PC troubleshooting is usually quite the odyssey. Between needing multiple programs to cover all the bases, not having the slightest idea what’s wrong in most cases, and the ever-looming chance that the machine will reboot, freeze, or bug out in the middle of the troubleshooting process, it can all be pretty frustrating.
Fortunately, there are software tools out there that won’t magically tell you what’s wrong as soon as you launch them, but can at least make the troubleshooting process easier on your nerves. One of the best ones is Windows Repair Toolbox.
Jack of all trades
Windows Repair Toolbox is a lighweight utility that includes a ton of different troubleshooting tools you can download and run right from the app. It’s kind of like a modular Swiss Army knife you can equip with the tools you need.
Once you download and open it for the first time (it doesn’t require installation), you’re greeted with basic hardware and software information about your PC, including which CPU you have, the Windows version installed, how much memory the system recognizes, whether BitLocker encryption is enabled, and whether you have a working internet connection.
The app defaults to the Tools tab, which includes more than 50 commonly used utilities for troubleshooting and repairing Windows PCs. You’ve got everything from HWiNFO and CPU-Z to Microsoft’s Sysinternals suite (Windows Repair Toolbox provides a simple GUI for it). There are also tools for testing different components (memory, storage devices, and GPUs), as well as console apps for running key CHKDSK, DISM, and SFC commands.
But that’s not all. The Malware Removal tab features more than 10 malware removal programs, including fan favorites such as Emsisoft Emergency Kit, ESET Online Scanner, Malwarebytes, and Microsoft Safety Scanner.
There’s also a solid collection of programs used to check and update your apps and drivers, as well as some nifty tests that can verify whether the PC can open various file types, and whether your webcam, mic, and other peripherals are working as intended.
Windows Repair Toolbox also includes a number of handy backup and recovery apps, such as DMDE (which can recover all sorts of files), DiskCopy (a helpful copying and cloning tool), and more. You also have access to a plethora of built-in Windows tools, including the Event Viewer, Disk Cleanup, and Reliability Monitor. Lastly, you have several uninstallers at your disposal, including Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU).
One small but potentially very handy part of Windows Repair Toolbox is the Notes tab, where you can take notes while diagnosing problems, save them to the root folder, and then have them ready whenever needed.
Aside from being packed to the brim with useful utilities, Windows Repair Toolbox downloads them all to a Downloads folder located inside the app’s root directory, allowing you to place the app on a thumb drive, set everything up in advance, and then use it on offline PCs or machines where downloading apps isn’t possible.
Of course, Windows Repair Toolbox isn’t perfect—far from it. For starters, not all the tools it supports are available in portable form. I also don’t like the fact that it includes CCleaner, which is now owned by Avast and a far cry from the CCleaner of yesteryear. There’s also a fair amount of redundancy, but at least you have a choice.
I also didn’t find some fairly popular tools like Uninstalr or OCCR, and the only included GPU stress test is FurMark. Still, these are fairly minor downsides considering the sheer number of tools Windows Repair Toolbox supports.
The free version includes everything you need
While Windows Repair Toolbox is available in free and paid versions, the paid version, based on the pay-what-you-want model, doesn’t include any essential features.
One of the extra perks is Unattended mode, which lets you automatically run malware removal tools without supervision. You can also create an XML file that includes your custom tools and download and run them right from inside the app. Lastly, buying the app grants you a personal dashboard on the Windows Repair Toolbox website, where you can download the paid version of the tool.
I also recommend checking out Hiren’s BootCD and Medicat USB
When booting into Windows isn’t possible
While Windows Repair Toolbox is a great option for diagnosing and repairing issues on PCs that can boot into Windows, you’ll need something more powerful if the system you’re trying to fix can’t boot at all.
If that’s the case, I recommend the good old Hiren’s BootCD toolkit, now based on Windows 11 PE (Preinstallation Environment), which you can store on a USB flash drive and use on any PC that supports UEFI booting and has at least 4GB of RAM.
There’s also Medicat USB, a similar diagnostic and recovery toolkit you can put on a USB drive and use on any PC that supports UEFI boot. It works similarly to Hiren’s BootCD, and choosing between the two mostly comes down to personal preference. Personally, I prefer Hiren’s BootCD since I’ve been using it for decades, but Medicat is also a very useful and well-made toolkit.
Windows Repair Toolbox is handy even if your PC works fine
You don’t need a misbehaving PC for Windows Repair Toolbox to be useful. It’s a great utility to have on any PC because it comes with loads of handy tools you can use even when everything is working as intended.
HWiNFO, CPU-Z, and GPU-Z are always good to have if you want to check your PC’s thermals, see which components you have, check your GPU driver version, and get other information about your machine. I also like having easy access to various built-in Windows tools from one place instead of having to jump around the system to find them. It’s also handy to be able to quickly run a bunch of useful console commands with just a few clicks.
While not perfect, Windows Repair Toolbox is one of the best PC diagnostic tools out there. It’s free, portable, includes virtually every troubleshooting tool you might need, as well as a bunch of handy apps for diagnosing and repairing PCs, and it’s easy to use. What more could you ask for?
