troubleshooting unbootable system dism?

[pcpete]

We had a computer come in with a failing hard drive that was not loading windows. We cloned it do a different drive and and about 1000 unread sectors. We then ran chkdsk on the new clone. When we put it in the computer we still would have the auto repair menu and it will not boot

These are some things we have tried

• tried running system restore using the bootble 8.1 usb, but no restore points available
• ran "startup repair option using the bootable 8.1 installer, no luck
• fails to boot to safe mode

this is a computer with a lot of software they are trying to salvage, so we do not want to reload clean.

This question is for this computer, but equally for others as well that will come up again. What other options or tools can we use? My understanding is since Windows Vista a repair install is not available since it is not loading all the way. Have any of you have any luck on using dism in these scenarios, if so what method did you us? Any other general suggestions?

 

[microtech]

Source = drive letter with windows install disk
from an elevated command prompt:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:repairSource\install.wim

 

[pcpete]

Source = drive letter with windows install disk
from an elevated command prompt:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:repairSource\install.wim

have you had that particular syntax work on an unbootble system? Does the online option still work for a system that i would think is offline. My 8.1 install usb does not have those files, I will burn a disc and see if they are on it.

 

[MichaelBits]

"Dism /online" only works when you can boot into windows, hence the "/online" option.
Would need this to do it offline:

Dism /Image:C:\offline /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:insert path to install.wim here

I would try it without the source option first and see what happens. If it says it can't find the source files, then add that.

Have you run a SFC on the drive?

I have had mixed results with using DISM offline. Sometimes works, sometimes not.

 

[pcpete]

on all of my bootble usb drives I have an install.esd but not an install.wim, can that be uses as a source?

 

[microtech]

"Dism /online" only works when you can boot into windows, hence the "/online" option.
Would need this to do it offline:

Dism /Image:C:\offline /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:insert path to install.wim here

I would try it without the source option first and see what happens. If it says it can't find the source files, then add that.

Have you run a SFC on the drive?

I have had mixed results with using DISM offline. Sometimes works, sometimes not.

good catch.

and yes, the install.esd can be substituted for a .wim

 

[MichaelBits]

The WIM should be on the install disc if you have that.
And yes you can.... though it's given me issues before. Source option for ESD.

/Source:esd:[Full Path to install.esd] file:1

 

[Markverhyden]

When you imaged did you keep a separate copy to make copies from for working on? Once direction I've never had the opportunity to pursue would to make a backup of a problem drive using one of the business grade backup apps that let you create a backup for restoring to different hardware. This strips out a lot of machine specific stuff which might make recovery feasible without a nuke and pave.

 

[pcpete]

When you imaged did you keep a separate copy to make copies from for working on?

I did not, but I should have

 

[pcpete]

Hmm. I am having some issues. When i run the command with '"offline" it says it can't see my image
/image:c:\offline
According to diskpart, c: is the volume with the os, including the windows folder

 

[G8racingfool]

When you say "won't boot" is it BSODing on startup (F8->Disable Automatic Restart on System Failure) and, if so, what code is it throwing? Knowing that first will go a much longer ways to figuring out what exactly needs to be done. Right now, it could be all kinds of different problems that are causing it ranging from corrupt/missing system files to a bad registry hive to bootrec issues.

Also, "offline" is the windows directory so if your directory is normally C:\Windows then the command would look like this:

dism /Image:C:\Windows /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:*soucepath*\install.wim

 

[pcpete]

I have been using the command prompt from the install media. No matter how I do it, it says image can't be accessed. I also tried this same command on another computer with the same results. Just in case I was supposed to be running this from the built in recovery and command prompt built into the system, it also gave me the same error. I have never had luck running dism on a dead system, is this user error?

**when I disable auto-restart, it still goes to the automatic repair**

 

[sapphirescales]

Have you tried doing it from WinPE? One with internet access?

 

[pcpete]

Have you tried doing it from WinPE? One with internet access?

I have not, what is your reasoning?

 

[sapphirescales]

I have not, what is your reasoning?

So you have internet access and can try running Dism online.

 

[fencepost]

Hopefully you have both an image and the drive that you're working on, so if something doesn't work you can re-image down to the HD and try again.

Is upgrading to Windows 10 possible or barred by non-compatible software? What happens if you do an upgrade install from USB media? Sure, the current system isn't booting, but there's a good chance the Windows 10 upgrade will take care of that in the process of installing all its files.

Edit: Ah, I see from looking back that you do not have both an image and what could be considered the only working copy of the data. So, stop everything and image that drive before you do ANYTHING else. Only after you have that can you continue to experiment.