How to repair Vista

I am running Vista on a HP machine. I'm experencing a few glitches. At first, I can't install SP1. Now my add/remove buttons have disappeared from my programs in the control panel. So I decided to do a repair from the recovery disk BB burned for me. It comes up with a message that it can't repair because no OS files were found. No problem, I also have a D: recovery partition on the hard drive.

How do I repair from the D: partition?

I'm pretty certain it is not malware. The 'puter runs fast, no other strange going ons, I use AVG and malwarebytes, windows defender and firewall and our browsing habits are fairly conservative. I really think I just have a few corrupted files.

I ran SFC /scannow but the log file is over 5M, but it does indicate some files it couldn't repair, including the appl.cpl, (or something like that), that is related to add/remove programs.

This is a great site and one that I refer many people to.

Thank you!

 

Sorry, Vista Home Premium.

 

Okay, I've been at that site and it is not very straight forward on trouble shooting. Can anybody tell me how to use a recovery partition on my hard drive to repair windows files on a Vista Home Premium system? Isn't that what the D: drive is for? Can I just open the D: drive and click on some file that will start the procedure?

Many thanks!

 

Thank you for the link.

Another question, will the path to the correct file be to the D: drive? I've already run the SFC and I have several files it couldn't fix so I will have to go through the procedure.

I don't suppose there is an easier way, is there?

 

See if you have a restore point *prior* to all the issues

Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore.

Check the box "choose a different restore point" then check the box at bottom to "show older restore points"

My laptop goes back to a month ago but number of points depends on how much space is allocated and how many system changes have been made, maybe you'll get lucky.

Did this PC come with Vista installed or was it a upgrade from XP? If Vista was not the original Operating System, do not proceed with below.

Also, please post your exact HP model i.e. Desktop/Laptop and model number if you need further help. Good Luck

If your PC came with Vista installed...
Here's how to use the Backup and Recovery Manager if Restore doesn't work - you have to backup files to external storage or you will lose them.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...=us&lang=en&docname=c00814731#c00814731_vista

C: is your OS/programs/files
D: is the Recovery Manager (you get to it via F11 or your HP Software) read, print and follow the instructions in the link above for "Starting the recovery from Windows Vista"

p.s if you resolve above read this before trying to install SP1 again.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=c01394456