How do i make my installation more robust?

[edhen]

Hi,

As I consistently format my PC every 2 months or so, I am trying to make windows installation / setup more robust and a breeze to fly through, yet my knowledge is limited. Now i only have system files on my C:\ (system drive) and all other important documents user profiles etc. is on another drive... for this reason when i decide to format and reinstall, i won't have to copy and paste everything etc. so atm i am able to format and install within seconds. But my concern is when i installed windows 7 then pointed the registry's profilelist to the proper destination (eg. d:\users\Username) it wouldnt merge the already created profile... then i also changed the imagepath of the specific profile i wanted to merge with the directory then upon logging back on it completely wiped all data in that directory and started fresh... LOL thank god to recovery tools...

Now that you have a brief oveview of my situation my real challenge is HOW do i install windows and merge a user profile to a different directory.. Mind you i have overseen winPE and unattended etc. but that seems more corporate and just seems like more steps to do and im still not 100% sure how to get it working, it also seems like that approach will not install all components and drivers etc. that a normal windows installation would do... anyways any help would greatly be appreciated.

than you.

 

[Jonathan_King]

May I suggest creating a system image instead? Do a clean install, and get everything set up just like you want it.

Then create a full system image, and next time you want to clean up, restore it. It will save you 45 minutes of installation, and a lot of setup time.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html