How to Set up and Use Automated System Recovery in Windows XP

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Windows XP's Automated System Recovery (ASR) is an extension to the conventional backup-and-restore. It provides a framework for saving and recovering the Windows XP operating state, in the event of a catastrophic system or hardware failure. Windows XP ASR recovers the target system in a two-step process. The first step, termed the boot recovery process, requires a new copy of Windows XP to be temporarily installed on the target system using the original distribution media. The second step, called the OS restore process, restores the files of a previously saved Windows XP installation using a backup-and-restore application (this will delete/overwrite some of the files installed by the boot recovery process).

The backup portion of ASR is accomplished through the ASR Wizard located in Backup. The wizard backs up the system state, system services, and all disks associated with the operating system components. It also creates a file containing information about the backup, the disk configurations (including basic and dynamic volumes) and how to accomplish a restore.

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