Free | How to Do System Restore in Safe Mode in Windows 7/10/11

Can I do system restore in safe mode Windows 7?

We cannot predict unexpected things, but we can prevent them by creating a system restore point. With it, you can undo the harmful change via System Restore. But if you cannot boot your computer?

System restoration in safe mode may be a great idea. It helps when you cannot boot the Windows. Also, it works when your computer is infected by malware, or the system keeps crashing or blue-screening owing to updated drivers. 

To restore the computer in safe mode, you need to ensure that there is an available restore point. It's the premise to restore the computer in safe mode. However, some users report that they can't boot into safe mode in Windows 7. You could consider jumping to the last part.

How to do system restore in safe mode in Windows 7/10/11

Step 1. Start your computer, and press the F8 key repeatedly before showing the Windows logo. Then, you will see the Advanced Boot Options. 

Step 2. Select Safe Mode under the Advanced Boot Options. Then, choose your account to log in when the safe mode loads and click X to close the pop-up box.

Step 3. Click Start menu > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore to summon the next window. Or you can directly type System Restore in the search box, then select it.

Step 4. In this window, you need to make sure that the recommended system restore point is working properly at that time. If yes, click Next. If not, tick Choose a different restore point.

Step 5. Confirm the settings are correct and click Finish to restore Windows 7 to a previous date.

What if you can't boot into safe mode Windows 7?

Sometimes, the Safe Mode may fail to load. That's to say, your computer has deep Operating System issues. In this case, you can try a Windows 7 system repair disc or create a bootable media with third-party software. Both can help you restore the computer to a previous date. 

The repair disc contains the necessary system recovery tools that can troubleshoot your computer and recover it from a serious error or directly restore from a system image. But you probably don't have a CD/DVD disc or fail to create the system repair disc. The most common error is "System repair disc could not be created (0x80070057)" which is often caused by incapability with other software, or other errors. 

Free backup software like AOMEI Backupper can help you create a bootable media and system backup as well. The bootable media can be an ISO image file or using a CD/DVD or USB device, and start any Windows computer (both 32-bit and 64-bit). For example, if you create a bootable media in Windows 7 via AOMEI Backupper, you can use it to start Windows 7 as well as Windows 8/8.1/10/11 without any obstacle. 

How to system restore with bootable media and system backup

As mentioned earlier, the system repair disc is error-prone, so here I just take AOMEI Backupper Standard as an example and show you the entire process, including creating bootable media and restoring from a system image. Then. let's have a closer look. 

Create a bootable media with AOMEI Backupper

To create a bootable media, you need a working computer running Windows 7/8/10/11 and a writable removable drive. Also, downloading AOMEI Backupper is required.

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Backupper. Then, click Tools and Create Bootable Media in turn.

✍Tip: If you don't have a USB or CD/DVD, you can choose to create a recovery environment with AOMEI Backupper. Then, you can directly backup & restore or clone without booting Windows.

Step 2. In this window, select the bootable media type. It's suggested to choose Windows PE to gain a better performance. It supports both UEFI/GPT mode and Legacy BIOS/MBR mode. 

Step 3. Select a storage device for your bootable media. Here, I will take the USB Boot Device as an example. After that, click Next and wait for the final result.

Boot your computer and system restore from a backup image

Step 1. Plug your USB bootable media into your computer via a USB port and set the boot priority. Then, restart your computer to access the Windows PE environment. At the same time, you need to connect the removable drive with the system image backup.

Step 2. Click Restore and Select Image File to find the system image you made before.

Step 3. Tick Restore this system backup and click Next. 

Step 4. Preview the operation summary, and click Start Restore.

✍Tip: Tick the advanced feature Universal Restore if your image is created on a different computer.  If the system image is created on the original computer before it crashes, you can uncheck "Universal Restore".  

Step 5. Change the boot sequence in BIOS and set the system disk as the first option. Then, restart your computer and see if you restore Windows 7 back successfully.

Extending: what is system restore?

System restore is a recovery tool to create a record of changes related to a system or software event (called a restore point) and allows you to restore your computer to a previous good state. During the process, you can restore important Windows files and settings - like drivers, registry keys, system files, installed programs, and more.

The process can be automatic or manual. In general, Windows will create a system restore point before any change is made to your computer, such as program installation or uninstallation, driver update, etc. Please note that system restore does not affect your documents, pictures, or other personal data, so please feel free to restore your computer when something goes wrong.

Written in the end

In general, if you create a system restore point in advance, you can do a system restore in safe mode Windows 7. If not, you can try to repair your computer with a Windows 7 system repair disc. But it requires a CD/DVD and the creation may fail. Therefore, it's suggested to use AOMEI Backupper to restore your computer. 

With it, you can create bootable media to boot any computer, whether Windows 7, 8, 8.1, or 10/11. Also, it supports restoring system image backups created on different computers without boot issues. This is what Universal Restore does for you. 

But this version can only protect several computers. If you want to protect unlimited computers within your company, you can pick AOMEI Backupper Technician. With the inbuilt AOMEI Image Deploy tool, you are also allowed to deploy/restore system image files on a server-side computer to multiple client-side computers over the network.