Creating Recovery Media for a Bare Metal Restore (CSSB 6.7)

• Create your recovery media as soon as you can, before disaster strikes.
• A USB thumb drive is an ideal storage location for your recovery media.
• When creating the recovery media, include any additional drivers that may be required to boot your new system(s), if necessary.
• Test your Recovery Media.
  • The purpose of the test is to ensure that the Recovery Media includes all necessary drivers that are required to boot the system.
  • A test of the recovery media should end once the system successfully boots and the recovery assistant appears.
  • To perform a test, follow these steps.
    • Power off a computer.
    • Insert the recovery media device.
    • Power on the computer.
    • (If necessary) Enter the BIOS and configure the system to boot from the recovery media.
  • The test is successful if the system is able to boot and the recovery assistant appears.
    • Do not begin the Bare Metal restore process unless you wish to overwrite the existing system entirely.
    • After a successful test, power down the system and remove the recovery media.
    • An actual Bare Metal restore will completely erase the current system.
    • Do not begin an actual Bare Metal restore unless you are willing to overwrite the current system.

The Microsoft ADK and accompanying PE add-on must be installed on the system in order to create the recovery media. Please download the Microsoft ADK and PE add-on here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install.

On Microsoft's ADK page, please choose the following to download:

• Windows ADK for Windows 10, version 2004
• Windows PE add-on for the ADK, version 2004

These allow for the easiest recovery media creation process. However, the Deployment Tools and the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) are the only features that are required on most systems. If you still need to install the software, please click this link https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install to download it. Within this page, download and then run the ADK installer and the Windows PE add-on for the ADK.

The Assessment and Deployment Kit will run and you will be prompted to select a location to install the ADK. Click Next once you have selected this location.

Note: The ADK webpage, installer, and software are all provided by Microsoft. Installing this software is required before you can create recovery media. If you are experiencing issues with the webpage display, we suggest adjusting your internet settings, attempting the download with another browser, or attempting the download from another computer. If none of these methods fix the issue, we then suggest contacting Microsoft.

The ADK installer will ask you to choose whether to send anonymous usage data to Microsoft. Please make your selection for Yes or No and click Next.

On this screen you will need to review the Microsoft License Agreement and click Accept to continue.

There will then be a list of features for you to install. Please ensure that Deployment Tools is selected. Click Install to continue.

Once you click Install, the Assessment and Deployment Kit will process installing on your computer.

After the install has completed, please click Close and return to the Recovery Media builder.

Repeat this process with the WinPE environment installation.

During the "features" step, there is only one option, please ensure the Windows Preinstallation Environment is selected for installation and click Install to continue.

Now that you have the Assessment and Deployment Kit, and WinPE installed, please follow the steps in the next section.

A Create Recovery Media button is found within the Notifications panel of the Dashboard. Click this button to begin the creation of your recovery media.

Click the image to enlarge it

If you have already created recovery media previously, this button may not be in the notifications panel.

The recovery media can also be created from the Restore page.

Alternatively, you can create recovery media by selecting the BMI Backup set within the dashboard, selecting Edit Backup Set, then selecting Create Recovery Media.

A Recovery Media pop up window will appear with important information about Recovery Media. Click Continue after reading the information.

The Carbonite Recovery Media builder will launch. Click Next to continue.

On the next screen, select Use ADK and browse to the path of the APK that you installed in the previous section.

Choose ISO file or Removable flash media.

Note: If you select to use a Removable flash media, you may be prompted that any data on the selected USB flash drive will be completely erased.

Browse to the file location and click Next.

Adding drivers into the recovery media is the next step. Drivers are useful if you have specific hardware installed that needs drivers before they will work. If you require specific drivers to be installed, click Add storage device drivers or Add network device drivers and you will be able to browse to where the drivers are so they can be included in the recovery media. Once you have added all the drivers you need, if necessary, click Next.

After you have added any drivers to your recovery media, you are prompted to select your network connection. This is automatically set up by default after you have successfully performed a Bare Metal Restore and restarted the machine. However, if your computer requires specific network settings, you can make those selections or manually configure the settings after you first start it up. We recommend, unless a specific IP address is required, that you connect automatically and obtain an IP address from a DHCP server. Once you have completed your selections, click Next.

The recovery media will begin being built with the specifications requested when running the Wizard.

Once completed, you will be prompted with a screen indicating that the recovery media has been built.

CSSB will display a message once the Recovery Media has been created.

You will now be able to boot your computer in case of a crash from the media. Please ensure that the media is not stored on the computer itself as you would not be able to access it if the computer crashes and you need to perform a bare metal restore.