems arise with loading your computer.
To create a recovery disk, go to the control panel. The shortest way to it is to call the context menu on the Start button.
At the top of the control panel window (right) is the search field. Enter a key query in it to search for the recovery partition and select this partition.
We need the first function - “Create a recovery disk”.
The system will warn you that all existing data on the flash drive will be destroyed. Click “Create”.
The recovery disk is ready.
Now enable the BIOS to boot from the desired media - from a flash drive. After loading, you will see the same recovery environment designed to resuscitate the operating system. Further steps will be exactly the same as in the previous case.
In what cases is it impossible to rollback Windows 10 to a restore point?
As already mentioned, the Windows rollback process may not always complete successfully, and this applies not only to situations involving the recovery environment, but also when we are talking about the usual launch of this process in the system properties window. If viruses damage important recovery point files, most likely the only way out of the situation may be, if not reinstalling the system, then at least restoring it with the loss of all settings and programs.
Sometimes it will not be possible to successfully roll back an operating system using a recovery environment because the recovery functionality itself has been removed. And this, by the way, is one of the reasons why you should not use homemade Windows builds. Often the latter are designed only for installing Windows from scratch, without the possibility of recovery. The system recovery functionality is cut out by assemblers, supposedly for the purpose of optimization. In this case, it will not always be possible to revive the operating room even with the help of third-party Live disks. But even in the case of a pirated build of Windows with reduced functionality, various kinds of problems can be foreseen by stocking up on a backup copy of the system and bootable media in advance using third-party backup programs.
https://windowstips.ru/notes/16413 — link
List of keyboard shortcuts for restoring laptops to factory settings
Most laptops have the operating system and drivers in a special hidden partition and do not need a disk for reinstallation at all. When booting, just press the key to enter the system recovery menu. I propose to compile a list of hot keys for laptop mods, this will help many.
- Acer - Alt+F10(pre-enter the Bios of the laptop and enable the D2D Recovery function)
- HP pavilion; LG - F10, F11
- Packard Bell - F10
- Dell inspiron- as soon as the dell.com splash screen appears, you need to click Ctrl+F11
- Dell XPS: F8 or F9.
- ASUS- as soon as the ASUS splash screen appears, you need to click F9
- Sony vaio - F10 or button ASSIST
- Fujitsu Siemens - F8
- Rover- when turning on, press and hold Alt
- LG-F11 while loading. The LG Recovery Center window should open.
- Samsung - F4
- Lenovo ThinkPad: F11.
- MSI - F3.
- Toshiba - F8.
- Packard Bell - F10.
Complete description of Acer eRecovery
Before the recovery procedure, please note that the Disk-to-Disk (D2D) function is enabled in the BIOS; for those who have it, enable the Quick Boot function (displaying the OEM logo), or better yet, simply return the BIOS settings to default (Exit tab item Load Default Setup).
There is a hidden partition on the laptop hard drive for this purpose. If you managed to remove it, you will have to contact the service center.
If the hidden partition is not deleted, then after booting from it and restoring the OS, we simultaneously discover that all the information accumulated by the user has disappeared. Therefore, before the recovery procedure, important data must be saved on another medium.
Do some laptops come with a disc? It's usually called "Reanimator" or something like that. If you install the system using this resuscitator, then the hidden partition with the “Recovery” utility should be restored, but when using this disk, all data from the screw will be lost, since the resuscitator formats everything completely.
If you reinstalled the system, the Alt + f10 combination will not work. If you installed another HDD, does the system recovery key function now not work? Because the recovery occurs from a hidden partition of the hard drive, but this partition does not exist on the new hard drive.
How to restore the system on a Lenovo laptop?
We offer you brief instructions on how to restore the operating system in Lenovo IdeaPad laptops to its factory state. Why might this be needed? Well, firstly, all users sooner or later have a desire to start from scratch. Secondly, your system may experience a serious failure or it may be attacked by a virus, after which the OS stops loading. You need to understand that making a laptop look “like it came from a store” will erase all your data from your hard drive, so all important information needs to be copied somewhere before recovery.
If everything is ready and the data is safe, you can proceed. A program called Lenovo OneKey Rescue System will help us. It is installed on all Lenovo IdeaPad laptops (but not ThinkPads), and makes part of the hard drive invisible to the user, and there it stores the operating system as it came from the factory. To begin the recovery process, you must first turn off your laptop. And then turn it on again, but not with the standard button, but with the OneKey Rescue key. It is usually marked with a curled arrow and can be found on all IdeaPad laptops. On the IdeaPad Y460 the button looks like this:
Press the button and wait for the recovery shell to load.
As you can see, the OneKey system can even scan your hard drive for viruses. Moreover, you can create your own image of the system and all data, and in case of problems, restore from it. But now we will show you how to return the “factory” image of the system. To do this, select OneKey Recovery.
In the menu that opens, leave the option “Restore from original backup”.
After this, the system will ask you twice if you are sure. Think carefully because, I repeat, all data from the laptop will be deleted!
Here you can watch the recovery process. It will take 10-15 minutes, after which the program itself will prompt you to reboot. Congratulations, your laptop has been restored to “as from a store” condition ???? Please note that you received all Lenovo drivers and software installed with your fresh copy of Windows.
http://lenovo-russia.livejournal.com/5698.html - link
P.S. And don’t forget that by restoring the system to factory settings (the ones before you took the new laptop out of the box) you format everything!
