This disk can be used to access system recovery tools, giving you options of using an antivirus, System Restore, document and picture backup and recovery, automated system repair, and a command-line prompt for manual advanced recovery.
Ever since we first made available the Windows Vista Recovery Disc for download back in January, we’ve been inundated with requests for an x64-compatible version. Flash-forward to three months later, and it’s finally here!
If you don’t already know what the Windows Vista Recovery Disc is and what’s used for, take a quick look at the original article – good luck catching up on the half-a-thousand comments there!
Note that this download is no longer free, due to licensing restrictions imposed upon us.
What it does: The Windows Vista Recovery Disc can be used to access a system recovery menu, giving you options of using an antivirus program, System Restore, Complete PC Backup, automated system repair, and a command-line prompt for manual advanced recovery.
What it doesn’t do: You cannot use the Windows Vista Recovery Disc to re-install Windows – it only fixes (not replaces!) Windows.
Why you need it: If you bought your PC from a major retailer, you didn’t get this CD with your hefty purchase.
Download Links
Windows Vista Recovery Discs (x86/x64)
- Using Windows 7?
Download the disk for Windows 7 from here - Using Windows 8?
Download the disk for Windows 8 from here
Instructions
- Click the link above then select the edition you’d like to download.
- Select a payment method and enter details.
- Download the link displayed onscreen and sent to your email.
- Burn the .iso file that was downloaded to a CD using these instructions.
- When you want to use the recovery center, put the CD in your drive and boot from it. This is usually done by pressing F8 at startup, or changing the boot drive order in the BIOS.
Support
Please don’t ask for help below, it’ll get real cluttered real soon! Open a support thread at http://neosmart.net/forums/ and we’ll help you resolve your problem ASAP.
We have Microsoft Open License (which is just a Vista upgrade), and there is no way to get to the repair console. I was ‘Ghosting’ the OS to put on the multitude of machines (thought it would be easier that way). Needless to say there were booting errors. I was just about to give up until I found this site. I just wanted to say thank you so much… you guys are lifesavers.
Thanks again!
pheel
A thousand thank you’s, once I worked out that the torrents file wasnt the bootable file itself and followed the process to download the actual bootable repair file, burned to a CD not a DVD ( wouldnt work off a DVD for me), eventually got my system to boot from the CD, selected repair my computer and all fixed within 15 minutes.DO NOT USE THE REINSTALATION DISC OR SIMILAR AS YOU WILL BE RECOMMENDED BT MANY SOURCES IT WILL WIPE ALL YOUR FILES AND INFO, THANKS TO THESE GUYS YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO THAT!!.Once again thank you thank you, over 400 gb of info and files would have needlessly been lost.
Thanx guys/girls ….
I really need this to make my laptop to dual-boot , cuz the cd/dvd was not included …
🙂
I downloaded the torrent and made the CD. When I start the computer with the CD in I can hear the disk drive began but I am still getting the Windows Error Recovery page That lists all those “safe mode”……. “Start Windows normally.” After not choosing it automatically attempts to start and then the screen reads that file: ntoskrn.exe is missing or corrupt
status: 0xc0000098
Is it not loading from the drive??? Is the reboot disk not working??
Thanks
You guys kick ass!
thank you very much from mexico yeah
i installed xp on a usb hard drive and this caused that windows couldn’t boot
but this just worked great
Can anyone help uploading the CD image to the internet since my network admin. doest not provide access to torent site and server…
Hi,
Could it be possible to put the file obtained from the torrent posted above, and get the bios to boot from a usb key instead of a cd?
Just a friendly reminder to all those requesting help with the use of the recovery CD here in the comments – support requests on the blog are ignored due to the large quantity of posts and the difficulty of keeping track of them.
Please open a support thread at our forums at http://neosmart.net/forums/ instead, and you?ll get your problems hopefully solved.
Man I am elated! Yoy guys rock. Yuor Vista Boot Disc worked like a
charm. I could not believe my eyes. I almost shelled out money to
Gateway to puchase a Recovery CD and you saved me. A thousand thanks to
you and may god bless you.
I love to test Linux Distro Live CDs, however…I thought it was safe
to do so untill one day a Distro had altered the MBR and made my life
hell. I could not do a System Repair or even Factory Rcovery because
with the new a Rcovery Cd is nolonger shipped with the PC. Instead I
have PC Angel Partician with the recovery CD installed there.
