On Mon, 27 Nov 2017 19:20:14 -0700, KenW wrote:

On Tue, 28 Nov 2017 01:40:12 +0000 (UTC), Boris
wrote:

This relates to all pcs purchased that have OEM installs of Windows 10
that have a recovery partition. I have both HP and Dell such machines,
laptops and desktops.

After setting up Windows 10, I make a recovery drive, and usually enable
"Back up system files to the recovery drive." I use a USB flash drive.

I always thought that the recovery files (not the system backup files)
on the USB flash drive were indifferent to which pc they were later used
on. That is, the recovery files are troubleshooting tools (refresh,
reset, advanced), etc.) that can be used on any Windows 10 pc, and that
they could even be used on a non-oem installed version of Windows 10. I
recently read an article that each recovery drive can only be used on
the pc from which it was made. Which is true?

Now, let's say I use a recovery drive on the same machine from which it
was made,and I click the "Reset your PC" button. I assume this
reinstall the factory version, even though I may have long since moved
up a version or so.

Another question...I also use the "Backup and Restore (Windows 7)"
function to "Create a system image" on an external USB hard drive. The
system image created on the external hard drive is a folder named
"WindowsImageBackup". It contains five folders and 15 files, none of
which have an .iso extension. I guess this is because Windows (10)
cannot create ISOs, but can only mount them. Yes? But, would
reinstalling from WindowsImageBackup get me the same reinstallation as
an ISO?

Thanks for any clarification, anyone. I still have more questions
later.


That why I always use another program to image a drive. Never
know/understand what MS does.


KenW

Absolutely, I tried the windows backup on windows 7, it created lots of
stuff and seemed to overwrite on a 2nd try.
Use macrium free version, single backup file with no fuss or bother.
Macrium is the only reason I keep windows 7 on my multi boot machine.