Windows 7 Recovery Discs (64bit and 32bit)

Windows 7 Recovery Discs (64bit and 32bit) | 295 MB

With Windows 7 released and currently making its way to shelves in time for the holiday season, we've

taken this opportunity to upgrade our copy of the official Windows System Recovery Discs for

compatibility with Windows 7.

If you're like most PC users, you probably got Windows 7 with a new PC or laptop. And if you're like

99% of the population, you get your new machines from one of the major manufacturers. Dell, Acer, HP,

Toshiba, Lenovo; who all have one thing in common: they don't give you a real Windows 7 installation

disc with your purchase. Instead, they bundle what they call a "recovery disc" (that's if you're

lucky - otherwise you'll have a recovery partition instead) with your machine and leave it at that.

It doesn't matter that you just paid a thousand dollars for a machine that comes with a valid Windows

7 license - your computer manufacturer just don't want to spend the money (or perhaps take on the

responsibility) of giving you a Windows 7 installation DVD to accompany your expensive purchase.

The problem is, with Windows 7, the installation media serves more than one purpose. It's not just a

way to get Windows installed, it's also the only way of recovering a borked installation. The Windows

7 DVD has a complete "recovery center" that provides you with the option of recovering your system

via automated recovery (searches for problems and attempts to fix them automatically), rolling-back

to a system restore point, recovering a full PC backup, or accessing a command-line recovery console

for advanced recovery purposes.

Thankfully, Microsoft seems to have realized this problem, and have thankfully made a recovery disc

for this purpose. It contains the contents of the Windows 7 DVD's "recovery center," as we've come to

refer to it. It cannot be used to install or reinstall Windows 7, and just serves as a Windows PE

interface to recovering your PC. Technically, one could re-create this installation media with

freely-downloadable media from Microsoft (namely the Microsoft WAIK kit, a multi-gigabyte download);

but it's damn-decent of Microsoft to make this available to Windows' users who might not be capable

of creating such a thing on their own. You can make your own copy from Windows 7 Ultimate Edition,

but now you have an easier alternative.

It's a 143 MiB download (165 MiB for the 64-bit version), and in the standard ISO format, ready to

burned directly to a CD or DVD. Don't wait until your PC crashes to download a copy! Download and

burn your recovery disc today, so that when the time comes, you'll be ready!

What it does: The Windows 7 Recovery Disc can be used to access a system recovery menu, giving you

options of using System Restore, Complete PC Backup, automated system repair, and a command-line

prompt for manual advanced recovery.

What it doesn't do: You cannot use the Windows 7 Recovery Disc to re-install Windows - it only fixes

(not replaces!) Windows.

Why you need it: If you bought your PC from a major retailer, you didn't get this CD with your hefty

purchase.

Instructions

1. Burn the .iso file to a CD using these instructions.
2. When you want to use the recovery center, put the CD in your drive and boot from it. This is

usually done by pressing F8 at startup, or changing the boot drive order in the BIOS.