Cannot start your PC and need to reinstall Windows Vista? Our tutorial will show you how

In this tutorial, we'll take a look at how we can reinstall Windows Vista. The type of installation we will be doing here is called a "startup repair". This can sometimes repair Windows Vista if files are missing or have become corrupt and your operating system will no longer start.

Windows XP users, if you surfed on to this page looking for a tutorial on reinstalling your operating system, click here.

In order to carry out this procedure, you'll need your original Windows Vista installation disc. Certain OEM manufacturers bundle their own operating system recovery discs which may work differently to the standard Vista installation disc, so please check the instructions provided with your computer before you proceed.

Please exercise caution when following this tutorial!

Be sure to follow the instructions in the video carefully. Selecting the wrong option when using the Windows Vista installation DVD can erase all your programs and data.

Please allow for a short delay while the video loads. When loading is complete, press the play button to start the video.

Please be sure that you use the correct Windows Vista installation DVD - It is not normally sufficient to borrow a Windows Vista DVD from a friend unless they have the same make and model of computer as you. If you do this, Windows may not be able to complete the startup repair procedure correctly.

If your PC does not display the "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD" message, check that you have inserted your Windows Vista installation DVD correctly. If the message still does not appear, you may need to change your computers BIOS settings so that your computer will boot from CD/DVD. See this tutorial for a rough guide on how to do this.

When the procedure is complete, it is advisable to run Windows Update to make sure that the process did not replace any updated files with older versions. You can find out how to access Windows Update by following this tutorial.

What should I do if this procedure fails? - If you still cannot start your PC even after you reinstall Windows Vista as shown in the video, or if the startup repair does not detect any problems but you still have a serious problem with your PC, you may want to contact a PC repair specialist. The next step would be to check for hardware failures and then reinstall your operating system from scratch. If this procedure is not carried out carefully, you can lose data from your hard drive.