On Oct 28, 4:05*am, "W" wrote:
Is there any Windows backup software that will boot a server on a schedule,
and then take control *before Windows boots* to make an image backup of the
boot device, prior to handing off control to Windows? * *We want to bypass
any possibility of a file being locked during use while Windows is booted..


If you can automate the reboot (presumably with shutdown), you should
be able to boot to an alternate partition. You'll need to install an
appropriate OS in the alternate partition, and one of the many boot
loaders. You can even do it with diskpart (IOW, reassign which
partition is active), but that's a bit manual.

One the alternate partition is booted, you should be able to image
backup the WS partition without trouble.