Restore from WindowsImageBackup

We have an iMac but I decided to use Bootcamp to partition to the hard drive as I really don't get on with Mac!
Recently, I removed Bootcamp to increase the size of the partition.
I have done this satisfactorily and have reinstalled Windows 10 on the Bootcamp partition.
Before deleting the original partition, I made a system image on an external drive.
My problem now is that Windows wants me to boot from a CD which has the startup info.
I cannot find which key gets me into the bios to change the order.
I have tried Esc, F1, F8, F10, etc but Windows just starts up normally.
As I have some very important information on the system image, could anyone advise me how I can proceed, please?
I even tried to copy the image from the external drive onto the partition but I find it is some GB short of space!

I asked on the Apple Community but cannot get an answer so I'm hoping someone on here can help.

Thanks but I don’t think Winclone would help in this case. I already have a backup system image saved to my external drive. The Bootcamp drive is set up - it just needs the image backup restoring.
When I open Control Panel and Restore, it finds the external drive but then says I need to boot from a recovery CD. I have the CD but cannot get into the bios to tell it to boot from the CD.

janey6 said:

Before deleting the original partition, I made a system image on an external drive.
My problem now is that Windows wants me to boot from a CD which has the startup info....

Oh dear, it appears from the title 'WindowsImageBackup' that you used the built-in Windows system imaging to make this system image. This is possibility the worst and least user-friendly system imaging solution available. It is not for nothing that Microsoft deprecated their system imaging over two years ago.

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


It would have been so much easier if you had used a decent imaging solution like Macrium Reflect Free

As I have some very important information on the system image, could anyone advise me how I can proceed, please?

If all you need is to recover some files and documents from the system image, then all is not lost. Even though Microsoft say that you can't select individual items to restore....



...with a little ingenuity it is in fact possible.

Your system image is on the external drive in a folder called WinfdowsImageBackup. Inside this is a folder with the name of the machine you backed up, and inside that is a folder with a name in the form yyy-mm-dd-hhmmss representing the date and time on the image backup (eg. 2019-08-20-123456). This folder contains one or more .vhdx files, one for each partition that was backed up.

The largest .vhdx will almost certainly be you old C: drive. We will need to open this with read/write permissions so copy this file to another part of your external HDD so we can work on that without altering the original.

Window 10 can mount a .vhdx file as a virtual drive. In Windows, right-click on your copy of the .vhdx and select Mount. The drive will now be mounted and given a new drive letter. You can explore this drive in File Explorer, just like any other drive, and copy the files you need. You will almost certainly run into permissions problems. You will not have permissions to see the user folder you documents are in. You may have to take ownership of it, then grant yourself full permission. If you are signed in as an administrator you may just have to click 'Continue' when you try to open a folder. Either way, you are modifying the .vhdx which is why you should work with a copy.



When you are done, you can dismount the .vhdx by using Disk Management. Right-click on the grey area to the left of the disk (where it says the Disk number) and select 'Detach VHD'.

@janey6

Did you try
Press and hold the C key on your keyboard immediately upon hearing the startup chime.?

Is your Mac old enough to have an optical drive? If so, you can create CD or DVD images for installing macOS, or other operating systems like Linux and Windows. Holding C while your computer boots forces macOS to ignore your startup volume in favor of bootable optical media instead.

A Quick Guide to macOS Boot Modes and Startup Key Combinations

How to start up your Mac from a bootable CD/DVD, USB thumb drive or external storage device

An iMac That Won't Boot from a Mac Startup Disc | Chron.com