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By Walter, June 27, 2007 10:48 pm

Windows Vista includes Complete PC Backup, an image-based backup program that works similarly to Norton Ghost or Acronis TrueImage. Complete PC Backup creates an image of one or more entire hard disk partitions. In the event of a hard drive failure, you can replace the disk, restore from that image, and have your computer right back at the state it was in when you last backed it up.

Unfortunately, Complete PC Backup does not have a scheduling function built in so that you can automate backups. Fortunately, the command-line equivalent wbadmin.exe supports a rich command structure and with a little help from Task Scheduler, you can schedule automatic image backups.

wbadmin.exe supports the following commands:

Start Backup. Runs a backup.
Stop Job. Stops a running backup.
Get Items. Lists backed up items.
Get Status. Lists status of currently running backup.

The Start Backup command is the one we’re concerned with here. To create a full command, you can use the following parameters:

-backuptarget. Indicates the location to save the backup image. This can be a drive letter or a UNC path.
-include. List of drive letters, volume mount points, or volume names to include in the backup.
-noverify. Tells wbadmin not to verify backups written to removable media such as DVD.
-quiet. Runs the command with no user prompts.

So, let’s look at a simple backup command:

wbadmin start backup -backuptarget:e:\backups -include:C: -quiet

This command starts a backup of the C drive and saves the image to the Backups folder on the E drive, and does it with no user prompts. This would be a useful command for backing up the typical computer with one hard drive to a folder on an external hard drive.

To make this work as a scheduled backup, all you need to do is open Task Scheduler and create a new task using this command on the appropriate schedule.

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By Walter,

I’d like to announce the publication of the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Administrator’s Companion, which I wrote with Scott Lowe and Josh Maher. This is the fourth edition of the book. I originally wrote it for Exchange Server 5.5. Written for the experienced IT pro (who may or may not be experienced with Exchange Server), this book covers the full range of server and client offerings. Enjoy!

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By Walter,

A couple of years ago, I helped out with the documentation for the Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit. On June 22, 2007, Microsoft released the newest incarnation of the product, now named Windows SteadyState. For those who haven’t seen or heard of it, SteadyState is a utility that makes it easier to manage public computers, such as those found in libraries, classrooms, and Internet cafes – or even the computer you keep in your guest room that you get sick of having to troubleshoot every time your nephew visits.

One of the challenges of managing public computers is that all manner of malware, other programs, and system changes can be introduced by users. SteadyState works by offering several vital functions in an easy-to-manage interface:

• Windows Disk Protection. This feature basically creates a snapshot of the hard drive at a certain point in time (like when you finally get it configured just the way you want it). Whenever the computer restarts, Windows restores the computer to this exact state. So whenever a user is done with the computer, you can just restart the computer and it returns to the same state as before the user logged on.
• User Restrictions and Settings. This feature allows you to restrict access to programs and settings, and also to lock a user account to prevent changes.
• User Account Manager. This feature lets you create and delete user accounts, and also to export user accounts for use on other shared computers – perfect for creating identical user accounts on a group of shared computers.
• Computer Restrictions. This feature lets you restrict access to computer settings.

Right now, Windows SteadyState is only available for Windows XP and does require that you validate the copy of Windows you’re running.