The sequence I used follows, but I need to be clear: unless you’re dealing with a Dell machine - perhaps even a very similar Dell - what you need to do will almost certainly be different. Fortunately, the Dell BIOS didn’t come that locked down. Honestly, this was probably the most difficult part of the exercise to figure out.Īs I’ve explained before, modern UEFI BIOSs are complex and have additional security that - in extreme cases - can lock the machine down so tightly that I wouldn’t be able to do what I wanted. The result will be an image of the hard disk before Windows setup was ever attempted. Reboot one last time into Windows 10’s initial setup.Reboot, immediately entering the BIOS/UEFI configuration to reset it to boot from the hard disk as normal.Make a backup image to an attached external hard drive.Turn on the new machine and immediately enter the BIOS/ UEFI configuration.Using a different machine, create a bootable Macrium Reflect (Free) rescue “disk” on a USB stick.What many people don’t realize is that rescue disks can also can also be used to back up. They “rescue” by restoring a backup image to a machine that won’t boot from its internal hard drive or replacing whatever is on that hard drive. Popular imaging backup software like Macrium Reflect or EaseUS Todo creates rescue disks. Of course, short of removing the hard disk (not a practical option here), I’ll have to turn on the machine to back it up.Ī classic chicken-and-egg dilemma: I have to turn the machine on to back it up, but I want to back it up prior to turning it on. I want an image of the hard disk that I’ve only semi-jokingly referred to as the disk “before I turn on the machine”. That defeats the purpose, as by then the hard disk will no longer be “pristine” it’ll have been modified by the setup process. Unfortunately, in order to install backup software, I’ll have to fire up the machine and complete Windows setup first. Specifically, I want to create a pristine image of the hard drive before I do anything to it.
The first thing I’ll do probably won’t surprise you, but how I do it almost certainly will. My new laptop is here, and I’m ready to start playing with it.
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