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ISO Image of Windows 10 Needed to Reinstall Windows Operating System

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I have made a Rescue Media Builder disc and an Acronis Universal Restore disc as a means to restore my computer operating system and data in case of a failure. However, do I also need to create a ISO Image of Windows 10 if my system fails and I need to reinstall the Windows Operating System?

Such that you understand what I am contemplating to create, here a link to download and create the ISO Image for Windows 10: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10/?d2784474-f…

Thanks for your help.

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GJM, welcome to these user forums.

Having a Windows 10 installation disc can always be useful, as it will give you options for performing startup recovery etc should you need them.  The Microsoft Media Creation Tool is the best means of creating this media.

Now that you have created the Acronis Rescue Media, it is important that you also test this to ensure that you know how to boot your computer from it.  This may sound like it should be very simple, i.e. insert the CD/DVD or USB stick and boot, but in reality it is not quite as simple.  First you need to either change your BIOS / EFI boot settings to enable the media to be booted, or access your system one-time boot selection menu (i.e. F12 on Dell systems give a boot selection menu).  Next, you may need to disable Secure Boot if you have an EFI system if this does not 'like' the standard Linux based Rescue Media.

Finally, and very important, you need to boot the Rescue Media in the same boot mode as used by Windows, i.e. if Windows uses a UEFI boot, then so must the Rescue Media.

See webpage: Check if your PC uses UEFI or BIOS for determing the system boot mode.

Dear Steve,

Thank you for your helpful response.

I created the Windows Media Tool DVD and verified that my computer uses BIOS.

I thought it would be easy to boot my computer from the Acronis Rescue Media, but you raise a good point... it may not be so easy, at least for me.

I have a Lenovo, and F12 does get me to the BIOS menu. So, I guess while my computer is starting up, I would click F12 and then select my external DVD to run the Acronis Rescue Media. I need to give this a try.

Thanks so much.