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Restoring from within Windows without the use of the boot disk?

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I remember many years ago with the older versions I was able to restore my machine from within Windows and I didn't have to use the recovery disk either. I think my computer had to restart to complete the operation but that was it.

Can the newer versions do this? It would save me a lot of time.

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The simple answer is yes, you can start a restore / recovery using ATIH 2016 from within Windows but this will modify your Windows Bootloader configuration in order to create a temporary Linux recovery environment from which to run the Acronis application to perform the actual restore / recovery.

The downside of doing the above is if any problems arise during the process and the Windows Bootloader configuration does not get reset back to its normal state, which can result in an unbootable system.

For this reason, whilst ATIH allows you to start a restore from within Windows, it is recommended to use the Acronis bootable Rescue Media (created on CD/DVD or USB stick) as this leaves the Windows Bootloader configuration untouched.  You can take a compromise approach and try using the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager which will give you a 'F11' (function key 11) prompt on boot to launch into a prepared Linux boot environment.

See forum post: https://forum.acronis.com/forum/116806#comment-355736 where one of the Senior Acronis engineers gave a detailed description of the changes made for ASRM that also are valid for starting a restore from within Windows too.