How do you want to open this file? - Every time

Hi, I seem to recall a similar thread a while back - I can't presently find it.

However, if you read this a couple of times, it seems to relate to what you're seeing, so although the fix isn't for what you want, the pattern looks the same.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...lick-a-link-in

Note: I have 1703, and creating a hyperlink to a jpg /Photoviewer in my spreadsheet prog (WPS) works fine.

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To save yourself reinstalling after your disk fails, use disk imaging routinely as we frequently recommend. E.g. Macrium Reflect (free).

Many advantages- easy recovery from unbootable and hard to solve problems to a previous good working state. Gives you a second chance.

Simply restore your image to a new disk if your old disk fails, or to the same disk if Windows is corrupt, an upgrade goes badly wrong or your disk is encrypted by ransomware, or you make some awful mistake.

dalchina said:

To save yourself reinstalling after your disk fails, use disk imaging routinely as we frequently recommend. E.g. Macrium Reflect (free).

Thanks for the tip. I considered making a mirror image of my boot disk, but all of them make the new disk the active disk, which I didn't consider an optimal solution.

A quick glance at Macrium says that it makes a compressed archive of the disk. How long does it take to backup your boot drive? Is there an incremental option or do you have to back up the whole disk every time?

I looked at Macrium Reflect and the only free option is a 30-day trial.

Whoops- edit--> I googled Macrium Reflect Free and found the page, and the comparison of versions answered my questions. I will give it a try. (I would have easily paid $69 to not have to reinstall everything).

SteveMann said:

A quick glance at Macrium says that it makes a compressed archive of the disk. How long does it take to backup your boot drive? Is there an incremental option or do you have to back up the whole disk every time?

I looked at Macrium Reflect and the only free option is a 30-day trial.

No, there's Macrium R free too, which includes differential, not incremental.
There are 2 options when starting a new image- the normal compressed copy of the used part of the disk and a forensic sector by sector copy. It maintains a set of base image + differentials for you.
Backup Windows selects ALL Windows partitions for you.
Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

Here's my write-up on the value of disk imaging. (Comment on times towards end)

Everyone who contributes regularly here uses and recommends disk imaging.

If you use it, you can recover from:
- a failed disk drive (restore to a new one)
- ransomware (which encrypts your disk)
- user error
- unrecoverable problems from failed updates to problem programs
- unbootable PC (hardware faults aside)

Images also act as a full backup- you can extract files too.

You can even use images to help you move more easily and quickly to a new PC.
Can be used with Laplink software to transfer your build automatically to another PC

Imaging can even help you sleep at night knowing you have a second chance.

Creating disk images lets you restore Windows and all your imaged disks and partitions to a previous working state from compressed copies you have created and kept updated on external storage media, quickly and probably without technical help.

Many here recommend Macrium Reflect (free) as a good robust solution and more reliable than some others. It’s
- more feature rich
- more flexible
- more reliable
than Windows Backup and Restore system images.

It's well supported with videos, help and a responsive forum.

There are other such programs, free/commercial, some with simpler interfaces, but Macrium R is one of the most robust and reliable.

How long does it take?
SSD+ USB3 - maybe 15 mins for the first system image, less thereafter
HDD + USB2 - maybe 40-50 mins
That’s with little personal data, few programs installed.
- of course, depends how much you have on C:
(You can and should image all your partitions and disks)

Once you've created your first image, keep it updated with e.g. differential imaging- which images just changes from the first image, more quickly, and creates a smaller image file.

You need a backup medium - say- twice as large as the total amount of data you are imaging to keep a reasonable number of differential images. This will vary dependent on the number of images you keep, so is only a rough practical guide.

Some comment that system restore isn't always reliable; if it works and solves the problem, great. But sometimes restores won't work or fail. And of course a restore point only covers a limited number of aspects of the system. That’s where disk imaging comes in.

(There's a tutorial on Macrium in the Tutorials section, and a couple of videos in the user videos section on this forum)
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect Backup Restore Tutorials
https://www.tenforums.com/general-su...tml#post355809

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Macrium automatically selects all the partitions comprising Windows if you select that option.

You can of course back up any combination of disks and partitions.