Create System Image in Windows 10  

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    Create System Image in Windows 10

    Create System Image in Windows 10

    How to Create a System Image in Windows 10
    Published by Category: Backup & Restore
    04 Jan 2022
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Create a System Image in Windows 10


    System Image Backup (SIB) Solution has been deprecated
    Microsoft recommends that users use full-disk backup solutions from other vendors.


    information   Information
    A system image is an exact copy of all system disks which can be used to restore your PC to the state it was in at the time the image was made. By default, a system image only includes the drives that Windows requires to run, including Windows 10 itself, your system settings, programs, and files. You may also include any other drive in the image if you wish. When you restore your computer from a system image it is a complete restoration, you cannot choose individual items to restore and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced with the contents of the system image.

    This tutorial will show you how to create a system image backup in Windows 10 to be able to use to restore the contents of your computer back to the state it was in when the system image was created if your hard drive fails or your computer ever encounters problems.

    You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to create a system image.

    Note   Note
    System Images are saved in this format:

    drive letter:\WindowsImageBackup\computer name\Backup YYYY-MM-DD HHMMSS

    EXAMPLE: If your computer name is Boozad-PC, your backup location is on hard drive (network or local) D: and you backed up on August 29th 2015 at 1:53:41 PM (it will use 24 hour time), then your system image would be located in the folder below.

    D:\WindowsImageBackup\BOOZAD-PC\Backup 2015-08-29 135341

    warning   Warning

    • If you're saving your system images in a network location, you can only keep the most current system image for each computer. If you have an existing system image for a computer and are creating a new one for the same computer, the new system image will overwrite the existing one.
    • You can only include drives formatted with the NTFS file system in a system image.
    • You will only be able to save a system image on a drive formatted with the NTFS file system.
    • You will not be able to include a partition or drive that you are saving the system image to in a system image.
    • You will not be able to save a system image to any partition or drive that is included in the system image.
    • You cannot restore a 64-bit system image on a 32-bit system.
    • A system image that was created on a computer using UEFI cannot be restored on a computer using legacy BIOS. It can only be restored on a computer using UEFI.
    • When restoring a system image from a dynamic volume, the drives (disk) on your computer cannot be formatted to match the layout of the drives included in the system image. To have full functionality, select a volume (drive letter) on a basic disk as your save system image to location instead.
    • It is recommend to create a system image on a separate HDD instead of just another partition not included on the same HDD that is included in the system image for the best reliability. CDs or DVDs are just not as reliable.





    SYSTEM IMAGE

     Create in Windows 10



    1: Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) icon.

    2: Click/tap on the Create a System Image link on the left side.

    Create System Image in Windows 10-create_system_image.png

    3: Windows will quickly search for available backup devices.

    Create System Image in Windows 10-looking-backup-drives-copy.jpg

    4: Select the location you want to save your system image to.
    Note   Note
    You are able to save a system image to either one or more CDs/DVDs (not recommended), an external hard drive (best backup protection), any separate internal hard drive, or to a network location.

    If you wish to save the system image to one or more CDs/DVDs, then read the article linked below below first:

    Creating a system image on Windows 8 may fail if the CD/DVD is not formatted

    Create System Image in Windows 10-create-system-image-1.jpg
    information   Information
    If you select the same physical drive to store your image on as you are actually imaging, Windows will warn you beneath your selection. (see screenshot above)

    5: At this point you can select any available drives you would like to be included in the backup. Click/tap on Start backup to begin the imaging process.

    Create System Image in Windows 10-create-system-image-2.jpg

    6: The imaging process will now begin.

    Create System Image in Windows 10-create-system-image-3.jpg

    7: When the process has completed you can click Close. You can now close File History if you wish.

    Create System Image in Windows 10-system-image-completed.jpg


    That's it,
    Gav.


    Related Tutorials



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  2. bagavan
    Posts : 148
       New #1

    I had already created an image and was restoring It back. When the restore process was almost over I got a error message saying that "The parameter was incorrect". So I had to clean install 10 and the image was useless. What was the error?
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  4. Boozad
    Posts : 1,625
    W7 Pro x64 | W10 IP x64 | Linux Mint VM
    Thread Starter
       New #2

    I'm not sure to be honest, I'll have to try to recreate the issue in a VM.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  5. bagavan
    Posts : 148
       New #3

    Boozad said:
    I'm not sure to be honest, I'll have to try to recreate the issue in a VM.
    This never occurred in 8/8.1 .
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  6. Boozad
    Posts : 1,625
    W7 Pro x64 | W10 IP x64 | Linux Mint VM
    Thread Starter
       New #4

    I never used 8/8.1 much really, nowhere near enough to have needed using a backup image. Like I say I'll set up W10 in a VM over the weekend and try to replicate the issue, if I can I'll see if I can find out what the issue is.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  7. Boozad
    Posts : 1,625
    W7 Pro x64 | W10 IP x64 | Linux Mint VM
    Thread Starter
       New #5

    Did you image your whole system or just the drive with the OS on?
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  8. bagavan
    Posts : 148
       New #6

    Boozad said:
    Did you image your whole system or just the drive with the OS on?
    I imaged the System reserve and C drive that is OS drive only

    Keep me updated on the experiment.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  9. Boozad
    Posts : 1,625
    W7 Pro x64 | W10 IP x64 | Linux Mint VM
    Thread Starter
       New #7

    I will do, no problem. I only asked which drives you imaged as I know the drives have to be exactly as they were for the image to restore, for example if you image C: D: and G: then remove drive G: the image won't restore. A moot point though it seems but at least it's one possibility ruled out.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  10. Boozad
    Posts : 1,625
    W7 Pro x64 | W10 IP x64 | Linux Mint VM
    Thread Starter
       New #8

    Another option would be to boot from W10 install media. I can point you to a tutorial to create one if you don't already have one.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  12. bagavan
    Posts : 148
       New #9

    Boozad said:
    Another option would be to boot from W10 install media. I can point you to a tutorial to create one if you don't already have one.
    I already have.

    The restoration failed in the last step.

    I literally had a system that could not boot. SO I had to clean install 10
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

 

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