4. Restoring an entire computer
Sometimes, just getting a few files back is not enough to solve a
problem. Accidents happen, and the occasional recovery becomes
necessary. Using images for backup and recovery has been available as
part of Windows since Windows 7.
System image recovery options depend on your computer’s
configuration. If you are using only Windows 8 and have no other
operating systems on your computer, just pressing F8 to access the menu
during startup will present the options you need. If your computer can
start multiple operating systems, you must select the operating system
to start and then press F8 to access the menu.
When you see the Advanced Boot Options screen, complete the following steps to recover your computer from a system image:
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Select Repair Your Computer.
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Choose the appropriate keyboard layout and tap or click Next.
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Enter your user name and password and tap or click OK.
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Select System Image Recovery from the Recovery Options menu.
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Choose a target operating system for the System Image Recovery.
Windows scans for system
images on the computer and selects the images it finds. If no images
are found, a dialog box appears to inform you that no images were
found. If you see this, tap or click Cancel to select the image
yourself.
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Select the location of the image. If it is on DVD media, insert the DVD and select the image.
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If you need more options, click the Advanced button to enable driver
installation for other devices or to access a network location
containing the image.
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Select the image needed for the restoration and tap or click Next.
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Select the backup you want to use from the available backups list and tap or click Next.
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Select additional options, including:
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Format And Repartition Disks Erases all data from your computer and realigns the disks according to the layout used in the image.
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Install Drivers Enables you to install additional drivers during the imaging process.
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Advanced Presents
two additional options. You can either restart the computer after the
restoration is complete or automatically check and update disk error
information.
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Include the options you want to use and tap or click Next.
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Review the options you have selected and tap or click Finish to begin the restoration.
A progress bar appears during the process. The total time of the
recovery varies, depending on the size of your computer’s hard disks
and the amount of data contained in the image. When the computer
restarts, it will be restored to the date and time selected.
In some cases, restoring a computer from a system
image can be the fastest method available to restore the computer to a
functional state. For example, an employee in the customer service
department calls because his computer, which has few applications
installed on it, is performing slowly. He explains that several windows
pop up throughout the day, asking him to download and install an
antivirus application he has never heard of. He wants to know what he
should do.
Because investigating the malware might take more time than is
available, you decide to restore the computer from a previously created
image, making note of both the information about the malware displayed in the pop-ups and the version of antimalware definitions currently installed on the computer.
5. Using System Restore for less invasive troubleshooting
Completely removing everything from your computer and restoring
your computer to a previous image periodically can keep your computer
performing well for a very long time, but there are less extreme
methods for recovering computers that are not working as they should.
System Restore is a program included with Windows by which you can
recover files after certain operations without harming your data on the
computer.
For example, if a user installs a copy of Microsoft Office 2010 on
his computer and something goes wrong during this process, the
applications might not work properly—if the installation even
completes. System
Restore can roll back changes made to system files and attempt the
installation again or decide not to install Micosoft Office.
Understanding how System Restore works
System Restore relies on snapshots of a computer that are taken
before (and sometimes after) major events. A major event could be
software or driver installation or a scheduled restore point snapshot
configured by an administrator.
After the application is enabled and has snapshots from which to
select, System Restore can roll back changes to the point in time of
the selected snapshot. When the process is complete, the computer has
no trace of the applications or settings that were installed following
that restore point.
Configuring System Restore
To use System Restore in Windows 8, it must be enabled for a volume. To access System Restore, complete the following steps:
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Open the System Properties dialog box by selecting System from Control Panel or by searching for “system restore” on the Start screen.
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Select the System Protection tab, shown in Figure 5.
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Tap or click the Configure button to access and modify the options for System Restore, including:
Windows automatically creates snapshots before application
installations or Windows update applications, just in case there are
problems. You can also create a snapshot manually by completing the
following steps:
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On the System Protection tab of the System Properties dialog box (Figure 5), select the Create button.
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Enter a description for the snapshot.
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Tap or click Create.
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Tap or click Close after the restore point is created.
After the restore points are created, they can be used to recover a
computer to a point in time or to undo changes made following a restore
point. To perform a system restore, complete the following steps:
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Open the System Properties dialog box.
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Select the System Protection tab (Figure 5).
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Tap or click the System Restore button.
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Tap or click Next on the welcome screen of the System Restore Wizard.
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Select the restore point you would like to use by highlighting it in the list of restore points.
If the restore point you need is not listed, select the Show More Restore Points check box to see more options.
If you are unsure which applications might be affected by a restore
operation, click Scan For Affected Programs while a restore point is
selected to list programs that might not work correctly if this restore
is performed and programs that were added since the last restore point,
which will be removed.
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Tap or click Next to review the options selected.
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Tap or click Finish to begin the restore process.
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Tap or click Yes to acknowledge the prompt and continue or tap or click No to cancel the restore.
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Your computer will restart during the system restore process.
Following the restoration and restart of the system, a dialog box appears to inform you that the restore completed or did not complete.
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Tap or click OK to close the dialog box.
Important
YOU CANNOT STOP A RESTORE OPERATION
After a restore has been started, it cannot be cancelled or stopped until it has finished.
System
Restore is an efficient way to roll back changes that were made to
system files during troubleshooting, application installation, or the
Windows update process. Using this method can save more time than performing a full computer restoration using a system image or installation media.
Note
ENABLE SYSTEM RESTORE
System Restore is not enabled by default in Windows 8. As
in previous versions of Windows, this feature must be enabled to
provide any recoverability for a computer.