Unfortunaely when I pushed F8 I got a big suprise. I got something like
this:
Stop:C0000ZLA {Fatal System Error}
The NT Initial Command Process System Terminated Unexpectedly With
Status of 0X0000001 (X000000000 0X00000000).
System Has Been Shut Down.
I could not reach PC Angel for Recovery or to make a copy of Recovery
disc. I was livid and at my wits end. I figured I should scoure thenet
for a solution. Went to Gateways “Support” site which turned out to be
no support whatsoever. I even did a livechat with there so called
“Teachs”. They were anything but knowledgable about a solution for me
other than cough up some money and we’ll send a Recovery CD.
On that note I was somewhat hopeless but I could not totally believe
there was not a solution to my problem. I searched for a way to get
past PC Angels protection to image orcopy the partician to make a disc
with no avail. The I searched for a Vista Boot Disc and stumbled upon
your site. It worked for me. I must stress that the burning software is
crucial. I used Magic ISO for my fist disc which failed to work. Second
burn I used CDBurnerXP and it worked perfectly. Thanks again.
Using your instructions, which are very easy to follow, and CDBurnerXP, the VISTA Recovery Disc worked like a charm. I just wanted to say thanks.
Hi Folks, thank you so much, you saved me a whole lot of trouble.
There are two lessons to be learned here that I should have known better but hey, under pressure and all that…
1. Even if you think you are safe with a brand new RAID5 system, multiple disk failures are still possible if you get a batch of dodgy disks. I suggest people stay clear of Samsung F1 Spinpoint 500GB drives.
2. When implementing a new O/S that you are not familiar with, (Windows Server 2008 x64 in my case) just doing a backup and saying “I will do a practice restore when I get time” is not good enough because you can never tell when your brand new super-resilient production server is going to fail dramatically 🙂
Thanx guys saved my bacon…… Good tool. Very useful. Agains thanX
Not many seeds…………….. can someone seed?
There are currently 153:28 and 339:32 (Seeders:Leechers) for the x64 and x86 images respectively – should be plenty fast and plenty reliable.
If you can’t get it to download then there’s a problem with your connection.
Once again – a trillion thanks to all you guys and gals out there seeding the images… We love you!
i got this problem
will this thing fix the problem?
Hello,
Very nice to have something at time notebook is delivered without Vista DVD and doesn’t support any advanced partition changes.
Well, in my case, I have a Toshiba Satellite L300. My goal is to install a multiboot (using System Commander) with Vista, XP, 2K and Fedora.
So, my first steps have been those :
1) I set the BIOS to IDE compatibility mode, rather than the Intel AHCI one : just because it add problem without any real improvment in my type of use.
2) I do a full backyp of entire HDD using Acronis TrueImage 11 Home ; so, I’ll be able to retrieve original state easily.
3) I delete the usual WinRE and DATA partitions.
4) I reduced the Vista partition using the Vista disc management tool ; so, now, my Vista is a 20GB one (was 55GB) and all sounds right.
5) I do a new Acronis Backup because I know problem will come.
6) I move the Vista partition at the beginning of the HDD using Gparted Live CD 0.3.9-4 (the last one at this time, I think).
7) When I reboot, of course, I obtain the well known error about winload.exe
8) So, I burn the Vista Repair Disc and run it… But ther’s several problems :
a) There’s not the French language in the firt list (at top) ; others two one about keyboard and region are ok. Well, maybe this is not important !
b) At next step, it doesn’t find the HDD… I’ve tried to indicate (using the “load driver” button) several drivers burning a CD with all appropriated drivers from Toshiba, but it remains the same. Well, however, I click “next” anyway…
c) I clic on the first entry : “Repair startup”… It tells me it’s OK, but, in f&act, it seems nothing happends, because at reboot it’s always the same : winload.exe error 🙁
I suppose the problem is that it doesn’t find the HDD, then Vista, but not sure at all… What to do, please ?
Solved ! I’ve moved the Vista partition using EASEUS Partition Manager from within Vista and all sounds right 🙂
I downloaded the torrent using Utorrent. I opened the RAR file with winrar and extracted it. I am now trying to burn it to a dvd but I don’t see an ISO file anywhere. What is it called. I see two folders and another file separate. I open the folders and some other files show up but none of them are ISO. What am I doing wrong?
just like to say thanks for your help.
Ummm would the 64 work if I’m only running Home Premium 32?
