Sony Vaio Series, Operating Instructions Manual

Recovering your VAIO system

21

Recovering your VAIO system when you cannot 
start Windows

If Windows does not start, you can select from the following two options:

❑

Recover your computer system from the recovery partition.

You can recover your computer system faster than recovering it using 
recovery discs, because the recovery partition on the hard disk is used.

❑

Recover your computer system using recovery discs.

You can recover your computer system using recovery discs when you 
have damaged or erased the recovery partition data. However, it takes 
more time than recovering it from the recovery partition.

To recover your computer system from recovery 
partition

1

Turn on your computer.

2

Press the 

F2

 key when the VAIO logo appears.

The BIOS setup screen appears. If not, restart the computer and 
press the 

F2

 key several times when the VAIO logo appears.

3

Press the 

<

 or 

,

 key to select 

Exit

, select 

Get Default Values

, 

and then press the 

Enter

 key.

At the confirmation prompt, select 

Yes

 and press the 

Enter

 key.

4

Select 

Exit Setup

 and press the 

Enter

 key.

At the confirmation prompt, select 

Yes

 and press the 

Enter

 key.

5

Press the 

F10

 key when the VAIO logo appears.

The 

Recovery Wizard

 window appears.

6

Follow step 4 to 6 in “Recovering your VAIO system when you can 
start Windows” on page 20.

To recover your computer system using recovery discs

1

If your computer is not equipped with a built-in optical disc drive, 
connect an external optical disc drive (not supplied).

2

Follow step 1 to 3 in “To recover your computer system from recovery 
partition” above.

3

Insert the recovery disc into the optical disc drive.

4

Select 

Exit Setup

 and press the 

Enter

 key.

At the confirmation prompt, select 

Yes

 and press the 

Enter

 key.

5

Press the 

F10

 key when the VAIO logo appears. If using an external 

optical disc drive (not supplied), press the 

F11

 key instead.

The 

Recovery Wizard

 window appears.

6

Follow step 4 to 6 in “Recovering your VAIO system when you can 
start Windows” on page 20.