Article ID: 818903 - Last Review: March 27, 2007 - Revision: 3.4

Automated System Recovery overview in Windows XP

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SUMMARY

The purpose of this article is to describe Automated System Recovery in Microsoft Windows XP and to list supported information between the original release of Microsoft Windows XP, Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP-1), and Windows XP Service Pack 1a (SP-1a).

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft recommends that you regularly create Automated System Recovery (ASR) sets as part of an overall plan for system recovery so that you are prepared if the system fails. ASR should be a last resort for system recovery. Use ASR only after you have exhausted other options. For example, you should first try Safe Mode Boot and Last Known Good.

ASR is a two-part system; it includes ASR backup and ASR restore. The ASR Wizard, located in Backup, does the backup portion. The wizard backs up the system state, system services, and all the disks that are associated with the operating system components. ASR also creates a file that contains information about the backup, the disk configurations (including basic and dynamic volumes), and how to perform a restore.

You can access the restore portion by pressing F2 when prompted in the text-mode portion of setup. ASR reads the disk configurations from the file that it creates. It restores all the disk signatures, volumes, and partitions on (at a minimum) the disks that you need to start the computer. ASR will try to restore all the disk configurations, but under some circumstances it might not be able to. ASR then installs a simple installation of Windows and automatically starts a restoration using the backup created by the ASR Wizard.

The following table lists whether ASR is supported with the version of Windows XP at the time of backup and at the time of restore.

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Build on computer at the time of backup	Restore media	Supported or not supported
Windows XP RTM	RTM	supported (Japanese version and Spainish version not supported)
Windows XP RTM	SP1 slip-streamed	not supported
Windows XP RTM + Update to SP1	RTM	supported (Japanese version and Spainish version not supported)
Windows XP RTM + Update to SP1	SP1 slip-streamed	supported
Windows XP SP1 slip-streamed	RTM	not supported
Windows XP SP1 slip-streamed	SP1 slip-streamed	supported
Windows XP SP1a Slip + SP2	SP2 slip-streamed	supported
Windows XP SP1a Slip + SP2	SP1 slip-streamed	supported
Windows XP SP1a Slip + SP2	RTM	not supported
Windows XP SP2 slip-streamed	SP2 slip-streamed	supported
Windows XP SP2 slip-streamed	SP1 slip-streamed	supported
Windows XP SP2 slip-streamed	RTM	not supported
Windows XP RTM + SP2	SP2 slip-streamed	supported
Windows XP RTM + SP2	SP1 slip-streamed	supported
Windows XP RTM + SP2	RTM	supported (Japanese version and Spainish version not supported)

Note The Japanese and Spanish versions of Microsoft Windows XP are not supported.

For more information about other recovery options or using backup, follow these steps:

ClickStart, and then clickHelpand Support.
Do one of the following:
- In theSearch box, typerepair overview and then clickStart Searching.
- In theSearch box, typeusing backup, and then clickStart Searching.