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If you have Windows XP Home, the Windows backup utility can be found in the install CD.

Where did the Windows backup utility go?

There's been a backup utility included with Windows versions for some time. Until Windows XP Home, when it inexplicably disappeared.

The good news is that it's on your install CD in the "valueadd" directory. You'll need to install NTBACKUP.MSI. This article on About.com has more details.

Article C2188 - September 16, 2004

Leo Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed. After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.

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2 Comments

The problem with this solution is that many, if not most, PCs don't include a Windows CD but instead include recovery CDs or a recovery partition. On the other hand, the Windows backup program is so poor, no big loss.

Posted by: michael horowitz at October 5, 2004 6:42 PM

Hi. Although this Windows Backup Utility is very simple, it is among the only 2 programs that do not have an issue with backing up files with international characters in the filename. With other programs, if I backup files with a Hebrew filename, the characters change to question marks. However, the contents of the file remains intact. It just makes those files unrecognizable during a restore. If I change Window's Page Code to Hebrew, then Spanish characters in the filename change to question marks. I am running Windows XP Home - United States version. I do not have any problems with this utility / programs. Please feel free to contact me anytime.

Posted by: Dan Cohen at December 4, 2005 3:09 PM
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