You have a computer that runs Windows 7. You have a system image of the computer. You need to restore a single file from the system image. You must achieve this goal in the minimum amount of time.
What should you do first?

A.
From Disk Management, select Attach VHD.

B.
From Backup and Restore, select Restore my files.

C.
Restart the computer and run System Restore.

D.
Restart the computer and run System Image Recovery.

Explanation:
Attach VHD
Attaching a VHD activates the VHD so that it appears on the host computer as a local hard disk drive. This is sometimes called �surfacing a VHD� because the VHD is now visible to users. If the VHD already has a disk partition and file system volume when you attach it, the volume inside the VHD is assigned a drive letter. The assigned drive letter is then available for use, similar to when you insert a USB flash drive into a USB connector. All users (not just the current user) can use the attached VHD in the same way they use other volumes on local physical hard disk drives (depending on security permissions). Furthermore, because you can attach a VHD that is located on a remote server message block (SMB), you can manage your images remotely.
– http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd440865%28WS.10%29.aspx
Once attached the single file can be restored.
The other answers are overkill or replace all files not just the one required.
What is system protection?
System protection is a feature that regularly creates and saves information about your computer’s system files and settings. System protection also saves previous versions of files that you’ve modified. It saves these files in restore points, which are created just before significant system events, such as the installation of a program or device driver. They’re also created automatically once every seven days if no other restore points were created in the previous seven days, but you can create restore points manually at any time.
System protection is automatically on for the drive that Windows is installed on. System protection can only be turned on for drives that are formatted using the NTFS file system.
There are two ways that you can take advantage of system protection:
* If your computer is running slowly or isn’t working properly, you can use System Restore to return your computer’s system files and settings to an earlier point in time using a restore point.
* If you accidentally modify or delete a file or folder, you can restore it to a previous version that’s saved as part of a restore point.