How to restore system image backup

MeAndMyComputer · 30 Jan 2018

Ryan1991 said:

Hi guys, i made a system image backup of the window 10 running on my toshiba laptop via control panel on a external harddrive. And i am trying to restore it by going to window recovery, then system image recovery in advanced options. But the problem i am facing it that when i get the restore option and i click next then i get ( To restore this computer, windows need to format the drive that the windows recovery environment is currently running on, bla bla bla) and it asks me to create a disk. So can someone please tell me how can i fix this issue. Thanks

Although I am a Macrium Reflect person I help many people where I volunteer using the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) process and always create a System Repair disc and haven't had any problems restoring anyone's system image yet using the System Repair disc: I also have the disc verified upon completing the system image backup. I have seen one of the procedures mentioning something like you said but I don't follow through on it, I click Next if I remember correctly. What I'm describing may not apply in your case, but if this is helpful for you, I hope so.

Try3 · 30 Jan 2018

Ryan,

To restore from a system image by booting with an installation disk or System repair disk -

[Boot from the disk]
Select language, formats & keyboard,
Select Repair your computer,
Troubleshoot,
Advanced options, [and see note ***]
System image recovery,
Accept the latest image identified by the system or, if you have multiple images saved on your backup drive, use Select a image to chose the one you want.
The rest is entirely menu driven. Whilst there are some options that can be chosen, the defaults are normally off for all these and should be accepted.

I am not familiar with use of a Windows 10 "Recovery drive" but I would expect only the opening steps to be any different. Everything after selecting System image recovery would, I expect, be the same.

If you get any untoward events such as warnings about formatting drives, please take a photo of the screen and post it here.

If, when booting from an installation disk etc, you are interrupted by this dialog, just select No. The only time I have seen this dialog was when I was restoring a system image straight after having installed a new Windows 10 version.

How to restore system image backup-extra-initial-dialog-seen-soon-after-updated-build-had-been-installed-small.jpg

*** Do be aware that your normal drive letter assignments do not [temporarily] apply when booting from an installation disk etc or using the onboard restore facility ["WRE"] so from the Advanced options you can select Command prompt then use Dir C: then Dir D: and so on commands to look at each drive in turn to figure out what each one is temporarily called [ignore the X drive, it is a virtual drive controlling the computer during this procedure]. When you have finished, type Exit to close the Command prompt and it will take you back to the Choose an option screen where you can select Troubleshoot, my step 4 above.

Denis

elstaci · 30 Jan 2018

Try3 said:

Acronis can only work with its own format system images or with Windows 7 system images [which are based on vhd files]. It cannot work with Windows 10 system images [which are based on vhdx files].

In the past versions, Acronis would convert the Windows System Image to the Acronis format. Then Acronis can use the Windows converted format to restore the image. Just checked my new version of Acronis. They seemed have removed that feature.
When I last spoke with Acronis [about three months ago], they said they had no plans to introduce vhdx file capabilities.

Denis

In the past versions of Acronis the program did have a feature to convert Windows System Image file format into an Acronis File format that can be used by Acronis to restore your computer. But I see now that feature has been removed.

elstaci · 30 Jan 2018

Try3 said:

Are you saying that you experienced the same fault symptom as Ryan? If that was the case I would try to help him by writing up my scribbled notes about restoring images using installation disks, System repair disks & recovery drives.
Denis

Here is a thread I opened about Windows System image being made obsolete by Microsoft plus some comments from Microsoft Forum concerning the problems they were having in restoring the System Image under the new version of Windows.

FYI: Windows 10 Fall Creator Features that have... | Community

Note: I opened this thread there just to warn other people about the new changes by Microsoft in the new version. It had nothing to do with AMD GPU issues.

lx07 · 30 Jan 2018

elstaci said:

Here is a thread I opened about Windows System image being made obsolete.

It is not obsolete. It is deprecated which means it might be dropped in the future (or might not be).

How does your comment help someone who has already made one though? Are you suggesting the OP goes back in time and uses some other product?

And no, restoring a system image doesn't depend on AMD GPU being installed (forestalling a complete tangent).

elstaci · 30 Jan 2018

lx07 said:

It is not obsolete. It is deprecated which means it might be dropped in the future (or might not be).

How does your comment help someone who has already made one though? Are you suggesting the OP goes back in time and uses some other product?

And no, restoring a system image doesn't depend on AMD GPU being installed (forestalling a complete tangent).

If you read the comments from Microsoft Forum that I copied, Deprecated means that Microsoft is not going to update that feature anymore. Thus it is obsolete. In fact, Microsoft even says to get a 3rd party software to do your future System Images and not to use Windows System Image.

This a copy from Microsoft themselves concerning System Image Backup:

"System Image Backup (SIB) Solution We recommend that users use full-disk backup solutions from other vendors."

Many people are having problems restoring their System Images under the new version of Windows 1709. They believe it is a bug in the new version. But I have a feeling that Microsoft is not going to do anything about it. They already mentioned they will not update the feature any more.

If you read my Post, I MENTIONED that the thread had NOTHING to do with AMD GPU. I just posted the information for the AMD users to be aware of the changes done by the new version of Windows.

The thread that I mentioned shows some ways of restoring your System Image using the new version of Windows. I mentioned that I needed to use a Windows Installation Disk to get my current System Image (from January 5,2017) to restore successfully. I used my current Windows Troubleshooting menu to try to restore my System Image and it failed twice in a row. The error I was getting it couldn't install drivers while Offline.

Ryan1991 · 01 Feb 2018

Try3 said:

Ryan,

Have you tried restoring the system image using an installation disk, System repair disk or recovery drive?

Do you have an installation disk, System repair disk or recovery drive?

Denis

Hi Denis,

Sorry but i didn't receive the notifications on my email about others replying on this thread so i thought may be its sitting quietly in this forum. Anyway regarding your question i don't think that i have a installation disk, System repair disk or recovery drive. The thing is i bought a laptop from someone and the touch pad drivers were disabled on it, i tried everything on it to make it work but without success. So at last i thought about giving a clean wipe to the laptop drive and freshly install a copy of window but before that i made a system image backup of my laptop in a external hdd. But now as you know i am not able to restore that system image on my machine.

Try3 · 02 Feb 2018

Ryan,

There's a tutorial article on making an installation disk at Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10

So you could use that 'disk' as a repair tool to restore that system image and then, when you are ready later on, use it to do a full reinstallation [How to Clean Install Windows 10]. Personally, I always restore system images by booting from an installation disk [etc].

About "the touch pad drivers were disabled on it", during a reinstallation Windows will attempt to install the most appropriate drivers for every piece of hardware. You could also go to the computer maker's support site and get the touchpad driver from them to see if it is any better.

Denis

Ryan1991 · 02 Feb 2018

Hi Danis,

I am familiar with creating a bootable installation usb ( no offense, just making sure you know i am not a newbie ) and i had tried everything possibly i couldn't but i am just not able to restore that system image i created earlier. And i even tried that method you mentoined earlier about using boot disk image and it worked to the point where it ended up in a error saying

The system image restore failed

Error details: A volume shadow copy service component encountered an unexpected error. Check the application event log for more information (0×80042302)

lx07 · 02 Feb 2018

Ryan1991 said:

Error details: A volume shadow copy service component encountered an unexpected error. Check the application event log for more information (0×80042302)

Macrium has an option to auto fix VSS errors that works quite well. May be worth a try.