If not can someone tell me a link where I can get one?
My sister accidentally formatted our Recovery Drive D: So everything in it got deleted…
I’m running Windows Vista Home Premium x32 on HP Pavilion dv6000
Please…
My e-mail is
thamzgarcia32@yahoo.com…
I might not be able to find this place again so can someone send the info in my e-mail as well…
My computer (Sony Vaio) wouldn´t start after having installed a new version of a torrent software. Of course Sony are near enough not to supply us with a recovery cd / Windows installer cd, so I was stuck…:(
Luckily I found your website, via my second computer. Your CD worked perfectly!. Thank you so much – you REALLY saved my day!!!!!
/Peter
Just downloaded the torrent for the x86 and after downloading through utorrent it did not contain a .iso file. There is a RAR file which after extracted yielded:
file – bootmgr
folder – boot
….file – bcd (contained in boot folder)
….file – boot.sdi (contained in boot folder)
….file – bootfix.bin (contained in boot folder)
folder – sources
….file – boot.wim (contained in sources folder)
bootmgr, boot, and bcd appear to have no file extension, which is just a bit confusing. Anyway there is no .iso file (and yes I understand how torrents work – I saw someone else post a similar problem and get a response about downloading torrents).
Thanks for your tech advice, but your bullshit ad about “Israel’s massacre of innocent women and children in Gaza” is not appropriate for this forum. Those Arabs never had it so good until Israel assisted them. Keep your politics separate from your technology.
Hello Great People at Neosmart,
Thank you a million times for the Vista recovery disk.
I just had the infamous “an error occurred while attempting to read the boot
configuration data” problem.
You saved my day !!! The recovery disk downloaded without problem, and after burning to CD and booting it in the troubled portable, the Vista problems were solved.
Thanks!!!
i cant download it at nashs its blocked and my computer needs it some one help.
can any one help me
Thankyouuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!! managed to fix my fiances computer after several hours o downloading differant burning programs.
now we’re going to locate the donate-button 🙂
could u e-mail me the whereabout if u doesn’t see any contribution within a few days??
forever grateful, M & J in stockholm sweden
Hi…. we want to leave a donation… how do we do that??
Ever so grateful after managing to recover all data…. blood sweat & tears
please e-mail us and give us the information we need; eban number and a BIC- code for transfering funds abroud.
xoxo from marie
I just wanted to thank you for having this site with the download vista recovery software I did not have. As you said I bought my desk top at best buy with no cd’s of any kind. My window vista key is attached to the side of the desk top if people can’t find theirs. Also I did not have a torrent opening software I got it free at http://www.bittorrent.com. Thanks again.
Paul
Worked great. Vista seems unstable and often corrupts one small part of the load routines when upgrading over the internet and so locks out the machine even though very little has gone wrong.
Your download was the simplest and quickest solution, thanks again,
Peter
Well it sounded good but won’t work…can’t open the torrent file so that I can burn the iso to a disk.
ok…ummm i play world of warcraft alot and i just got the new expansion and a day after i installed it my computer crashed..it keeps giving me the big blue screen of death and sometimes is goes black and i cant start it out in safe mode..it eventually ends up just showing the cursor and nothing else..i have Vista it does say i need to uninstall WOW but i cant get to the screen will the recovery disk help me out.
@Drew: You know that you need to have a torrent program installed in order to get the ISO, right?
Regardless, I’ve used this a number of times to assist people with Vista issues when they do not have OS discs.
Sean Et Cetera…
Did everything as asked above…downloaded appropriate torrent file…downloaded uTorrent…ImgBurn…
Just won’t let me do everything as described above…can’t run uTorrent to begin with
Well got the disc burned successfully however it didn’t help to fix the problem…thanks anyways
Thanks to this great forum, my problem started when i try to burn my set of Recovery Disc from my 7 months old HP 530 laptop operating on Windows Vista 32bits. The process of the burning crashed along the line but not knowing to me because i thought the set of the Backup and Recovery CD is just only one DVD CD since the process stop on one DVD CD but later got it that it should be two DVD CDs. Foolish me, I was rest assured that I have the Backup and Recovery CD with me until that very ill-fitted day that I tried to recover my laptop. Along the process, when it got to where there is REINSTALLING THE ORIGINAL CONTENTS in the Recovery Manager screen, my computer just show ”ERROR xxx100083 IF PROBLEM CONTINUES, CONTACT THE HP CUSTOMER SERVICE”. The next option it gave me is to click OK or CANCEL. Of which if I did , It reboots and stop at the first black screen that usually show: PRESS F11 FOR EMERGENCY RECOVERY. Of which if I did not press the F11 button, It shows: ”BOOTMG FILE MISSING”, ”PRESS CRTL+ALT+DEL TO REBOOT” and it will be going through this loop throughout. And to my HOPELESS burnt Backup and Recovery DVD CD, is as empty as blank CD and as useless as garbage. Please, can this your Recovery CD solve my problem???, if it will really does, I will be the luckiest and happiest man in this world. Looking forward to hearing from you as soon as possible because my hope lies in God and your hands Mahmoud Al-Qudsi. Don’t you think so??? Thanks once more……lol
Hi Darrell,
Please open a thread with your problem at http://neosmart.net/forums/ and someone will be along shortly to help you.
