Using Windows Complete PC Restore to restore your computer
If you are an owner of Windows Vista Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise
then you have access to a feature called Complete PC Backup and Restore. This
feature allows you to create backup images of your computer so that you can
do a system-wide restore in the case of complete system failure. This allows
you to not only restore user data and programs, but also the entire operating
system onto new or existing hardware. A more complete description of Complete
PC Backup and Restore can be found at the following tutorial: Windows
Vista Disaster Recovery with Complete PC Backup and Restore
To restore a Complete PC Backup you must do so within the Windows
Recovery Environment. To access the Windows Recovery Environment you need to
insert your Vista DVD into the DVD drive on your computer and turn your computer
on. Your computer will start and you should see the BIOS listing the hardware
on your computer and other information. When that information has been cleared,
your computer will see that a bootable DVD is inserted and present a prompt
similar to Figure 1 below.
Figure 1. Boot the computer from the CD or DVD
As you want to boot the computer from the Windows Vista DVD, you
need to press a key, any key will do, on your keyboard when you see this prompt.
It is possible that the DVD that came with your computer does not allow you
to boot off of it. If this is the case, then your computer manufacturer most
likely installed the Windows Recovery Environment directly to a small partition
on your hard drive. To access this partition, you would slowly tap the F8
key on your keyboard after the BIOS information clears from your screen until
you see the Windows startup menu. From this menu use your arrow keys to select
the option for the Windows Recovery Environment and press the enter
key on your keyboard. You should now see a black screen with a white status
bar at the bottom stating Windows is loading files.... After
a while, the status bar will turn completely white and you will see a screen
stating that Windows is loading. The Windows Setup environment will continue
to load and when finished you will be presented with a screen similar to Figure
2 that prompts you for information about your location and language
.
Figure 2. Configure language and location options in Vista Setup
At this screen you should configure the Language to install,
Time and currency format, and Keyboard or input method
options so that they are set correctly. When done, press the Next
button. You will now be at the main Windows Vista setup screen where you would
normally install Vista on to a computer.
Figure 3. Windows Vista Setup options
As we want to repair the computer, you should click on the Repair
your computer option. This will bring you to a new screen where the
repair process will look for all Windows Vista installations on your computer.
When done you will be presented with the System Recovery Options
dialog box as shown in Figure 4 below.
Figure 4. System Recovery Options
Select the Vista installation you would like to repair and if
there are drivers you need to load in order for Vista to access any of your
drives or other components, then you should click on the Load Drivers
button to load them. When ready, press the Next button to continue.
If the repair process does not detect any problems starting Vista, it will display
a list of available recovery tools. If it does detect a problem it will attempt
to perform a Startup Repair to automatically fix these problems. If you would
like to allow this process to continue, then you can read more about it here.
Otherwise click on the Cancel button and select the View
advanced options for system recovery and support option to see the
list of recovery tools.
Figure 5. System Recovery Options
As we want to perform a Complete PC Restore, you would click on
the Windows Complete PC Restore option. Once you click on
the Windows Complete PC Restore option, Complete PC Restore
will search your hard drives and DVD media for any saved backup images. If none
are found, then a message will appear stating that no backups could be found.
On the other hand, if a backup was found one of your drives or the inserted
media you will see a screen, similar to Figure 6 below, with the latest backup
selected.
Figure 6. Specify the backup to restore
By default, Complete PC Restore will select the latest backup
to restore. If the selected backup is the one you wish to restore, then you
can press the Next button to continue. If there is a different
backup that you would like to use, then you should select the Restore
a different backup option and press the Next button.
This will bring up a screen displaying the list of backups you have created
in the past.
Figure 7. List of backups
You should look through the list of backups and select the one
that you would like to restore. When you have finished selecting the backup,
you should click on the Next button. Complete PC Restore will
now examine your selected backup and see if there is more than one time you
backed up your computer to this location. If you have backed up multiple times
it will display an entry for each of them.
Figure 8. List of individual snapshots in an image
It is advised that you select the most recent snapshot and then
press the Next button to move on to the next screen.
Figure 9. Confirm whether or not Complete PC Restore should format and repartition
disks
This screen asks you whether or not you want to format and repartition
the disks before you restore the data. If you select the Format and
repartition disks option, Complete PC Restore will repartition and
format the hard drive you are restoring to exactly as it was when you made the
backup. If you do not choose this method, it will just erase the hard disk and
restore the data to it. If you are using the same hard drive that you originally
used to back up your computer then you may want to select the option to Format
and repartition disks. On the other hand, if this is a new hard drive
that you have partitioned in a different manner, then you should not select
this option in order to keep your current disk configuration. It is important
to note that with either option you select all the data on the disk you are
restoring to will be erased. When you are ready to continue, you should click
on the Finish button.
A new window will open stating that all of your data will be erased.
If you want to continue with the restore then you need to put a checkmark in
the checkbox labeled I confirm that I want to erase all existing data
and restore the backup and then press the OK button.
Complete PC Restore will now restore the backup on your computer.
Figure 10. Windows Complete PC is restoring the data
The restore may take quite a while depending on how large the
backup is so please be patient while it completes this process. When the restore
is complete you will see a message stating that it is complete and it will reboot
your computer after a certain amount of time. When your computer reboots you
will now be using the data and configuration from the backup you just restored. If there are still problems with your computer after using this tool, then you can attempt to use the other available repair tools. Tutorials on how to use these tools can be found below:
As always if you have any comments, questions or suggestions about
this tutorial please do not hesitate to tell us in the Vista
Help Forums.
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