To use Automated System Recovery:

To use Automated System Recovery: We recommend that you regularly create backups as part of an overall plan for system recovery. Note: Restoring from backup should be a last resort for system recovery. Use this method only after you have exhausted other options. For example, you should first try starting the computer in Safe Mode and reverting to the Last Known Good configuration. These steps are described earlier in this section. Automated System Recovery (ASR) is a two-part system; it includes ASR backup and ASR restore. The ASR Wizard, located on the Start menu under Accessories\System Tools\Backup, does the backup portion. The wizard backs up the system state, system services, and all the disks that are associated with the operating system components. ASR also creates a file that contains information about the backup, the disk configurations (including basic and dynamic volumes), and how to perform a restore. You can access the restore portion by pressing F2 when prompted in the text-mode portion of Setup. ASR reads the disk configurations from the file that it creates. It restores all the disk signatures, volumes, and partitions on the disks that you need to start the computer. ASR will try to restore all the disk configurations, but under some circumstances it might not be able to. ASR then installs a simple installation of Windows and automatically starts a restoration using the backup created by the ASR Wizard. For more information about system recovery and repair, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles: 818903: Automated System Recovery Overview in Windows XP 322756: How to Back Up, Edit, and Restore the Registry in Windows XP 306084: How to Restore the Operating System to a Previous State in Windows XP 304449: How to Start the System Restore Tool from a Command Prompt in Windows XP 302700: An Error Message Is Displayed When You Attempt to Use the Automated System Recovery Wizard in Windows XP Home Edition