Windows XP Tutorial

Backup, Restore, Repair, and Recover

Overview

• Backup
• Restore
• Repair
• Last Known Good Configuration
• Safe Mode
• Automated System Recovery
• System Restore
Backup

• Windows XP Backup provides a large

amount of options to backup, restore and
repair your system. Backups are typically
written to one or more tapes, examples
being DLT and DAT drives, but Windows
Backup also provides the option to backup
to a file, which then can be written to
removable storage such as a CD, DVD, or
a network share
 Backup cont…

• Windows XP Backup can be run from the Start

Menu by clicking Backup in All Programs|
Accessories|System Tools. When it is run for the
first time, the Backup or Restore Wizard starts by
default. The wizard allows you to easily create a
backup of your documents and settings, all users’
documents and settings, the entire computer, or a
selection of files and/or folders. Additionally the
wizard allows a restore with the default options by
selecting a backup file.
• For full information on running the ntbackup utiltiy
please view the Backing up Data – Permissions
Intact tutorial.
Restore

• The Restore and Manage Media tab of the

Backup Utility allows you to restore
backups and manage backup media. The
latter includes formatting, erasing, and
naming tapes as well as maintaining
catalogs.
• For full information on running the
ntbackup utility please view the Backing
up Data – Permissions Intact tutorial.
Repair

• There are a number of ways to attempt to

repair your system such as…
• The Last Known Good Configuration
• Safe Mode
• Automated System Recovery
 The Last Known Good Configuration

• There are several other methods available to

repair your system without having to perform a
restore from backup. The Last Known Good
Configuration is one of them.
• The Last Known Good configuration is a backup
copy of the current configuration stored in the
registry key HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet and
is updated when a user shuts down the system
after successfully logging on. Restoring the
information from this registry key can repair your
system, for example when you added a driver
causing the operating system not to load.
 The Last Known Good Configuration cont…

• So when you changed the configuration of your

system and the OS fails to load after you restart
the computer, you should press F8 when you see
the message Please select the operating system
to start, and select the Last Known Good
Configuration from the Windows Advanced
Options Menu. The Last Known Good
configuration is only useful if you have not logged
on yet. When you logon and shut down or restart
the system, the current configuration will become
the Last Known Good configuration.
 Safe Mode

• If you still cannot start Windows, you already tried the Last
know Good configuration, you can try to boot Windows in
Safe Mode. In Safe mode, Windows loads only the mouse,
monitor, keyboard, mass storage, and base video drivers.
Only the default system services are started and there is no
support for networking. This allows you to troubleshoot the
system if it does not start normal.
• To use a Safe Boot option, you need to choose the
appropriate type of Safe Mode from the Windows
Advanced Options Menu, which can be accessed by
pressing F8 when the computer starts, or when the boot
menu appears. Besides the standard Safe Mode option,
there are several other types of Safe Mode available from
the Windows Advanced Option Menu.
 Safe Mode and The Windows Advanced
Option Menu Options

• Safe Mode with Networking loads all of the essential services and drivers
required to support networking. This can be useful if you need to download
drivers or tools to repair the system.
• Safe Mode with Command Prompt is the same as safe mode but starts the
command prompt (cmd.exe) instead of the GUI.
• Use Last Known Good Configuration, starts Windows by using a previous
good configuration, as described earlier, is available from this menu.
• Enable VGA Mode starts Windows with a resolution of 640 x 480 using the
current video driver, instead of the standard Vga.sys driver which is
normally used in safe mode. This option can be used if you changed the
display settings and set the resolution too high for your monitor.
• Debugging Mode starts Windows in debugging mode, which allows you to
sent debugging information across a serial cable to another computer
running a debugger.
• Enable Boot Logging: This option enables logging when the computer is
started in a Safe Mode. The information will be stored in the Ntbtlog.txt file
in the %SystemRoot% folder.
 Automated System Recovery

• When the operating system does not start and

the logon screen does not appear, you should
first try to access and recover the repair the
system by booting in Safe Mode or using the Last
Known Good configuration. If that does not work,
you can try Automated System Recovery (ASR)
as a last resort.
 Automated System Recovery cont…

• An ASR backup set is

created by using the ASR
Wizard in Backup. The wizard
backs up the system state,
system services, and all disks
associated with the operating
system components. It also
creates a file containing
information about the backup,
the disk configurations
(including basic and dynamic
volumes) and how to
accomplish a restore.
 Automated System Recovery cont…

• To use ASR to restore the system, you need to

press F2 when prompted for ASR in the text-
mode portion of setup. You will need to provide
the floppy disk that contains the file created by the
ASR Wizard, the media with the backup, and the
original operating system installation CD. First,
the volumes and partitions on disks required to
start the computer are recreated, and after a
minimal installation of Windows is installed, ASR
will restore the backup created by the ASR
wizard.
 System Restore

• System Restore can be used to restore your computer to a

previous state, if a problem occurs, without losing your
personal data files (such as MS Office files, Internet history,
pictures, favorites, and e-mail). System Restore monitors
changes to the system and some application files, and it
automatically creates restore points. These restore points
allow you to revert the system to a previous time. They are
created daily and when significant system events occur (i.e.
when an application or driver is installed). You can also
create and name your own restore points at any time.
• System Restore is available from the System-Tools start
menu folder (Start|All Programs|Accessories|System Tools)
 System Restore cont…

• When you run System Restore you can either restore your
computer to a previous time or create a restore point.
• After the restore is completed you should check if the
system is indeed fixed. If you start System Restore after
having performed a restore, there will be an option called
Undo my last restoration.
 System Restore cont…

• After choosing to restore your system to a

previous point, select next and next again to
confirm your restoration.
 Con’s of MS System Restore

• It is possible that if you obtain a virus on

your system that the system restore will
create a restore point that contains the
virus. Current virus scanners cannot
remove these virus’ from a restore point.
• To remove all system restore points, turn
off system restore and restart your
computer. This will delete all restore
points.
System Restore Properties

• The System Restore tab

of the System properties,
depicted here, allows you
to configure System
Restore settings per
volume, or turn it off
entirely. To open this right
click My Computer and
select properties. Click on
the System Restore tab.
 Thank You

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