Hello everybody!
In this video, I am going to show you how to restore data from a computer that will
not start, how to create your own bootable USB drive with a set of utilities for data
recovery with Windows PE, how to boot a computer with such a USB drive and how
to
restore data.
If you suddenly encounter failures in the work of your operating system and it can’t
boot anymore, but there are still some important files left on its hard disk - don’t give
way to despair - you can try restoring them even if they have been deleted.
Using our method, not only you will be able to boot a full-fledged Windows without installing
it, but also use various software to check your HDD, search and remove viruses, create
new partitions, recover data and so on.
Restoring with AOMEI PE Builder+ Hetman Partition Recovery
For starters, you should download a free program AOMEI PE Builder and a portable version of
Hetman Partition Recovery, copy them to a USB drive or disk, boot from there, scan the
disks and restore the necessary data.
So download AOMEI PE Builder from the official website and the portable version of Hetman
Partition Recovery - all the links will be in the description.
Install AOMEI PE Builder, and then unpack the folder containing Hetman Partition Recovery
from the archive.
Run AOMEI PE Builder, click Next, check the box next to “Create 32-bit version of Windows
PE” and click Next again.
Choose the versions depending on what kind of software you are going to use - 32-bit
or 64-bit.
In the next window, you can choose what software will be written to this USB drive; if you
don’t need any extra programs, uncheck al boxes or open each of the sections and choose
the ones you will really need for further work.
In order to add your own utilities, click Add Files, then Add Folder and specify the
path to the folder containing the program.
It should be a portable version, otherwise it just won’t start, and the bitness of
the program should be the same as the system bitness you have chosen.
Check the folder with the necessary program and click OK, then click Next again, choose
what kind of media you want to use - a USB drive, a disk or a hard disk of the computer.
I choose a USB drive, click Next - now there’s a window with a warning that this device will
be formatted and all data erased, so click Yes if you agree; it starts the process of
creating a bootable USB drive with Windows PE and a set of chosen utilities.
It requires Internet access and the process can take some time, depending on the set of
programs and the speed of your Internet connection.
When it’s over, you’ll see the Finish button; as soon as you click it, the bootable
USB drive with Windows PE is ready to use.
Now all you have to do is to connect it to the computer which fails to boot, and turn
it on.
Insert it into a USB port of the computer and set the PC to boot from the USB drive.
You can watch a detailed guide on how to do it in another video on our channel “How
to Enter BIOS or UEFI and Boot Your PC From a USB Drive (find the link in the description):
The system will boot automatically, and you’ll see an interface very similar to Windows 10,
and the list of programs you have selected before.
Here, you can open This PC and try finding your data in one of the disks you can see;
by the way, the disk letters may not be the same they used to be when your computer was
still OK.
If you have found your data, just connect another disk or removable media and copy your
files there.
If a folder containing your information is gone, try restoring it.
To do it, run Hetman Partition Recovery, which you can find in the folder “User program”
and scan the disk where your files used to be; for convenience, you can change the language
settings.
Click on the menu item View, Language and choose the one you need.
Now select the necessary folder and click to recover, and specify the path to the disk
where you want to put the recovered files.
That’s all - your data is back.
Now you see that a bootable disk or USB drive will come in very handy in a situation, when
the operating system fails in a computer with important data and reinstallation can result
in losing precious information.
Windows PE without a shell If you are good enough at using command prompt,
you can create a USB drive with Windows PE and try restoring the system with the good
old command prompt.
To do it, you’ll have to download an ADK software package; I will give the link in
the description, and install it, checking the boxes for Deployment
Tools and Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) at the beginning.
After installation, type “Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment” in the Start
menu and run it as administrator.
In the window that opens, run the command to create a folder containing files of a Windows
PE distribution kit for x86 or amd64 version: For x86:
copype x86 C:\WinPE_x86 For amd64:
copype amd64 C:\WinPE_amd64 Now, you can create an ISO file:
For x86: MakeWinPEMedia /ISO C:\WinPE_x86 C:\WinPE_x86\WinPE_x86.iso
For amd64: MakeWinPEMedia /ISO C:\WinPE_amd64 C:\WinPE_amd64\WinPE_amd64.iso
After that, connect the USB to the computer and run it from the USB drive; the system
will boot and you will see a window with the command prompt.
To add your own programs to the Windows PE package before creating the image, type the
following command: imagex /mountrw C:\WinPE_amd64\media\sources\boot.wim
1 C:\WinPE_amd64\mount Then copy the programs you need to the folder
“mount” and run the following command: imagex /unmount /commit C:\WinPE_amd64\mount
After that, run the command to create the ISO image, and then write the image to a disk
or USB drive.
You can watch one of our videos to learn more about restoring Windows to boot from command
prompt.
Find the link in the description.
By the way, there’s one more way how to create a bootable USB drive to restore the
operating system and data on a computer which can’t boot - the link is below this video.
That is all for now.
Hit the Like button and subscribe to our channel.
Leave comments to ask questions.
Thank you for watching.
Good luck.