Can you do a System Restore from 'outside' Windows?

I have a friend who purchased a new Dell computer. It worked fine for about 3 weeks. Now at startup it will got to the wallpaper. No taskbar, no Start button, and no desktop icons. The Mouse Pointer will move, but right click does nothing. He can get into Safe Mode, and gets a black screen. If he uses the Recovery Console, he will lose everything. He tried to use the Last good configuration, but that did not work. Is there a way to get into System Restore to go back to an earlier day. He stands to lose a lot of information. He figures he was not on enough time make backups. Any help will be appreciated.

 

Can they get into Safe Mode w/Command prompt?

1. Restart your system
2. When the system first boots, type F8 to bring up the boot menu
3. Select the Safe Mode with Command Prompt option
4. Log-on as administrator if needed
5. At your command prompt type %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
6. Hit Enter
6. This will open the system restore wizard...

 

Thanks a bunch Bill! My Son in law is in that friends town today, so he set it up, and it worked. Great!!!

 

You are very welcome.

Regards.