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    The Windows Server 2012 Essentials is stuck in automatic repair loop. I've tried using command prompt and have run bootrec /fixmbr, fixboot and rebuildbcd. Also renamed the bcd and rebuild it again. When in repair mode the C drive is the recovery drive, D is where windows is and E is where the serverfolders are. Found this out after running diskpart list volumes. Also found that C is the mbr and that d is the loader. Looked through plenty of knowledge base documents and others on the web. So far nothing to resolve the issue. This is a RAID 5 setup using an intel RAID controller. Any help in resolving this would be greatly appreciated.

    Tuesday, June 3, 2014 1:19 PM

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    backing up the registry and copying the files (SAM, Security, System, Software, Default) to 1 directory up:

    %windir%\system32\config then restoring the registry worked.

    • Marked as answer by aks17 Tuesday, June 10, 2014 4:07 PM
    Tuesday, June 10, 2014 4:07 PM

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    The Windows Server 2012 Essentials is stuck in automatic repair loop. I am using command prompt and have run bootrec /fixmbr, fixboot and rebuildbcd. Also renamed the bcd and rebuild it again. When in repair mode the C drive is the recovery drive, D is where windows is and E is where the serverfolders are. Found this out after running diskpart list volumes. Also found that C is the mbr and that d is the loader. Looked through plenty of knowledge base documents and others on the web. Also tried DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth but get an error 50. Should I add a path to the D drive where the windows system files are in repair mode? So far nothing that has resolved the issue. This is a RAID 5 setup using an intel RAID controller. Any help in resolving this would be greatly appreciated.

    • Merged by Justin Gu Saturday, June 7, 2014 9:14 AM duplicate
    Wednesday, June 4, 2014 3:23 PM
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    this may be helpful...

    http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/8540fe90-19bd-4ace-a65e-d6647b784952/stuck-in-a-preparing-automatic-repair-loop?forum=winserver8gen

    Best,

    Howtodo

    Wednesday, June 4, 2014 4:24 PM
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    Tried that and also tried

    bcdedit /set {default} recoveryenable no

    both responses were "The element data type specified is not recognized, or does not apply to specified entry. Element not found."

    Wednesday, June 4, 2014 4:48 PM
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    Hi,

    Based on your description, would you please let me know how the windows server 2012 essentials start in automatic repair? In other words, did this server reboot suddenly and then go into automatic repair? Or had you done any changes before this issue occurred (change configurations, install updates or any other)?

    Please start the server and press F8 key. Then select Last Known Good Configuration and monitor the result. Meanwhile, please refer to the following KB and confirm that you use Bootrec.exe correctly.

    Use Bootrec.exe in the Windows RE to troubleshoot startup issues

    In addition, would you please run bcdedit command and let me know the result.

    Hope this helps.

    Best regards,

    Justin Gu

    Friday, June 6, 2014 2:48 AM
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    backing up the registry and copying the files (SAM, Security, System, Software, Default) to 1 directory up:

    %windir%\system32\config then restoring the registry worked.

    • Marked as answer by aks17 Tuesday, June 10, 2014 4:07 PM
    Tuesday, June 10, 2014 4:07 PM
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    Hi,

    you are using the wrong syntax.

    the correct one is:

    bcdedit /set {default} recoveryenabled=0

    Kind regards,

    Peter

    Saturday, September 13, 2014 5:03 PM
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    This TOTALLY worked for me on 2012 R2 Server install that was stuck. For some reason just copying the files did it. Not even the restore was needed. TY so much for saving me MUCH work tonight. If I could hug you I would. 
    Monday, August 31, 2015 2:55 AM
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    So I'm having this exact issue. How do I go about 

    backing up the registry and copying the files (SAM, Security, System, Software, Default) to 1 directory up:

    %windir%\system32\config then restoring the registry worked.

    From the command prompt. I ran regedit and made a backup but that's as far as I know. Any assistance on this matter would be greatly appreciated.


