I'm a licensed user of ShadowProtect Desktop, which is currently installed on Windows XP.

Soon, I will purchase a brand new computer with Windows 7 (64-bit, if it matters). My plan for the new computer is to press the power button, let the computer set itself up, and then to make an image of this absolutely virgin Windows 7 installation.

Can I use my existing Recovery Environment disc to do this? Obviously, SP Desktop is not yet installed on the new computer at this time.

You can use the recovery environment to create the full backup. The only way you'd run into trouble is if you tried to migrate this image to a new machine, HIR won't run if the target volume doesn't have ShadowProtect installed. But if you don't need to run HIR, aka restoring to the same machine then you shouldn't have any trouble.

Thank you. What I was really trying to get at is this: Will the Recovery Environment successfully backup a disk on which SP Desktop is not installed?

After I've made this image I will start installing my software on the new computer, including ShadowProtect Desktop.

Bulldog:

Will the Recovery Environment successfully backup a disk on which SP Desktop is not installed?

Yes.