Sorry 'bout the confusion.

I first have Image For Windows create the image backup of my main drive on an external drive.
That usually takes a few hours because I have the program go back and verify that the image backup is valid by comparing it to the main drive backed up.
I keep that file till the next time I do an image backup or have to restore it because of a problem like a virus or something.

Now to restore that backup on to the computer you need a way of running the restore software with out booting up windows.
I have a bootable CD with the restore program on it that I put in to the CD drive and turn on the computer.
I press f8 so I can tell the computer to boot from the CD drive instead of drive C.
At that point I just follow all the prompts to restore the backup on to the C drive.
Caution, when the software starts the restore process everything on that drive will be overwritten by the backup image.

Note: this procedure is for a drive with only 1 partition since that's what I have.

I have no idea how this would work using the backup software that comes with Windows 7.

Tim