System State:\ directive
The System State:\ can be used on all supported Windows systems.
The System State:\ directive is needed for the operating system versions which do not support Shadow Copy Components.
The System State:\ directive creates a backup for critical system-related components. The exact set of system components that are backed up depends on the operating system version and system configuration.
The list of items that are backed up can include the following:
Active Directory
COM+ Class Database
Cluster Database
IIS Database
Registry
Boot Files and protected files
SYSVOL
Certificate Server
The files that comprise the registry can be found in the following location:
%SystemRoot%\SYSTEM32\Config
At a minimum, the following files are backed up as part of the registry:
DEFAULT
SAM
SOFTWARE
SECURITY
SYSTEM