    • Edited by zeyoner Tuesday, September 1, 2015 4:00 PM
    Tuesday, September 1, 2015 3:59 PM
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    After pulling my hair out for about 12 hours, finally got it all running, no data loss, all doing what it should be doing. Client is running Lenovo server with 2012 R2 16GB RAM, RAID10 16TB storage. Windows must have been running an update (sometime between 1 and 4am when the power went out). Looks like the UPS failed as it was squalking up a storm when employees showed up. I got the call that server wouldn't reboot so off I went. After many attempts at trying all of the menu choices (safe mode, last known good..., etc) and way too many hours reading other posts, I finally tried the following and all is good... You're on the right track. After you disable autorecovery, try booting to safe mode again. You should get an error with a corrupt or missing file listed. For me it was a driver "pci.sys". In the recovery console, copied it from x:\windows\system32\config\pci.sys to c:\windows\system32\config Then booted to safe mode again got another corrupt/missing file error. This time, it was usbhub3.sys Rebooted one more time without copying that file and voila, it booted and displayed that updates were being installed. Did that twice, It restarted, stated that the updates couldn't be installed and did a roll back and finally booted. Will manually install the updates later. Hope this helps.
    Monday, February 8, 2016 12:27 AM
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    So I'm having this exact issue. How do I go about 

    backing up the registry and copying the files (SAM, Security, System, Software, Default) to 1 directory up:

    %windir%\system32\config then restoring the registry worked.

    From the command prompt. I ran regedit and made a backup but that's as far as I know. Any assistance on this matter would be greatly appreciated.


    you should have a folder named RegBack on %windir%\system32\config .

    On %windir%\system32\config , backup the files SAM, SECURITY, SYSTEM, SOFTWARE and Default and then delete them . Now copy the same files from %windir%\system32\config\RegBack to %windir%\system32\config . restart and pray ! 

    • Proposed as answer by Jeffrey M. Gagen Wednesday, November 2, 2016 1:11 AM
    • Unproposed as answer by Jeffrey M. Gagen Wednesday, November 2, 2016 1:11 AM
    • Proposed as answer by Filip_cze Sunday, November 27, 2016 4:23 AM
    Friday, October 21, 2016 3:55 AM
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    This work perfectly for me on VM Server 2012 R2 Datacenter.

    This save my secondary DAG member Exchange 2013.

    Great thank you.

    Wednesday, March 29, 2017 6:33 PM
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    Worked great, thanks for the detail. 
    Tuesday, June 27, 2017 2:41 PM
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    this worked for me also thanks.
    Monday, July 31, 2017 10:31 AM
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    backing up the registry and copying the files (SAM, Security, System, Software, Default) to 1 directory up:

    %windir%\system32\config then restoring the registry worked.

    Hello all,

    I am having this issue, I am desperate at this point.  I have a Lenovo ThinkServer that appears to have done an update, and its not booting. 

    I'm new to Server (windows), I could really use some help with how to do these registry/copying to fix this boot issue..  Anyone who got it to work, from the recovery environment, I can not look at files on the drives (raided) but they are recognized in Diskpart etc.

    Any help would be great..  Step by step, since I can not seem to touch files on c/d/e drives, but I see them as being there and "healthy"

    Thanks

    p.d.

    Monday, September 18, 2017 5:44 PM
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    did not work for me. No I just get a hardware missing error. 
    Wednesday, October 18, 2017 5:13 PM
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    I really tied several threads to get back windows 2012 server r2 to work and non of them worked but let me tell you this workaround totally nailed it, thanks a lot for sharing knowledge!!!

    Now with windows back on track I'll look what was the problem...

    Sunday, December 3, 2017 5:11 AM
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    I will be honest, i thought there was no way that will work.    But IT DID!!!!!!!!!    Thank you so much....
    Monday, March 5, 2018 9:57 PM
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    Thanks bro, it is work!
    Friday, June 8, 2018 8:32 AM
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    Thanks a lot for the solution, I did  the procedure on windows server 2012r2 Standard and it worked ..
    Monday, February 11, 2019 10:01 AM
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    I still end up at the "Diagnosing and Reparing" screens after this interesting "solution",

    which wont let me get past "Restart" or "Advanced Options".

    2012 Essentials R2.

    Thursday, January 16, 2020 8:04 PM