Can not recover with from a System Image Backup

Story: I have 6 Windows 10 systems. The drive in my G60 laptop just crashed out completely and while the three partitions can be seen in another PC neither the size nor any other information is available - it's trashed. It's 10 Home upgraded from Windows 7 back in the free upgrade days - accordingly to the WinKeyfinder key file it's 64 bit which ties to what I know. I'd like to get it back since it has my Photoshop and other files. Somehow my HP G60 laptop wasn't in my regular manual system image routine to back to an external USB drive so I don't have a current backup. I do have a backup from 6/19/2017. I have one system which has Oracle VM Virtual Box and I even made a VDI file from the main partition 2017 VHDX backup using VBoxManager in DOS. Of course it crashed when I tried to restore it but I know that the main file is OK. Using a repair disk from either 1/19/2018 or 6/2019 the 2017 backup can't be seen on the USB drive even though other backups are. Tools said the drive was clean after I scanned it and I even copied the entire back up to another USB drive without a problem.

So I have a 64 bit repair disk and a 64 bit backup but I can't recover. Most of my professional tools went with the IT support business when I retired to Florida so I don't have anything special to use. Thoughts on my next steps other than just give up and reinstall the O/S and any applications I still have the media for?

oldserverguy said:

...Using a repair disk from either 1/19/2018 or 6/2019 the 2017 backup can't be seen on the USB drive even though other backups are. ... So I have a 64 bit repair disk and a 64 bit backup but I can't recover.

Welcome to TenForums.

The built-in Microsoft system imaging is notoriously unreliable. Its most common failing being not being able to find an image that could be restored. Many of us use Macrium Reflect Free for just that reason, it's far more reliable. Microsoft themselves recommend you use something (anything) else....

Microsoft said:

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

Features removed or Deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update


However, all is not lost. Apparently it is possible to manually restore a Microsoft system image. See this post for a link to the (rather complicated) method.

Finally i am able to restore my system image backup. And for anyone who is struggling to restore there system image backup created using windows inbuilt utility then i recommended you to use the method given on the top post on 5th page in the link give below.

How to restore system image backup - post #26


For your future imaging needs, see:

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect

I did a new install of Win 10 64 bit - it's not activated.

I ran this command:
Mount-WindowsImage -ImagePath "C:\WindowsImage\Backup 2017-06-19 132109" -Path C:\MountedVHDX -Index 1

I'm not a PS guy so I only went so far with colors but the short error is:
Access to the path 'C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\' is denied

If there are better PS color commands let me know. Attached is a screen shot that's likely usable.

oldserverguy said:

I did a new install of Win 10 64 bit - it's not activated....

If this PC had an activated Windows 10 on it before, then a clean install should activate automatically from the digital license. Two of the most common reasons for not being activated are that the PC doesn't have a working internet connection, so cannot access the activation servers that hold your digital license. Either that or you installed an edition you do not have a digital license for. You must install the same edition, Home or Pro, as was on the PC and activated previously.

I ran this command:
Mount-WindowsImage -ImagePath "C:\WindowsImage\Backup 2017-06-19 132109" -Path C:\MountedVHDX -Index 1
... the short error is: Access to the path 'C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\' is denied

Permissions problems, by the look of it. That screenshot is a little difficult to read, but I can make out that the command prompt begins with PS C:\U.... That would be C:\Users\... I think you'll need to open Poweshell as an administrator in order to run the commands with sufficient permission, then the prompt would be PS C:\Windows\System32


BTW, rather than take a photo, you can take a screenshot with the Snipping tool, or WinKey+PrtScn will save a whole-screen screenshot to your Pictures\Screenshots folder.

Take Screenshot in Windows 10

Here's a better look as it's the screen text and the directory (I'll try to do better - now I now why we used a commercial backup product when I worked FT in IT as recovery was fast and simple):

PS C:\Windows\system32> Mount-WindowsImage -ImagePath "C:\WindowsImage\Backup 2017-06-19 132019" -Path C:\MountedVHDX -I
ndex 1
Mount-WindowsImage : The parameter is incorrect.
At line:1 char:1
+ Mount-WindowsImage -ImagePath "C:\WindowsImage\Backup 2017-06-19 1320 ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Mount-WindowsImage], PSArgumentException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.Dism.Commands.MountWindowsImageCommand




C:\WindowsImage>cd Backup 2017-06-19 132019

C:\WindowsImage\Backup 2017-06-19 132019>dir
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is FCC8-CF77

Directory of C:\WindowsImage\Backup 2017-06-19 132019

07/08/2019 01:59 PM <DIR> .
07/08/2019 01:59 PM <DIR> ..
06/19/2017 10:57 AM 46,137,344 175bef43-9673-11de-b9d4-806e6f6e6963.vhdx
06/19/2017 10:57 AM 134,402,277,376 175bef44-9673-11de-b9d4-806e6f6e6963.vhdx
06/19/2017 10:57 AM 10,645,143,552 175bef45-9673-11de-b9d4-806e6f6e6963.vhdx
06/19/2017 10:55 AM 776 508cad8d-7a7f-45c7-b632-7876e2f586f0_AdditionalFilesc3b9f3c7-5e52-4d5e-8b20-19adc95a34c7.xml
06/19/2017 10:55 AM 17,214 508cad8d-7a7f-45c7-b632-7876e2f586f0_Components.xml
06/19/2017 10:55 AM 7,280 508cad8d-7a7f-45c7-b632-7876e2f586f0_RegistryExcludes.xml
06/19/2017 10:55 AM 13,826 508cad8d-7a7f-45c7-b632-7876e2f586f0_Writer4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f.xml
06/19/2017 10:55 AM 1,488 508cad8d-7a7f-45c7-b632-7876e2f586f0_Writer542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f.xml
06/19/2017 10:55 AM 1,484 508cad8d-7a7f-45c7-b632-7876e2f586f0_Writera6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0.xml
06/19/2017 10:55 AM 2,940 508cad8d-7a7f-45c7-b632-7876e2f586f0_Writerafbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485.xml
06/19/2017 10:55 AM 6,574 508cad8d-7a7f-45c7-b632-7876e2f586f0_Writerbe000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4.xml
06/19/2017 10:55 AM 5,902 508cad8d-7a7f-45c7-b632-7876e2f586f0_Writercd3f2362-8bef-46c7-9181-d62844cdc0b2.xml
06/19/2017 10:55 AM 5,459,238 508cad8d-7a7f-45c7-b632-7876e2f586f0_Writere8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220.xml
06/19/2017 10:55 AM 2,228 BackupSpecs.xml
06/19/2017 10:57 AM 385,875,968 be691504-0000-0000-0000-b02237000000.vhdx
15 File(s) 145,484,953,190 bytes
2 Dir(s) 83,416,424,448 bytes free