Solved How often should I create a system repair disc?

[karlsnooks]

This link Windows 7 - Service Pack 1 System Repair Disc says definitely create a new repair disk after installing SP1. I will do it as soon as I get more blank DVDs .

That is not a microsoft site. Opinions are like mouths. Everyone has one.

 

[karlsnooks]

Startup Repair disk is a CD.

The System Repair Disc will very easily fit on a CD.

One could, and some do, put the System Repair Disc on a DVD.

 

[bru]

Startup Repair disk is a CD.

Oops . Blank CDs I got. I'm off to make the new super duper SP1 containing repair disk now! Between (now) 2 repair disks and the system restore set I got a nice collection going. Since I got burned by not having the latter for my XP computer I learned my lesson (cost a pretty penny to buy a set). Don't skimp on these important tasks.

 

[karlsnooks]

The System Repair Disc does NOT contain Win 7 SP1.

The System Repair Disc will install a stripped-down version of Win 7 to a RAM disk. In other words, a portion of your ram will be set aside to be a "disk", this disk is assigned the drive letter X:, the mini-version of Win 7 will be installed onto that Ram disk.

You can remove the CD after the install. Try it.

The core of Win 7 didn't change when SP1 came out.

The System Repair disc is a specialized version of the WIN PE (pre-execution environment) with a shell and a couple of other additions.

The Win PE has hooks so that you can use your own user shell.

In the VIP section you find threads related to the WIN PE created by SIW2.

 

[bru]

From a Microsoft forum site: "After installing SP1 don't forget to create a new System Repair disc as a non SP1 system Repair disk will not work." Can find dozens of other similar comments including the one I already linked (which I got from this site).

Assuming we are talking about the same system repair disk it seems like cheap insurance since now I will use a CD. Heck even if it was a DVD (which I did use for my original repair disk) it's still cheap insurance. Doubt I will ever use either one with other options such as system image, but again...

 

[karlsnooks]

Name the site.

Most of those are sanctioned by Microsoft but are NOT run or staffed by Microsoft personnel. When you find a KB then I'll perk up and pay attention.

 

[cluberti]

Looks like the social MSDN forums:
How to make an Installation disc.

The post is attributed to an MVP.

Again, the way the system recovery (not restore) discs work, the tools will work on an SP1 machine even if the disc is RTM. However, there *could* be problems restoring a restore point, or modifying boot code, etc, if there are any differences in the way these might work between the two. I can see no reason *not* to rebuild a recovery disc, but I can't really see a good reason that it's absolutely necessary either. It won't hurt anything, though, and might avoid a few possible bugs, so..... I'd say it's a very good recommendation, but probably not a requirement.

 

[strollin]

Creating a System Repair disk doesn't need to be made on the machine you want to repair either. You need a 32-bit Repair disk for a 32-bit machine and same for 64-bit but it can be created on a different machine. Older versions of Windows had the ability to create similar disks but required they be made on the specific machine or they wouldn't work.

 

[mjf]

The main part of the system repair disk is a file under the folder "Sources" called Boot.wim. This is located on your OS partition under a folder called "Recovery" and is called Winre.wim. I don't believe Winre.wim is touched by SP1 update so any change must be elswhere.

My pre SP1 System Repair ISO (on a USB) reimages fine. Maybe the Repair function would have problems?

 

[pare]

Is there a possibility to make a system repair disc on a old computer??
I mean 5 years old, preloaded with XP and has never been imaged and I also believe never been backed-up.

 

[kado897]

I'm sorry pare. I don't have any info on XP. Maybe someone else here does.

 

[strollin]

Is there a possibility to make a system repair disc on a old computer??
I mean 5 years old, preloaded with XP and has never been imaged and I also believe never been backed-up.

XP doesn't have anything built-in to do that but you could use the free version of Macrium Reflect to create a system image and a bootable repair disk.

 

[seavixen32]

You can use one of Windows XP's repair options.

Just boot from your XP CD as though you were going to carry out a clean install. At the Welcome to Setup screen, don't choose the option to repair using the Recovery Console, but press Enter to begin the Windows Setup process.

When you see your current Windows installation listed, highlight it and press R, which will then begin the repair process.

The rest of the procedure is no different to carrying out a clean install of Windows XP and when finished will have sorted out any corrupted system files as well as letting you access your existing data and settings.

You can also create a bootable Windows XP setup disk for a pre-installed Windows XP system.

http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml

 

[pare]

Thanks Strollin.
I didn't think of Macrium. I might give it a try!
Thanks Seavixen.
Very intensive method but very interested.
I will let you guys know about the outcome.
This friend of mine needs to give permission to try it out on his computer.