Restore XP recovery point without booting to Windows

[MustISO]

OEM XP SP3 machine. Blue screens in regular and safe mode. Would like to restore using the recovery points but without being in Safe Mode is this possible?

 

[Dahak]

If you cannot get into Safe Mode, you are pretty much out of luck unfortunately.

The only other option that would allow it, that I know of, is the Erd Commander,(now called Dart (Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset) but that is not available to end users and only to people with Software Assurance licenses / MSDN / Technet

 

[MustISO]

I have the ERD Commander and have tried that but most XP systems I use it on fail when it tries to detect the operating system. Not sure why because the vista and win7 recovery discs work great but with XP it's never worked well for me. Not sure if the ERD has issues with home PC's running OEM systems.

 

[Bubbaleone]

I have the ERD Commander and have tried that but most XP systems I use it on fail when it tries to detect the operating system. Not sure why because the vista and win7 recovery discs work great but with XP it's never worked well for me. Not sure if the ERD has issues with home PC's running OEM systems.

Well, you certainly do have an option other than ERD. I've successfully used the recovery console method, as outlined in this Computer Hope article, many times on clients PCs: Restore Windows system settings from the recovery console

 

[MustISO]

That sounds promising, thanks for the info. I'm also trying difference RAID/AHCI drivers loaded into the ERD to see if that helps.

 

[MustISO]

Adding the additional drivers to the ERD just results in a BSOD. Can't do the steps using the link above because without the drivers it can't find the drives. When I try the drivers it blue screens.

 

[JackMDS]

XP has a Repair (refresh) mode.

Boot from the CD and skip the first screen of the console repair as though you want a new install.

To new install will detect the current installation and would offer repair (Press R_.

If you choose Repair it actually reinstall the whole OS on the same partition without touching the Applications, and Data (takes 30 min or more depending on the computer's hardware).

 

[Dahak]

XP has a Repair (refresh) mode.

Boot from the CD and skip the first screen of the console repair as though you want a new install.

To new install will detect the current installation and would offer repair (Press R_.

If you choose Repair it actually reinstall the whole OS on the same partition without touching the Applications, and Data (takes 30 min or more depending on the computer's hardware).

I usually use that as an ultimate last resort. but just some other thoughts.
1) what is the error code on the blue screen when booting the computer / and erd?
2) is it possible to remove the drive and hook it up in another machine? that way you could at least do a chkdsk on it and maybe manually do the steps in Jack's link

 

[Matt1970]

Try and run CHKDSK from the repair console.

 

[MustISO]

Tried the steps in the link from Bubbaleone and it didn't work. Seemed like I got a little bit further into safe mode but still blue screen'd.

Copying the data off of the hard drives using Linux Mint boot disk right now.

@Matt1970, can't run check disk as the repair console can't see the hard drives.