- Jan 13, 2018
- 57
- 0
- 11
Hello. I'd like to share my experience of the System Image Backup and Recovery and the issue of "Windows cannot find a system image on this computer."
This issue has been there for years, frustrating people and causing them to lose their valuable time and resources. Failure in such a basic task of backup and restore is one of the major flaws of Microsoft, which add to proof that it is not trustworthy.
As I didn't wish to reinstall the OS, I struggled with it for days; but it was an opportunity for me to explore geeky stuff.
A summary of what happened:
• In Windows 8.1 Pro, from Control Panel -> File History, using "System Image Backup", I created a system image on an external HDD.
• In Recovery Environment, verified that "System Image Recovery" can detect the image.
• rearranged the partitions of my PC's HDD.
• returned to "System Image Recovery", but it couldn't detect the image, and insisted that "Windows cannot find a system image on this computer", even though the image files show in its explorer, and have never been moved or modified.
• Since the OS partition was formatted, I had to reinstall it, in order to work from it.
• copied the WindowsImageBackup folder to the PC's HDD, to eliminate the USB factor; but the tool still failed to detect it.
• created a new partition for restoring my system image.
• started "System Image Backup", and created a new system image, (so that I replace its files with the files of my desired one, hoping to cheat the recovery tool into restoring the 1st image as if it were the new one.)
• went to the folder WindowsImageBackup\[ComputerName], and found 2 folders: one had the desired image, and the other had the image of the new installation.
• renamed the 1st folder with the name of the new one (after changing it), renamed the 13 files of the 1st folder with the names of the ones in the new one, and edited the GlobalCatalog file. I deleted the new folder; so now I have only the files of the 1st image, renamed with the names of the 2nd one.
• This time, "System Image Recovery" detected an image with the date of the new one. The restore process was done.
• 2 OS installations became available to boot into; but oddly, both were fresh ones; which is baffling to me, as I made sure only the files of the old image existed.
• went to the VHDX file in the image backup folder, and mounted it as a drive.
• found the content of my old OS partition, and copied it to the new partition.
• The copying was interrupted, "File Access Denied" due to permissions in some system files; so I modified the permissions. The resulting OS had my settings and was functioning; so I used it.
• That permission thing made me wary of the process quality. I also wanted the OS partition to be in the beginning of the disk. So I turned to Macrium Reflect for help, took an image of the mounted VHDX drive, and restored it to where I want it. I tried to boot this one many times, applying all the fix commands I found; but never reached the log-in screen.
• used Clonezilla to directly copy the partition of the working installation. This copy failed to boot too.
• found this method: "... Boot to VHD", booted to the VHDX drive, and tried the "System Image Backup" from there; but found out it doesn't work in VMs.
• In the running VM, I tried Macrium Reflect again, took an image of the "C: drive", which is the VM, and restored it to the desired location.
Apparently, this last copy is normal so far. All my settings and programs are well, a new OS update was installed successfully, and everything has been functioning as usual AFAIK, except one:
In Control Panel -> Recovery, creating a recovery drive failed, stating that required files were missing. So I went to "Windows\System32\Recovery", and compared it to "Recovery" in the system (boot) partition. 2 of 3 files were absent. (I wonder why.) Copying them there enabled creating a recovery drive. Problem solved.
"If it works don't fix it." I'll keep using this copy, as I don't see a reason to reinstall the OS and programs, redo all my settings and get all the updates, etc.
Well, I'm done with the geeky exploration for now. If I ever have to do it again, it will definitely be in Linux.
This issue has been there for years, frustrating people and causing them to lose their valuable time and resources. Failure in such a basic task of backup and restore is one of the major flaws of Microsoft, which add to proof that it is not trustworthy.
As I didn't wish to reinstall the OS, I struggled with it for days; but it was an opportunity for me to explore geeky stuff.
A summary of what happened:
• In Windows 8.1 Pro, from Control Panel -> File History, using "System Image Backup", I created a system image on an external HDD.
• In Recovery Environment, verified that "System Image Recovery" can detect the image.
• rearranged the partitions of my PC's HDD.
• returned to "System Image Recovery", but it couldn't detect the image, and insisted that "Windows cannot find a system image on this computer", even though the image files show in its explorer, and have never been moved or modified.
• Since the OS partition was formatted, I had to reinstall it, in order to work from it.
• copied the WindowsImageBackup folder to the PC's HDD, to eliminate the USB factor; but the tool still failed to detect it.
• created a new partition for restoring my system image.
• started "System Image Backup", and created a new system image, (so that I replace its files with the files of my desired one, hoping to cheat the recovery tool into restoring the 1st image as if it were the new one.)
• went to the folder WindowsImageBackup\[ComputerName], and found 2 folders: one had the desired image, and the other had the image of the new installation.
• renamed the 1st folder with the name of the new one (after changing it), renamed the 13 files of the 1st folder with the names of the ones in the new one, and edited the GlobalCatalog file. I deleted the new folder; so now I have only the files of the 1st image, renamed with the names of the 2nd one.
• This time, "System Image Recovery" detected an image with the date of the new one. The restore process was done.
• 2 OS installations became available to boot into; but oddly, both were fresh ones; which is baffling to me, as I made sure only the files of the old image existed.
• went to the VHDX file in the image backup folder, and mounted it as a drive.
• found the content of my old OS partition, and copied it to the new partition.
• The copying was interrupted, "File Access Denied" due to permissions in some system files; so I modified the permissions. The resulting OS had my settings and was functioning; so I used it.
• That permission thing made me wary of the process quality. I also wanted the OS partition to be in the beginning of the disk. So I turned to Macrium Reflect for help, took an image of the mounted VHDX drive, and restored it to where I want it. I tried to boot this one many times, applying all the fix commands I found; but never reached the log-in screen.
• used Clonezilla to directly copy the partition of the working installation. This copy failed to boot too.
• found this method: "... Boot to VHD", booted to the VHDX drive, and tried the "System Image Backup" from there; but found out it doesn't work in VMs.
• In the running VM, I tried Macrium Reflect again, took an image of the "C: drive", which is the VM, and restored it to the desired location.
Apparently, this last copy is normal so far. All my settings and programs are well, a new OS update was installed successfully, and everything has been functioning as usual AFAIK, except one:
In Control Panel -> Recovery, creating a recovery drive failed, stating that required files were missing. So I went to "Windows\System32\Recovery", and compared it to "Recovery" in the system (boot) partition. 2 of 3 files were absent. (I wonder why.) Copying them there enabled creating a recovery drive. Problem solved.
"If it works don't fix it." I'll keep using this copy, as I don't see a reason to reinstall the OS and programs, redo all my settings and get all the updates, etc.
Well, I'm done with the geeky exploration for now. If I ever have to do it again, it will definitely be in Linux.
Facebook
Twitter