The Computer System protection plan stores all of the system information to needed to restore a computer, and optionally any attached data disk volumes. You can also restore individual files and folders using the Explore and Restore actions. See Restoring Files and Folders. You must use the System Recovery Environment to restore an entire system.


Assuming you have run a Computer System protection plan for the system to be restored and have saved the System Recovery Environment to media, you can restore the computer system as follows:

Booting a Computer for Recovery

The System Recovery Environment (SRE) is used to boot a computer for recovery. Most computer systems can boot from CD/DVD or USB drives. Check your computer specifications and BIOS support for booting from CD/DVD or USB drives. You may have to select the boot drive from a boot menu at startup or adjust the BIOS to boot from a CD/DVD or USB drive.


Virtual machine (VM) hosts allow guest virtual machines to boot from physical CD/DVD drives or ISO image files. To recover the VM, first configure it to boot the SRE.


Once you boot the SRE you are presented with the SRE Launch screen. This screen allows you to restore a system by following a step-by-step wizard. From the SRE Launch screen you can open a command prompt, shut down or restart the computer.


Most system restores can be performed without requiring the use of the command prompt, however there are several reasons you may need to use the command prompt. For example, you may need to set an IP address for a network adapter using the netsh command, if a DHCP server does not automatically provide one.

Restoring your Computer System

From the SRE Launch screen, select Restore your computer and follow the step-by-step wizard.


The first step is to identify the storage that contains recovery points created by Computer System protection plans. There are two locations the wizard can search to find recovery points: local disks and network locations.


Note: To search network locations the SRE needs to bind to a network adapter. At boot time the SRE searches all of the network drivers to find a match for your hardware. If a network driver is available for your system it is loaded and attempts to obtain an IP address using DHCP. If a network driver cannot be loaded by the SRE you can click Load Driver to browse for a 32-bit (or 64-bit if using the SRE for systems that boot using UEFI) network adapter driver compatible with your system. Once the network driver is loaded, the driver attempts to obtain an IP address using DHCP.


If you click Search local disks, the disk drives are scanned for systems to recover.


If you click Search network locations you are prompted to map a network drive letter to a network location or UNC path. If your storage device is connected to another computer, you will need to share the drive before you can connect to the device over the network. Enter the credentials for the user account when prompted and then click OK. Note: Use the same account for accessing the storage through a network folder that you used for your Computer System protection plan. Once connected, the disk drive is scanned for systems to recover.


Next, choose the system to recover and a recovery point. Each system that has recovery points available is displayed showing the system name, OS version and build number. Select the recovery point you would like to use and click Next.


Next, configure the volume-to-drive mapping for the restore. The original volumes that were backed up by the protection plan are displayed with the original drive letter, label, capacity and file system type. Check the first drive you would like to restore. The Map To column will automatically choose the first disk drive attached to the system. If this is not the desired mapping you can change the disk from the drop-down menu in the Map To column. You can change the size of the volume that will be created on the drive by selecting the ... button in the Restore Size column. If the volume mapping you have specified is smaller than the original capacity, the mapping will have a warning icon; otherwise, it will have a checkmark icon.


Note: If a drive is missing for a volume mapping you may need to install a driver for a storage controller. To install a driver click Load Driver and browse to a location containing a compatible 32-bit driver (or 64-bit driver if using the SRE for systems that boot using UEFI). Once the driver is installed, click Rescan to scan for drives to map to volumes.


Once you are satisfied with your mappings click Next to go to the final page.


On final page there are two options:

  • Restore saved boot information (Recommended) - repairs the boot records used to initialize the recovered operating system. After restoring the file data, the SRE will display a command window prompting you to repair the boot records for any operating systems that it finds on the restored computer. If you do not repair the boot records of the recovered operating system, it may not boot. If you do not restore the saved boot information, you will need to manually repair the boot records using other tools from within the SRE or use the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE).
  • Run restore with high performance settings - uses multiple processors to accelerate restore.


When you are ready to recover the system, click Recover. You will be warned that the data on the existing volumes will be destroyed. Click Yes to continue or No to return and change your settings.


While the restore is running you can monitor the throughput and an estimate for when the restore will finish.


After the recovery completes you can view the restore log or click Finish to return to the SRE Launch screen.


Once back at the launch screen, you can choose to restart the computer and boot into the recovered OS. Note: You may need to adjust your BIOS boot menu if you changed it during the recovery process.