Creating a hardware profile copy

Before making a major hardware change, copy the current hardware profile to a new hardware profile and boot into the new profile before adding or changing the hardware. This way, you can return to the previous configuration if something does not work properly.

To create a copy of the current hardware profile and make that the preferred boot option

  1. Right-click the My Computer icon.

  2. Click Properties to display the System Properties dialog box.

  3. Click Hardware.

  4. Click Hardware Profiles.

  5. Select the current hardware profile, and then click Copy.

  6. Type the name for the new configuration in the To field, and then click OK.

  7. To make the new profile the preferred boot option, select it, and then click the up arrow next to the list box to move the new hardware profile to the top of the box.

  8. Choose whether Windows is to use the new hardware profile automatically (after a delay) during startup, or if the system should wait indefinitely until the hardware profile is chosen by selecting the appropriate option.

  9. Click OK.

    The new configuration is saved, and the startup options are set.

More Information

Returning to the last known good configuration

Creating an emergency repair disk