How to Create an Emergency Recovery Disk in Windows Easily?

How do I Run an Emergency Recovery Disk?

Emergency recovery disk, also known as emergency repair disk (ERD), is a special disk that contains important system files and settings. A Windows emergency recovery disk can help users troubleshoot and fix problems with their PC, even if it won't boot.

Your computer may refuse to boot due to a hard disk crash, system crash, or software conflicts. In such scenarios, an emergency recovery disk can help you to restore the operating system to normal status. If your PC cannot boot, an emergency recovery disc will help you to boot it as well.

How to create an emergency recovery disk in Windows

Want to create a Windows emergency recovery disk? There are Three efficient ways for your reference.

Solution 1. Creating an emergency repair disk with the best alternative

To create an emergency recovery disc, you can use the best free alternative – AOMEI Backupper Standard. Almost all types of CD/DVD and USB can be supported by this freeware. With this powerful utility, you can create ASUS recovery disk, create Dell recovery USB, and make a Lenovo recovery disc, etc.

What’s more, this software supports Windows 11/10, Windows 8.1/8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and XP. If you want to create an emergency recovery disk in Windows 10, this freeware can also give you a hand.

This useful software also provides system backup and system restore. You can use these practical features to protect your data. By the way, AOMEI Backupper is praised by lots of people because of its simple interface and easy steps.

Before creating, you need to connect the media (CD/DVD or USB) to the well-functioning computer. Now, you can refer to the following steps. Download the freeware first.

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Best free software to create an emergency recovery disk.

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Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

Step 1. Select Tools from the left side. Then click Create Bootable Media.

Step 2. Choose a Bootable Disc Type in this interface. It's recommended to choose Windows PE, because it provides more operations than Linux. Then click Next.

Step 3. Select your bootable media (here is Burn To CD/DVD). Then click Next to get your WinPE emergency disk.

Step 4. Now you can insert the WinPE emergency disk to the computer where Windows refuses to boot. Press a certain key (refer to the PC's manual or website) to enter into BIOS, choose the bootable CD, and click Enter.

You can set the WinPE emergency disc as the first boot device in BIOS settings. Then you can access the system in the Windows PE disc and realize backup and restore by this software.

Solution 2. Creating an emergency repair disk via Backup and Restore

Windows users can use Windows built-in tools to create an emergency recovery CD/DVD or USB drive. It should be noted that you are only allowed to use CD/DVD as the media for system restoration in Windows 7. If you don't have a CD/DVD, you can use the ISO image file to create an emergency recovery disk in Windows 7.

Here we take a CD/DVD as an example to create a Windows 7 emergency recovery disk. Before you do, make sure you have plugged a CD or DVD into a well-functioning computer. Then you can follow these steps:

Step 1. Type Backup and Restore in the search box and click it.

Step 2. Click Create a system repair disc in the pop-up window.

Step 3. Select your CD/DVD and click Create Disc. Then you can get a Windows 7 emergency recovery disk.

However, the emergency recovery disk made by the Windows built-in tool may not boot other computers except the one that created it. Then, you can turn to third-party software to restore the system from the disc.

Solution 3. Creating an emergency repair disk via Windows Recovery

Windows lets you make a Recovery Drive to help fix your system if something goes wrong. If your computer can't start or you can't get to the desktop, you can use this Recovery Drive to reset the system or fix issues. You can also choose to back up system files to the drive and later use it to reinstall Windows.

Here’s how to create a Recovery Drive:

Step 1: Plug a USB flash drive into a working computer.

Step 2: Open the Control Panel, go to Recovery, and select Create a Recovery Drive.

Step 3: Check the option to Back up system files to the recovery drive, then click Next.

Step 4: Choose your USB drive and click Create to start the process.

★Tips: If your system crashes, follow these steps to fix it:

 Boot your computer using the recovery drive.

 Go to Troubleshoot > Recover from a drive.

 Select either Just remove my files or Fully clean the drive.

 Click Recover to begin the process.

Bonus Tip: What is an Emergency Recovery Disk?

If your computer won’t start or is having serious issues, you can try using Safe Mode or Windows Recovery Mode (also called WinRE) to fix the problem. But what if these recovery options don’t work? That’s when an Emergency Recovery Disk (ERD) can come in handy.

So, what exactly is an Emergency Recovery Disk? As the name suggests, this disk is designed to help you in emergencies, especially when your computer can’t boot up normally, in Safe Mode, or even through Windows Recovery Mode. With an Emergency Recovery Disk, you can access recovery tools to troubleshoot and repair your system. You can easily create an Emergency Recovery Disk using the built-in Windows tools or the third-party software we have mentioned above.

FAQs about Emergency Recovery Disk

Summary

Now you have learned two efficient ways to create an emergency recovery disk. It’s recommended to use AOMEI Backupper to create your system repair disc because it will give you more advanced settings.

If you want to create a Windows Server 2012 recovery disk or a Windows Server 2016 recovery disk, you can use the AOMEI Backupper Server.