system and method for disaster recovery , remote installation and restoration of software and / or data over a data network , when a computer system includes a cpu , read / write internal memory means , an optional display , an optional input device , means for communicating with a data network , a bootable device input port and a hard disk , a bootable removable media means with a live operating system that is stored therein is coupled to the computer system a server that comprises a cpu and memory and software components for exchanging encrypted data , software packages , optional subscriber database with licensing information of each subscriber , and optional data files is adapted to communicate with a plurality of computer systems . the removable memory means performs a first boot operation , to scan hardware of the computer system and network connections , to establish networking connections , to establish a secured channel between the communicating means of the computer system and the server , over the networking connection , either within one data network , or over multiple data networks , and to transmit an optionally unique hardware signature over the secured channel to the server , for checking if the configuration that corresponds to the signature exists , and for executing a default process or otherwise , proposing relevant recovery options to the user of the computer system and for preparing appropriate files and software packages for the selected recovery option .