Win7 Administrator Account for Rescue/Backup Disk?
in [Windows XP]
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From: W. eWatson on 3 Jan 2010 11:58 As was suggested in a thread above, I went off to look for Win7 help on a MS Forum. I chose MS TechNet. It seems pretty slow going there. My question seems easy enough. I have a new HP PC and would like to create a Backup disk for the OS or whatever else might needed to rebuild the software in the event of a failure. I have not added anything to the system yet. HP's help says nothing about what account one should be on to do this. It just shows the step. It seems very much like it should be done as Admin. I understand that's hidden, but have instructions on how to get to it. So what's the answer? Secondly, did MS deliberately hide the Admin account because it should not be used for every day operations, but only as needed to do Admin work?
From: Pegasus [MVP] on 3 Jan 2010 12:29 "W. eWatson" <wolftracks(a)invalid.com> said this in news item news:hhqiap$u50$1(a)news.eternal-september.org... > As was suggested in a thread above, I went off to look for Win7 help on a > MS Forum. I chose MS TechNet. It seems pretty slow going there. My > question seems easy enough. > > I have a new HP PC and would like to create a Backup disk for the OS or > whatever else might needed to rebuild the software in the event of a > failure. I have not added anything to the system yet. HP's help says > nothing about what account one should be on to do this. It just shows the > step. It seems very much like it should be done as Admin. I understand > that's hidden, but have instructions on how to get to it. So what's the > answer? Secondly, did MS deliberately hide the Admin account because it > should not be used for every day operations, but only as needed to do > Admin work? Sorry, the Windows 7 boot environment is radically different from the one you find in Windows XP. You really need to ask the experts in a Win7 forum, even if it is a little slow for your liking. You could try here: http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/windows7.
From: W. eWatson on 3 Jan 2010 12:56 Pegasus [MVP] wrote: > > > "W. eWatson" <wolftracks(a)invalid.com> said this in news item > news:hhqiap$u50$1(a)news.eternal-september.org... >> As was suggested in a thread above, I went off to look for Win7 help >> on a MS Forum. I chose MS TechNet. It seems pretty slow going there. >> My question seems easy enough. >> >> I have a new HP PC and would like to create a Backup disk for the OS >> or whatever else might needed to rebuild the software in the event of >> a failure. I have not added anything to the system yet. HP's help says >> nothing about what account one should be on to do this. It just shows >> the step. It seems very much like it should be done as Admin. I >> understand that's hidden, but have instructions on how to get to it. >> So what's the answer? Secondly, did MS deliberately hide the Admin >> account because it should not be used for every day operations, but >> only as needed to do Admin work? > > Sorry, the Windows 7 boot environment is radically different from the > one you find in Windows XP. You really need to ask the experts in a Win7 > forum, even if it is a little slow for your liking. You could try here: > http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/windows7. Thanks. I posted there a moment ago. I guess "social" and TechNet forums all hang together. I was logged in under both. I decided to jump in by using the Rescue Disk instructions. I put in a DVD at the prompt, and asked for a backup. After a baffling number of instructions that provided no clue as to what I requested was actually completed, I stopped and completed the post there. The silence was very strange. Maybe I'll know some time soon.
From: Daave on 3 Jan 2010 13:11 W. eWatson wrote: > As was suggested in a thread above, I went off to look for Win7 help > on a MS Forum. I chose MS TechNet. It seems pretty slow going there. > My question seems easy enough. How about trying this newgroup: news://news.aioe.org/alt.windows7.general Hopefully, you'll get quicker responses.
From: Patrick Keenan on 3 Jan 2010 13:51
"W. eWatson" <wolftracks(a)invalid.com> wrote in message news:hhqiap$u50$1(a)news.eternal-september.org... > As was suggested in a thread above, I went off to look for Win7 help on a > MS Forum. I chose MS TechNet. It seems pretty slow going there. My > question seems easy enough. > > I have a new HP PC and would like to create a Backup disk for the OS or > whatever else might needed to rebuild the software in the event of a > failure. I have not added anything to the system yet. HP's help says > nothing about what account one should be on to do this. It just shows the > step. It seems very much like it should be done as Admin. I understand > that's hidden, but have instructions on how to get to it. So what's the > answer? Secondly, did MS deliberately hide the Admin account because it > should not be used for every day operations, but only as needed to do > Admin work? These backups often just create images of everything on the drive. You want to do this before you get much further. Be sure that you have enough discs on hand - the utility should telll you how many you need (as CD-R or DVD-R). I would actually suggest doing the base install, then creating an image of the drive as it is using software such as Acronis TrueImage. If you don't image to a hard disk, you will likely need two or more DVDs for the image file. It's also worth contacting HP support now and attempting to purchase restore DVDs. These often cost around $30 or so, and are worth it. I do basic installs, then attach the drive to my bench system and create an image to hard disk. In case of disaster, I can restore the image, to a new hard disk if necessary, and be running again in under an hour. If restoring to a new drive, I can then recover data with somewhat more leisure and less time pressure. As to the account, you need to be using an account with administrator rights. It is not necessary to use the built-in Administrator account, it can be any user account with Administrator rights. In fact, in the default setting, you may be completely unable to do this from the Administrator account. And yes, the Administrator account is disabled by default on at least some Win 7 versions, as on some Vista versions, so that it can't be used as a daily account or left wide open as a security hole. However, the rationale for this decision seems somewhat flawed since the Administrator account first has to be enabled from another user account, but you can't enable it if you can't get into a user account because the only user account is corrupted. So, it's not a bad idea to enable it, and put a decent password on it, which you change periodically. HTH -pk |