Built in Refresh saving your own data etc. - No need for Acronis Etc

Hi everybody
The more I tinker around with W8 the more I like it.

As well as the built in Mount Command (Bye Bye Daemon Tools) for mounting ISO images in W8 this one is a REAL: beauty for saving and restoring your OS.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/3610-refresh-windows-8-using-custom-system-image.html


It will create a file called install.wim (this type of file might already be known to people who deploy a lot of Windows instances).

For Restoring :

After the image has been re-created (includes all your apps etc) start the REFRESH PC from the control panel

Choose the INSTALL.WIM file you created and you'll find your system restored with all the applications etc.

In the severe event that you need to re-boot from an external medium -- I'm working out how to do a recovery from a boot disk - do the following:

Currently It's a two step option -- REFRESH from the install disk
then Control panel and refresh again using your own install WIM file.

I'm sure I can make a bootable USB as per "Win2GO" type of method so I can avoid the need to run it twice if I have to recover totally via a boot.

Guys who are more experienced with WIM files might like to add to the thread to avoid the method of having to run the refresh TWICE if I use the Windows install disk to refresh the system --there must be a way to point it to a user created WIM file or create a USER recovery disk / usb.

Cheers
jimbo

Hi Jimbo … I think the syntax should be "recimg"

loquacious said:

Hi Jimbo … I think the syntax should be "recimg"

Click to expand...

Hi there fingers slipped on keyboard !!!!

Anyway I think it's a good way of using the built in system -- am working on a method to refresh if I need to run from a BOOT USB stick for example and save all the apps.

I'm not saying that this is better than a commercial backup product - but might be fine for a Home user that doesn't want to stump up 50 - 60 USD PER COMPUTER to use Acronis etc..

Using the .WIM file IMO is a far better idea than the old "Windows Image" or built in backup which wasn't fit for purpose in a lot of cases.

Cheers
jimbo

I use Acronis daily and thought the W8 backup would be great, but when I actually tried to use it I began to feel that for the average user it's just too convoluted and unfriendly. I never got as far as restoring an image... I couldn't get find it under "W7 file recovery" and had to ask over on the MS forums where I was told you needed to use the DVD and repair option to make the backup "visible" and usable.

It's one application that there should be a METRO tile for maybe called "PC Backup" and with easy to follow windows prompts.
Although I'm happy using command prompts for little used or obscure stuff, backup applications should be easy to use and user friendly.

Hi there
Although I agree -- the problem sometimes is if you have a load of computers then at 45 USD a pop commercial backup software becomes expensive -- the license only covers one machine -- you can get round it by using bootable media but that's not really the point.

A small VB application (Visual basic) to prompt the user whether a WIM file should be created or restored and the source / target directories shouldn't be too difficult to do and apart from EXCEL I haven't done any programming in YEARS !!..

Actually I think I might even be able to run this an an EXCEL macro !!!!!as you can access OS commands from within EXCEL

Anyway something to play with.

I do think though Windows should have a proper user friendly built in Backup / Restore / Recovery utility which is RELIABLE and preserves user applications .

Cheers
jimbo