A method for generating a mirror file, comprising: receiving a mirror file generation request, the mirror file generation request carrying an application installation file; loading, according to the mirror file generation request, a basic mirror file of an operating system in a preset system area, to start the operating system; installing an application corresponding to the application installation file in the operating system, and running the application to obtain a system dataset and attribute information of the application, wherein the attribute information of the application comprises information of at least one of a name, a type, an installation address, a memory and a data list of the application; extracting application data of the application from the system dataset according to the attribute information of the application; and merging the application data with the basic mirror file, to generate a mirror file of the application, characterized in that the basic mirror file comprises a read-only layer, and the merging the application data with the basic mirror file, to generate a mirror file of the application comprises: determining, according to a data size and a data type of the application data, basic information of read-write layers required to be added to the basic mirror file, wherein the basic information of the read-write layers comprises a quantity of the read-write layers, a memory of each of the read-write layers, a position of each of the read-write layers, and a type of each of the read-write layers; adding the read-write layers corresponding to the basic information to the read-only layer of the basic mirror file; and adding the application data to the read-write layers according to the basic information, to obtain the mirror file of the application. receiving a mirror file generation request, the mirror file generation request carrying an application installation file; loading, according to the mirror file generation request, a basic mirror file of an operating system in a preset system area, to start the operating system; installing an application corresponding to the application installation file in the operating system, and running the application to obtain a system dataset and attribute information of the application, wherein the attribute information of the application comprises information of at least one of a name, a type, an installation address, a memory and a data list of the application; extracting application data of the application from the system dataset according to the attribute information of the application; and merging the application data with the basic mirror file, to generate a mirror file of the application, characterized in that the basic mirror file comprises a read-only layer, and the merging the application data with the basic mirror file, to generate a mirror file of the application comprises: determining, according to a data size and a data type of the application data, basic information of read-write layers required to be added to the basic mirror file, wherein the basic information of the read-write layers comprises a quantity of the read-write layers, a memory of each of the read-write layers, a position of each of the read-write layers, and a type of each of the read-write layers; adding the read-write layers corresponding to the basic information to the read-only layer of the basic mirror file; and adding the application data to the read-write layers according to the basic information, to obtain the mirror file of the application. determining, according to a data size and a data type of the application data, basic information of read-write layers required to be added to the basic mirror file, wherein the basic information of the read-write layers comprises a quantity of the read-write layers, a memory of each of the read-write layers, a position of each of the read-write layers, and a type of each of the read-write layers; adding the read-write layers corresponding to the basic information to the read-only layer of the basic mirror file; and adding the application data to the read-write layers according to the basic information, to obtain the mirror file of the application.