THE ULTIMATE RESCUE DISC
Windows recovery disc no help or impossible to navigate? Try a more powerful – and user-friendly – alternative.
Windows recovery disc no help or impossible to navigate? Try a more powerful – and user-friendly – alternative.
Windows’ built-in repair tools can only do so much – if you find them falling short, then it’s time to call in the cavalry. Lazesoft Recovery Suite is our go-to tool when it comes to taking on stubborn boot problems. Not only does it offer a wider range of repair tools, but there are also tools for recovering data from crashed (but readable) drives as well as the option of taking a fail-safe image of your entire corrupted Windows installation, ensuring you won’t lose any files even if you end up with no other choice but the nuclear option (see box below).
In an ideal world you’ll have a Lazesoft recovery disc or USB flash drive ready to go, but if not you’ll need access to a working PC. Browse to www.lazesoft.com on that and click Download, choosing the free Home Edition download. Once downloaded, install the program and click the ‘Burn CD/USB Disk’ option.
If your working PC is running a different version of Windows, select the correct version from the dropdown menu before clicking Next. Choose your target device – CD or flash drive – and click Start, then wait for the process to complete.
Once created, eject the recovery media and transfer to it your nonworking
PC. Switch it on, bring up the boot menu when prompted and then select your drive (again, choose UEFI if there’s a choice). When the Windows Boot Manager appears, leave ‘Lazesoft Live CD (EMS Enabled)’ selected and press Enter. You’ll eventually find yourself at the Lazesoft desktop – similar to Windows – with Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home pre-loaded.
Resist the temptation to dive straight in with the Windows Recovery option and instead take a tour of the desktop – click the Start button and you’ll see access to various tools including the ability to change the desktop resolution if it’s a bit cramped.
RECOVER DATA FROM A DRIVE
If there’s data on your drive you’ve not backed up, you should first take steps to copy it to a backup drive. If you plan to copy it over the network you’ll first need to assign the network drive a letter: click Start and choose ‘Map Network Drive’ first. Specify its address (try its IP address in place of its server name if you can’t connect), select a drive letter and enter the required network credentials if necessary.
The Lazesoft File Manager icon on the desktop provides a simple twopane file explorer tool for manually copying individual files and folders, or you can make use of the Data Recovery tool, which can transfer regular files as well as recover deleted files and files from lost partitions. Select your scanning level (choose ‘Fast’ for non-recovery scenarios), choose the drive containing your data and click Start Search. After a short period you’ll be able to search the drive by file path or file type, then select which files you want to recover before clicking ‘Save Files’ to select a drive and folder to copy them to.
If you’re not sure which files you might be missing, back up the entire drive: click ‘Disk Image & Clone’ followed by ‘Backup (Drive to Image)’. Select drive C and click Next. Leave Full Backup selected and click Browse to select your destination followed by Start to take the backup. Should you need to recover files from this drive image in future, install Lazesoft on your PC, then launch it in Windows. Open ‘Disk Image & Clone, then click ‘Browse Drive Image File’ under Drive Image.
REPAIR WINDOWS
You’ve got failsafe backups in place, now it’s time to task Lazesoft with hopefully fixing your Windows installation. The step-by-step guide details how to work your way through the Windows Recovery tools – there’s Windows tools like System Restore and System File Checker (buried away under RepairTools > Additional Tools) plus some of Lazesoft’s own making
– the Registry Recovery tool being one such example.
Windows Recovery helps steer you towards the appropriate solution for your symptoms – if the one-click option has no effect, take the time to select each tool and read its description, which includes a guide to the types of symptoms the tool can remedy. After all this, if you’re still unable to get Windows to work, however, it’s time to bite the bullet and look to repair or reinstall Windows. See the box below for details.