In the past several months I've had the pleasure to address an issue involving Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition's Backup Feature -- there isn't one installed by default.

Users of Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition that have tried to back up their systems have been surprised (and disappointed) to find that the Backup utility is not included in the default installation of Windows XP Home Edition. Although, this feature is installed by default in the Windows XP Professional Edition.

No Backup icon is present on the Start menu in Windows XP Home Edition, nor is Backup listed in Add Remove Programs for Windows XP Home edition. No mention of the utility is made anywhere during the installation, but it is included with Windows XP Home Edition. It's just necessary to do a manual install to prepare it for use.

You will need your Windows XP Home Edition CD-ROM -- if you don't have it, this won't help.

To manually install the Backup Utility in Windows XP Home Edition:

1. Insert the CD-ROM and navigate to CD-ROM Drive:\VALUEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP

2. Double-click the Ntbackup.msi file to start the wizard that installs Backup

3. When the wizard is complete, click Finish.