That defeats the purpose, as by then the hard disk will no longer be “pristine” it’ll have been modified by the setup process. Unfortunately, in order to install backup software, I’ll have to fire up the machine and complete Windows setup first. Specifically, I want to create a pristine image of the hard drive before I do anything to it. The first thing I’ll do probably won’t surprise you, but how I do it almost certainly will. My new laptop is here, and I’m ready to start playing with it.