Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What types of difficulties can Startup Repair resolve?
A: Startup Repair attempts to automatically resolve common boot-related difficulties. The issues it addresses are the following:
| Difficulty |
Detection |
Repair |
| Registry Corruption |
X |
X |
| Missing or damaged system and driver files |
X |
X |
| Disk metadata corruption (MBR, partition table, and boot sector) |
X |
X |
| File system metadata corruption |
X |
X |
| Installation of problematic or incompatible drivers |
X |
X |
| Installation of incompatible Windows service packs and patches |
X |
X |
| Corrupt boot configuration data |
X |
X |
| Bad memory and hard disk hardware |
X |
|
Startup Repair will not recover unbootable computers caused by the following:
- Hardware failure (such as firmware) - it can diagnose some hardware issues, but it cannot repair them.
- Issues that occur during a clean installation or upgrade of Windows Vista.
- Logon-related issues.
- Malware removal - it may recover the computer, but does not address root cause.
Note: Some of the information in this document was provided by Microsoft.
