Chicken and Egg: Can't Restore System Point and Can't Run Scan-Disk

windows-7 hard-drive system-restore filesystem-corruption scan-disk

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Do you have another OS installed that you can duel-boot into?

If not, try booting using a PE disk such as Knoppix or BartPE. That way, you can scan the drive and fix any errors while not booted into Windows.

Another option is to boot into the recovery options (hold F8 before you see the Windows logo), then open a command prompt and run scandisk from there. You can then use System Restore from System Recovery before rebooting from recovery mode.

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ashes999

A long-time game developer and professional software developer.

Updated on September 17, 2022

Comments

ashes999 almost 2 years

I have an awesomely evil hard-drive corruption of some sort going on with my Windows 7 installation. Whenever I schedule a scandisk and restart, Windows tells me that the hard-drive is corrupted and I need to restore to a past system restore point.

The problem is, System Restore tells me that the C: drive has errors ("Windows has detected file system corruption on C:. You must check the disk for errors before it can be restored." Then asks me to launch scandisk, which then says it needs sole access to the C drive and requires a reboot...

Ad infinitum. My Windows installation seems OK, but I feel like I need to get this solved. How can I crack this paradox and either run scandisk, or restore to a previous system restore point?
- Linker3000 over 13 years
  
  Have you just installed Service Pack 1?
- ashes999 over 13 years
  
  Not sure. How do I check? I'm not used to Windows 7.
- Linker3000 over 13 years
  
  Not easy if you can't boot! It wouldn't hurt to do as Synetech inc suggested and try some scanning tools though.
- Synetech over 13 years
  
  right-click My Computer, select Properties and look under Windows edition: techlikes.com/wp-content/uploads/Windows-7-SP1-Service-Pack.‌png If you can’t boot, you could use the ver command in the command-prompt in System Recovery mode.
- ashes999 over 13 years
  
  @Linker3000 I can boot. My computer works. But I have an itch that I can't scratch that I need to solve this. And sadly, no, I don't have the service pack installed :/
ashes999 over 13 years

Unfortunately, I don't have the option of dual-booting. But will a PE disk (presumably with a Linux distro) allow me to fix a Windows file-system corruption?
Synetech over 13 years

I have not done it myself, but I have read that there are tools (particularly on PE disks, specifically meant for this) that can scan any kind of supported file-system, including FAT32 and NTFS. I can take a look around for a PE that specifically supports scanning FAT/NTFS… Oh, and BartPE is a system that allows you to build your own Windows PE disk.
Synetech over 13 years

@ashes999, I added another (probably easier) solution.
ashes999 over 13 years

It's a work machine. Not sure if I can expense it...
ashes999 over 13 years

Great suggestion. If it comes down to that, I will definitely try it.
ashes999 over 13 years

Solution #2 worked. I rebooted, chose "Recover Windows," and system restore restored. Then the scan-disk worked. Tada!