System Restore From Safe Mode with Command Prompt

5:43:00 PM |

In an unlikely case in which you are only able to start Windows Vista into "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" and not WinRE (i.e.: you don't have the install media; WinRE is not installed on the hard drive; your media reader is damaged, broken or not functioning), you can use the following procedure to access System Restore:
  1. Restart the computer. As the computer restarts, press the F8 key, and then choose Safe Mode with Command Prompt from the menu options.
  2. At the command prompt, type the following commands:
    wmic
    /namespace:\\root\default
    path systemrestore get
    You will see a screen similar to this (note the latest Sequence Numbers):
    System Restore Sequence Numbers screen
  3. Type the following command, replacing <SequenceNumber> with a number you obtained in the previous step. Typically you will select one of the latest numbers on the list, however you may want to select one that corresponds to a certain action. In this example, we chose to restore back to the point where Microsoft Office 2003 was installed.
    path systemrestore call restore <SequenceNumber>
    System Restore Sequence Numbers screen
  4. Press the Y key at the prompt to restore the computer.
    System Restore Sequence Numbers screen
  5. A response is given indicating that the execution was successful.
    System Restore Sequence Numbers screen
  6. Type this command to exit WMIC: exit. Press the ENTER key.
    System Restore Sequence Numbers screen
  7. Restart the computer. After the computer returns to Windows, in the System Restore dialog box, click Close.