In alt.windows7.general, on Tue, 22 Aug 2017 20:48:58 +0100, "J. P.
Gilliver (John)" wrote:

In message , Wolf K
writes:
[]
Before you do anything else, make an image of C: on a bootable disk or
USB stick first. Search for "making USB bootable windows 7" for
instructions. If the machine has an optical drive, you can make a
bootable disk. Use Macrium or similar.

Seconded, other than the image itself doesn't have to be bootable; you
just need _something_ bootable that can restore (from) an image.
(Including being able to _access_ where you _put_ the image.) I image to
an external (USB) hard disc, and Macrium 5 as the bootable restorer (and
saver - I feel happier making an image of Windows from a _not_ running
Windows); my Macrium fits on a mini-CD, and can access the external HDD.

Well, I made what Macrium calls a rescue disk.

Going to back up the whole partition soon, but right now it's just
vanilla 7. Barely any changes.

Good luck.
+1

Remember to make that bootable image!

Or non-bootable, but with _something_ that is.