Running the System Recovery with a Disk

• To run the Vista recovery with a disk, insert it into the CD/DVD drive and reboot the computer. Press either F2 or Delete to enter the BIOS. Look for the advanced BIOS settings or the boot menu, set the drive as the primary boot device, then save and exit.
  
  

Running the System Recovery without a Disk

• Some pre-built systems do not include a physical disk with them, but instead have an image installed on a partition. To access this, press F8 during the boot menu to access the advanced boot process. From there, select "repair computer".
  
  

Without a CD or Image

• If you don't have either a physical CD or an image of the system recovery, you can download the program and burn the ISO to a CD. It can be downloaded from the NeoSmart Technologies website: http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/
  
  

OS not Showing on Recovery Options Screen

• When using the Vista recovery, the operating system should show in the system recovery options. If you are using multiple hard drives, especially a combination of SATA and IDE, it may not know the location of your operating system. Disconnecting the other hard drives should remove the problem. If you are using only one hard drive, clicking "next" without selecting anything may start the fixing process and the operating system may appear later. If you do this, be sure to run the recovery a second time.
  
  

Damage to OS

• If the operating system installed on the hard drive is broken causing problems when booting, insert the boot CD. Do not choose "Startup repair," instead run the command prompt and type "chkdsk /f" (without the quotation marks) to find errors and correct them. "chkdsk" tells the computer to check the hard disk and list any problems, and "/f" tells it to automatically fix any problems it encounters.