Re: Windows Xp Automated System Recovery Disk Iso Download
Sandrine Willert
These disks can be used to access system recovery tools, giving you options of using an antivirus, System Restore, document and picture backup and recovery, automated system repair, and a command-line prompt for manual advanced recovery.
Download the these disks to automatically find problems with and fix your computer, use system restore and restore to earlier snapshots, scan for viruses, trojans and rootkits, repartition your disks, and access advanced repair and recovery options, amongst other recovery features.
Automated System Recovery or ASR as it is more commonly known is the Windows API set to capture the configuration of disks and volumes on a system and restore them in bare metal recovery scenarios. During such recoveries, backup applications (requesters) invoke ASR to restore the disks and volumes prior to putting back the operating system, applications and data.
To stop the automated system recovery you will need to find the root cause of the problem. Most of the problems are hardware or driver related. So a good point to start is to make sure all your drivers are up to date.
Any backup relying on the running Windows instance is suspect. It's safer to use a third-party tool to back up the system files, or better, the entire disk, since these tools often enable the user to make a bootable recovery disk to use when the main Windows instance is defunct.
Automated system recovery (ASR) is a feature of the Windows XP operating system that can be used to simplify recovery of a computer's system or boot volumes.[1] ASR consists of two parts: an automated backup, and an automated restore. The backup portion can be accessed in the Backup utility under System Tools.
1. Make sure the system can boot from a CD-Rom (via the bios setup)
2. Insert the Windows XP CD-Rom into the drive
3. Insert the ASR Floppy disk into the drive
4. Power up the computer
5. Press the enter key when prompted to "press any key to run from the CD-rom"
6. Press F2 on the keyboard when prompted to start the ASR recovery action.
7. XP will format the C drive
8. The computer will restart
9. Let windows XP start automatically (do not press a key to run from the CD rom).
10. XP will go through the basic plug and play discovery and copy setup files to the C drive.
11. The computer will restart and boot into XP
12. The ASR wizard will start and automatically point to the asr.bkf file on the D drive. Click OK to restore the system state and registry configuration.
13. When completed XP will either present the login screen or login to the desktop automatically (depending on the configuration at the time the ASR backup was initiated).
14. Return to the Backup wizard to restore any valued data that was saved beforehand to the D drive.
Tip You will also need any mass storage device drivers that are not part of the standard Windows Server 2003 driver set. To facilitate recovery, you should consider copying those drivers to the ASR floppy disk.
The purpose of ASR is to help you automatically restore your system to a working state after a system failure. The ASR process utilizes an ASR floppy disk that contains storage and system definitions that allow you to restore your system to a safe state in the event of a disaster/failure. After an ASR restore completes, you can restore any additional data files that you had backed up previously, with software like BackupAssist. ASR should be a last resort after you have exhausted the other various recovery options available to Windows-based machines (rolling back drivers, system restore, safe mode, etc), as well as attempting to restore system state data from backups created by applications such as BackupAssist. Important: ASR, however, is something you should consider and incorporate early intro your backup plan to cover all bases. back to top
ASR then creates an ASR floppy disk (1.44MB) which stores all the critical system and storage information in order to initiate the ASR restore process and system recovery (see above). Note: If your ASR recovery floppy disk is lost or damaged, you can retrieve the necessary files (.sif files) from the WINDOWS\Repair directory on your system drive. You can additionally retrieve these files by restoring them from the backup media you used to perform the initial ASR backup on. Important: The ASR will not backup or be able to restore additional program and data volume drives (extra partitions, hdds, external hdds, network drives, etc) - you need to backup this data using another backup application like BackupAssist. Restoring Locally When the ASR restore is invoked via the ASR Floppy Disk created during the ASR backup, all of the critical system disk signatures and volumes (required by the operating system to boot) are restored. The system drive is then formatted before the restoration can commence. Important: Since the system drive is formatted as part of the ASR restore process you should not solely depend on ASR to backup and be able to restore user data files on the boot and system drives as once the format is complete, the data is lost. A wise secondary precaution would involve an additional backup of your system with BackupAssist. Once the critical disks are recreated and the system volume is formatted, ASR commences the installation of the Windows Operating System. During the operating system installation the Backup Utility (NTBackup.exe) is automatically launched and a restore action is invoked which restores the data originally backed up during the ASR Wizard. Any Plug and Play devices are also installed during the restore process. Restoring Remotely If your computer does not have a floppy disk drive you can utilize a Remote Installation Services (RIS) server to perform the ASR restore. RIS uses Pre-boot execution Environment (PXE) technology that enables computers without operating systems to conduct Windows installations through a TCP/IP networked connection. The client computer, however, must have a PXE-enabled network adapter for it to connect to the RIS server. More information about RIS can be obtained through Microsoft: Remote Operating System Installation back to top
