Member Avatar for wdienst

Hello. I'm new to the forums, though I've read some posts here before. Anyway, I'll get straight to the meat. I have in my possession a Gateway laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium. The person who owns this laptop ran TDSSKILLER, and deleted the TDL file system it detected (DR0). Now, naturally, it will not boot into Windows. To be more specific about the OS, it is Windows 7 Home Premium OA Acer Group. I do not have the original OS media. What can I do to get the system back up and running? Thanks in advance.

Ps- I cannot get to Gateway Recovery using Alt+F10 (or any other combination of keys/function keys).

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Nice work, — using a WinPE (Hiren’s BootCD) to get a command prompt and force a repair cycle is exactly the pragmatic approach when a rootkit-clean step removes on-disk components and leaves Windows unbootable. (hirensbootcd.org)

What happened, in plain terms: the TDSS/TDL family can create a hidden “TDL” filesystem and install boot‑time code that intercepts normal loading. When an on‑disk TDL filesystem or its drivers are deleted, pieces the boot process relied on can disappear and Windows won’t start. That is why a rootkit cleanup often produces a blinking cursor, “bootmgr missing,” or similar startup failures. In some deep infections a full reinstall is the safest cure. (me.kaspersky.com)

Practical recovery notes that aren’t already in the thread: if OEM recovery (Alt+F10) is unavailable, boot from a Windows 7 repair medium or a WinPE disk and try Startup Repair first; if that doesn’t fix it, use the Windows RE/command prompt repair tools documented by Microsoft to repair the MBR/boot sector and to rebuild the BCD store. If the automated rebuild fails, inspect partition flags and run offline disk checks from WinPE (chkdsk / disk utilities) before repeating recovery attempts. Creating a System Repair Disc on another Windows 7 PC or using legitimate install media is the usual fallback when no OEM media exists. (support.microsoft.com)

After you get the system booting again: treat the machine as possibly compromised. Run up‑to‑date offline scans (rescue media), consider a clean OS reinstall if sensitive data or persistent hooks are suspected, and build a proper recovery USB/DVD and backup images for future incidents. Note: TDSSKiller itself has been retired and Kaspersky now points users to newer removal tools (KVRT/virus removal tooling). (forum.kaspersky.com)

For readers with the same problem, the thread’s solution path (WinPE → force Startup Repair → drop to prompt → repair boot data) is the right high‑level workflow; the links above have the authoritative Microsoft/Kaspersky guidance for the specific commands and options.

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Member Avatar for johhny-marshal

You need to run a Win 7 disc on the Laptop and install a fresh copy of the OS. To avoid such problems in future, do not install any software you do not know about.

Member Avatar for wdienst

Thanks for the replies. I fixed my issue by using Hiren's Boot CD to boot to the Windows partition, which gave me a stop error. This allowed me to reboot with the Startup Repair option (rather than just a blinking cursor and black screen). Startup Repair failed, but I was able to get to the command prompt and dump the boot record and rebuild it.

  • bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
  • c:
  • cd boot
  • attrib bcd -s -h -r
  • ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
  • bootrec /RebuildBcd

I can now boot into Windows.
Thanks.

Member Avatar for caperjack

yeah,just read that on bleepingcomputer ,great job

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