Configuring Backup and

Recovery
Windows 7 Administration Training
Instructor: Scott Lowe

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

In This Lesson:
Windows 7's backup and restore utility
Configuring Windows Backup
Restoring files from a backup
Creating and restoring system images
Creating a system repair disk
Creating and using system restore points
Previous versions
Understanding advanced boot options
Understanding Last Known Good Configuration

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Scenario
Globomantics regional HQ sit in areas prone to earthquakes,
tornados, and hurricanes
You need to make sure that the company is ready to quickly
recover should the unthinkable happen
Some business desktops hold critical company information and
are key to business processes
Business need
Backups remain a key component of a recovery plan
Automating this process keeps costs at a reasonable level
Testing backups by recovering data is a good best practice

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Windows 7's Backup and Restore Utility

Windows 7 includes a utility capable of backing up and restoring
files, folders and even a full image of the computer

You can back up to a number of destinations, including

Internal hard drives
External hard drives
Network locations
USB flash drives
Writeable CDs and DVDs
There are significant pros and cons to all of the options

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Windows 7's Backup and Restore Utility

Internal hard drives
Pros
Cheap storage with lots of space
Secure since they're in the chassis
Very fast
Cons
Not separate from the computer itself
Installation requires some technical knowledge

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Windows 7's Backup and Restore Utility

External hard drives
Pros
Also very cheap with a lot of space
Easy to connect
Easy to keep separate from the computer
Cons
"Out of sight, out of mind"

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Windows 7's Backup and Restore Utility

Network locations
Pros
Extremely convenient
Easy to add additional server storage space
Cons
Can be slow if the network isn't up to snuff
Can only save to Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and
Ultimate
User rights to storage location must be Full Control for
both the share and for NTFS

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Windows 7's Backup and Restore Utility

USB flash drives
Pros
Easy to install
Ubiquitous; it's easy to find flash drives
You can store the backups separately from the computer
Cons
USB flash drives dont support all backup use cases, such
as system image backups
USB flash drives don't scale well; eventually, your backup
needs will outgrow available space

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Windows 7's Backup and Restore Utility

Writeable CDs and DVDs
Pros
CD/DVD burners are readily available in most new
systems
Media is very inexpensive
You can store the backups separately from the computer
Cons
Not flexible; can't save system images to CD/DVD
You may need several discs to perform a full backup

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Windows 7's Backup and Restore Utility

Cannot back up to
Volumes not formatted as NTFS, FAT or UDF
The drive being backed up
The Windows volume
A recovery partition
A locked BitLocker partition
Tape

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Configuring Windows Backup

Globomantics will schedule a file/folder backup (Let Windows
choose) that runs on the default schedule
Steps
Choose a location to which to store backups
Choose what to back up
Let Windows choose
Backs up files saved in libraries, stored on the
desktop and in default Windows folders for all user
accounts
Only local files are included, even if remote files are
included in a local library
If there is space at the destination, Windows
includes a system image

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Configuring Windows Backup

Let me choose
You get to decide exactly what gets backed up
Decide on a backup schedule
Default is to run the backup every Sunday at 7PM
Can be configured to run daily, weekly or monthly
Can be configured to not recut; i.e. configure the backup job
to run one time and back up the system
Review settings
Await backup completion
Monitoring backup status

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Restoring Files From a Backup

Individual files and folders can be restored from a backup
You can restore objects to their original location; this will
overwrite the current copy
You can restore objects to a different location; this will
preserve both copies of the object
The POS system operator has indicated that she's lost an
important spreadsheet and wants you to see if you can restore
it from a system backup using the backup utility
The other POS operator (Steve Smith) has been having strange
problems that seem to be related to user profile corruption
Restore Steve's user profile from backup

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Creating and Restoring System Images

A Windows 7 system image is basically a snapshot of one of the
volumes in a system (allows a "bare metal restore)
It includes everything needed for Windows to run
Includes system settings, personal files and programs
Can't be scheduled to run on a periodic basis with the GUI
Stored as a VHD file (usable in Virtual PC)
Does not allow restoration of individual files; it's all or
nothing
Globomantics will use this feature to back up and test restore a
Windows 7-based point of sale system on a scheduled basis
Use the wbadmin utility to schedule
You will also use the bcdedit utility to convert the VHD
system image file into a bootable device

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Creating a System Repair Disk

Sometimes, a system becomes completely unbootable
A system repair disk can be used to boot a computer when this
happens
You can also use a system repair disk to restore a computer
from a system image
You will create a system repair disk for the Globomantics POS
system

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Creating and Using System Restore Points

System restore points contain critical system information, such
as registry information
Among other times, restore points are created
When new software is installed
When Windows Update installs new updates
When new drivers are installed that are not digitally signed
by Windows Hardware Quality Labs
Upon request by the user
Windows automatically deletes the oldest restore point in order
to make room for the newest

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Creating and Using System Restore Points

This is not a full system restore
Only system files and the registry are manipulated
User files are not touched
System Restore Point notes
Restore points created from within Safe Mode cannot be
undone
NTFS required due to use of shadow copies (discussed later)
Globomantics will create a system restore point on the
aforementioned POS system right before a hardware upgrade
You will explore the System Protection configuration tool

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Previous Versions
Windows 7 includes the ability to restore individual files and
folders right from the Explorer interface
Files included in both backups and restore points can often
be rolled back to previous versions
This Previous Versions capability uses Shadow Copies shadow
copies of files are automatically created by Windows
These provide you with some powerful restore options
If you're careful, you can even recover files that have been
accidentally deleted
Globomantics POS operator deleted a file and wants you to see
if you can get it back using the Previous Versions feature

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Understanding Advanced Boot Options

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Enable Boot Logging
Enable low-resolution video (640x480)
Last Known Good Configuration (advanced)
Directory Services Restore Mode
Debugging Mode (discussed previously)
Disable automatic restart on system failure
Disable Driver Signature Enforcement

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

Understanding Last Known Good Configuration

This is often considered a last ditch effort to get a system back
to working order after a system failure
This boot option uses a configuration set that Windows knows
allowed the system to boot at some point in the past
The registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet is used
The key named ControlSet001 becomes CurrentControlSet
after a successful boot
Once this happens, you can't go back

There's not a lot to do around this except to understand how it

works, so let's take a look at the registry

Configuring Backup and Recovery

Windows 7 Administration Training

What We Covered
Windows 7's backup and restore utility
Configuring Windows Backup
Restoring files from a backup
Creating and restoring system images
Creating a system repair disk
Creating and using system restore points
Previous versions
Understanding advanced boot options
Understanding Last Known Good Configuration