Hello I cannot get this to download, can anyone else?
Hmm..I hope this Helps.
I was changing sound card son my HP Pavilion dv1000
and it deleted something. Nw whenever i cut my computer on, the login screen is just a black screen with a cursor.
Sooo I downloaded the torrent
& burned the ISO file.
and i got two folders and another file on my cd..is that whats supposed to be there.
I am gonna go home and try it..
J.Stokes
Thank you so much! It worked and very well 🙂 .
You saved me so much time…
Not having Windows Vista installation disk but what was included in my new Toshiba laptop package (which does install Vista again while erasing all your data), I should have to format my hard disk (according to Toshiba customer support call centres, pc shops etc etc).
Grazie!
nadia
Any kind soul out there to advice?
My HP labtop showing me a black screen with funny characters’/numbers.
Happened to read this site & forum.I had downloaded the recovery above and burn in the ‘iso format in a dvd disc. How can i go about it?
After i press F8, there are options as below
-Startup Repair
-System restore
-windows complete restore
-windows memort dignostics tool
-commond prompt
-recovery manager
how to go about rescusing my labtop 🙁
Lost Girl…
Download links don’t work…
Download links don’t work 🙁
How do I find if I have a 32x or 64x version of Vista Home premium?
when I download the recovery file via uTorrent, I do not get a ISO image but a .sdi type file with some folders. Am I missing something? I need the x64 Vista RE ISO image and prefer to not use the WAIK method as I have a lot of developing to do and time is an issue. Are there any alternative sites to get this image in an ISO format? Thanks for your reply. chuck
Hi, what should i download if i have windows vista home premium 64 bit,and its (86x)? reply to my email please “alfredo_03_25@hotmail.com” thanks
Is there a similar sort of thing for Windows Server 2008? Or, will this work for Windows Server? I seem to have somehow hosed one. Which is, um, a bit embarrassing.
Would this work against a Windows 2008 server? Or is there some other method to recover from my symptoms – to wit, Windows 2008 does not boot fully; instead, it likes to show a completely black screen with a tantalisingly movable mouse cursor. Same if I use F8 to try to boot to safe mode; same even with safe-mode-with-command-prompt or last-known-good.
All I want to do is get to a command line to run chkdsk and some things like that, frankly. A desktop so I can uninstall a recent video driver would be a bonus, too.
Hey, everyone, I have a HP Pavilion DV9690EN. Recently i had an accident – somehow i managed to hit it with my belt, at the spot wheres the LSHIFT key is, so after that, like 5 minutes later, it freezes, and when i restart it the system checkup thing is shown. I tryed to do that, but it doesnt help, its like i do the repair, but when its complete, and it restarts, im on the same spot again. I booted the recovery partition, and somehow i got a graphic interface, so im like browsing the pc, and i cant access the C: drive where the OS is, but i can access the D: drive, so i have the recovery and os both on C: drive, but when i tried to acces it, it told me that if i want to use that drive i should format it. I went on with the format, i rebootet the pc, pressed F11 – the recovery manager, i choose – recovery, so it went with the formatting/re-installing. So the PC reboots and starts performance check, and it looked like very long process, and since it was like 2 at night so i left it by itself, and went to sleep, when i woke up, i went to check the PC. Performance checkup is still running, almost ended though, but it didnt seem that it was still working, looked like it just freezed, so i restart the pc, the start windows normally or system checkup screen appeared, so i choose win-norm, it starts loading, but it won’t load, he asks me if i want to do the system checkup. Any sugestions? :/