Windows 7 Image Backup Tool

Norton Ghost and Acronis Image tools are so nice but cost money.  Now with Windows 7 there is an imaging tool built in. 

I followed the step by step instructions here but below are some extra tips regarding issues that I came across when doing an actual image and restore using the Windows 7 utility (RC):

* When saving the image, the image files are stored in a specific directory structure that goes pretty deep. That directory structure from the very top is important to maintain. Otherwise the restore CD will not be able to locate the image.

* The drive you are going to restore to needs to be completely empty with no partitions.  You'll be able to later recover any extra space after the image is restored.

* If the PC you're going to image is setup on a domain, you might have trouble logging into the restored computer.  For some reason the restored PC had trouble talking to the domain controller.  If this happens, disconnect the network cable and disable wireless, then try to log on (using cached credentials).  Or before you image the PC, make sure you have a local admin account enabled with a known password.

* You can Restore from an image saved on the network and it works well!!!  Just make sure that you don't share any of the subfolders that are a part of the directory structure of the image.  You have to share a folder above that.  Also you have to know the direct network path to the image location because you can't browse for it.