- Switch to Advanced Mode
- Start the ASR Wizard (depicted above)
Welcome Tab > Automated System Recovery Wizard
OR
Tools > ASR Wizard - Select the media you want to backup to
Ensure that you have adequate space on your intended medium to do the backup - this will be dependent on how full your system drive is (C: typically). File Input a meaningful filename and designate a location that is NOT your system volume (ie choose another partition, external hdd, etc) as the system volume will be formatted during the ASR restore process. Tape Choose your tape drive from the drop-down list (Backup media type) and leave New as the media name. - Click Next and then Finish
The backup process will now commence, which may take some time to complete. - Insert a 1.44MB floppy disk
When prompted, insert a 1.44MB floppy disk into the floppy drive so the ASR backup process can create the ASR recovery disk.
Once you have all these items you can commence the restoration:
- Insert the original operating system installation disc into the CD drive
- Reboot your computer
Ensure that your computer is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive within BIOS and press a key if prompted to boot from the CD-ROM drive. - Press F2 to run the ASR Once the system begins to boot from the operating system CD you will first be prompted to press F6 to install any RAID controllers (ignore this unless required), and then asked to press F2 to begin the ASR restore process.
- Insert your ASR recovery floppy disk You will be prompted to insert the ASR recovery disk. Once the setup application has read the disk, the ASR recovery process commences, including a complete format of the system partition. After the format has completed, the operating system setup files are copied to the partition.
- Follow the directions on the screen
The system will reboot after the setup files have been copied. If you have a separate driver file for a mass storage controller, press F6 when prompted to after the system reboots. - Windows installation and ASR restoration
Once the system has rebooted, a quick Windows installation commences in which devices are installed and the network is automatically configured. The ASR Recovery Wizard will then launch (depicted below). If no user interaction occurs, the ASR restore will commence automatically after 90 seconds and begin a restore (depicted below) of the data backed up during the ASR backup process - the system state and the system drive data. Otherwise, you can click next and follow the prompts: - ASR Restoration Complete Once the restore process has completed, your system will reboot and Windows should be fully operational and restored to its ASR backed up safe state.
Operating System Media Type Results Windows XP Pro Tape: HPC1533A SCSI Sequential Device, 4mm DDS ASR backup and restore completed successfully for a full system restoration. All previously installed programs on the system volume (C:\) were restored and operational as well as user profile information and data stores. Windows XP Pro/ Windows 2003 Server Tape: Seagate STT3401A, Travan ASR Backup completed successfully, but we had a few complications during ASR restoration where the restoration could not begin - the tape drive was detected as 'Unrecognized' by NTBackup during the Windows installation phase and prevented the restoration from commencing. The ASR floppy disk records the medium and tape label of the backup media it requires for restoration and if the tape is not correctly recognized, the restoration cannot continue. This problem occurred twice with Windows 2003 Server and once with Windows XP Professional. It was only with Windows XP that we were able to conduct a successful restoration. It is more than likely this was a hardware issue with the Travan drive which is notorious for being problematic, rather than an issue with the ASR restoration process itself. We were able to complete a full ASR restoration using the same drive for multiple successions. Windows XP Pro File: Local separate partition, D:\ ASR backup and restore completed successfully for a full system restoration. All previously installed programs on the system volume (C:\) were restored and operational as well as user profile information and data stores. Note: If you attempt to manually operate the ASR Wizard during the Windows installation and choose a different .bkf file OR tape media to that created during the ASR backup, you will receive the error message in the below screenshot. You must ensure that the media you are attempting to complete the ASR restore with is the same as that which was created with the ASR floppy during the ASR backup process. We manually attempted to alter the asf.sif file on the ASR recovery floppy disk to point to a different .bkf file for restoration but the process resulted in the same error. back to top
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