Talk:Windows System Image Backup
Restore a System Image Backup in Windows 7, 8 and 10
First, connect your external hard drive where your Windows backups are, and insert System Repair Disc, Windows DVD or Recovery Drive. The turn on your device. If your computer does not start from the CD/DVD or USB, read the Computer boot order article to make necessary changes.
Those who use network drives (NAS, for example) for backups, must use wired connections for restoring system image. Wireless networking is not supported.
After your computer starts from the USB drive or CD/DVD, a black screen with text Press any key to boot from CD or DVD appears. Press Enter or Space key on your keyboard within 5 seconds, otherwise your broken Windows will start again. Windows 7, Restoring from System Image. Insert your Windows 7 System Repair disc and restart your computer. Press Enter or Space key while the message 'Press any key to boot from CD or DVD' is displayed.
Windows will then load necessary files from the disc or drive. This will take some time. Windows 7, Restoring from System Image. After booting from Windows 7 System Repair disc, Windows will load some files. This takes time.
For Windows 7 System Repair disc users, System Recovery Options window opens. Select your preferred keyboard layout from Select a keyboard input method box. Then click Next. Windows 7, Restoring from System Image, System Recovery Options. Select your preferred keyboard layout from 'Select a keyboard input method' box. Then click Next.
In case you booted from Windows 8 or 10 Recovery Drive or System Repair Disc, Choose your keyboard layout screen appears. Click your keyboard layout, or if one is not visible, click the See more keyboard layouts link until you see the correct layout. Windows 8, Recovery Drive or System Repair Disc, Choose your keyboard layout. Click your keyboard layout or use the 'See more keyboard layouts' link to find one.
For Windows DVD users, Install Windows dialog appears. Select your preferred settings from Time and currency format and Keyboard or input method boxes. I suggest you leave Language to "English" here to better understand this article. Click Next to continue. Windows 7 boot from DVD. Select your preferences from 'Time and currency format' and 'Keyboard or input method' boxes. Then click Next.
Now you will see a big tempting Install now button. Do not click it! Laughing Click Repair your computer in the lower left corner instead. Windows 7 boot from DVD. Click 'Repair your computer' to launch a System Image restore.
With Windows 7, installation(s) will then be located on all hard drives. This might take a minute or so. Windows 7, Restoring from System Image, System Recovery Options. After selecting a keyboard layout, Windows 7 installations will be searched on all hard disks. This might take a minute or two.
As you need to restore a System Image, click Restore your computer using a system image that you created earlier. Then click Next. Make sure your external hard drive with backups is connected first! Windows 7, Restoring from System Image, System Recovery Options. After finding all Windows 7 installations, click 'Restore your computer using a system image that you created earlier'.
In Windows 8 and 10, Choose an option screen appears instead. Click or tap Troubleshoot. If your device's system drive is encrypted with BitLocker, you need to type in the recovery key first. BitLocker recovery keys are stored in your OneDrive/SkyDrive account, or you might have backed them up onto a USB stick (insert the stick then). Windows 8, Boot from DVD, Choose an option. Click Troubleshoot.
Click or tap Advanced options in Troubleshoot screen. Windows 8, Advanced startup, Troubleshoot. Click 'Advanced options'.
In Advanced options screen, click or tap System Image Recovery. Windows 8, Advanced startup, Troubleshoot, Advanced options. Click 'System Image Recovery'.
If your computer has multiple user accounts, you need to choose the one with administrator rights and type password for the account.
Click or tap to select the correct operating system to re-image. In this example, choose Windows 8 in the System Image Recovery screen. Windows 8, Advanced startup, Troubleshoot, Advanced options, System Image Recovery. Click your operating system entry.
Re-image your computer window opens in Windows 7, 8 and 10, and the following process is exactly the same even in Windows 8.1. If you want to restore the latest available system image (the date and time of the image are displayed in Date and time: field below), accept the default selection and click Next. Windows 7, Restoring from System Image, Re-image your computer. To use the latest available system image for restoring, click Next.
If you want to select an older system image instead, click Select a system image and then click Next. In the following window click the external hard drive you use for backups and click Next. If the drive is not displayed, disconnect and reconnect it and then click Refresh button. Windows 7, Restoring from System Image, Re-image your computer, Select the location of the backup for the computer you want to restore. Click your external hard drive in the list and then click Next.
Now select the older system image you want to restore from the list. Please note that the backup time might be different, because all times are displayed for GMT-8:00 time zone. Click Next. Windows 7, Restoring from System Image, Re-image your computer, Select the the date and time of system image to restore. Select the system image you want to restore by clicking on it. Then click Next.
Normally, you do not need to select the Format and repartition disks option from Choose additional restore options section. Just click Next. You might need this one only if you had a total hard drive failure and you are restoring Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or 10 to a new hard disk, or you formatted the present one. The term "new hard disk" also includes a used hard disk bought from auctions or friends. Just make sure the new disk's capacity in gigabytes is at least as big as the previous one! Windows 7, Restoring from System Image, Re-image your computer, Choose additional restore options. Normally, just click Next. Select 'Format and repartition disks' option only if your old hard drive failed, you bought a new one and you are restoring Windows onto it.
A summary screen will be displayed. Click Finish to start the re-imaging process. Windows 7, Restoring from System Image, Re-image your computer, summary screen. Click 'Finish' to start re-imaging.
And here is the final warning that you will lose any data currently present on the hard drive selected for re-imaging. Click Yes. Windows 7, Restoring from System Image, Re-image your computer, All data on the drives to be restored will be replaced with the data in the system image. Click Yes.
Restoring a system image takes a long time - an hour to several hours, depending on the size of data on your hard disk(s). You can safely do something healthy meanwhile... Wink Windows 7, Restoring from System Image, Re-image your computer in progress. Windows is restoring your computer from the system image. This might take from a few minutes to a few hours. Stand by.
After the system image has been restored, Windows offers to restart your computer. It will not wait for your answer forever, just 30 seconds. If you happen to be somewhere near your mouse, click Restart now. Windows 7, Restoring from System Image, Re-image your computer complete. Windows will offer to restart your computer for 30 seconds. If you have not clicked anything during that time, your computer will restart automatically. But you can also click the 'Restart now' button.
Windows should now start and work correctly. If needed, you can now restore individual files and folders from a later backup than your selected system image.
After a system image restore, Action Center icon in Windows 7 Taskbar Notification area will show a message "Solve PC issues: 1 message". Windows 7, Restoring from System Image. After restoring a system image, Action Center icon in Taskbar Notification area will display 'Solve PC issues: 1 message'.
Click Action Center icon and then click Check backup settings. Windows 7, Restoring from System Image. To remove Action Center message after restoring from system image, click its icon in Taskbar Notification area. Then click 'Check backup settings'.
Windows 7 reminds you that your backup settings might be out of date because your computer was restored to an earlier point in time. Click Keep current settings to disable the Action Center message. But please double-check that an automatic daily backup has been set up after this! Windows 7, Restoring from System Image. After restoring from a system image, Windows 7 reminds you to double-check your backup settings. Click 'Keep current settings' to disable the Action Center notification. Still, please double-check your backup settings after this!
In Windows 8, you can double-check your settings by opening Settings search with keyboard shortcut Windows Key+W, typing "windows 7" and clicking Windows 7 File Recovery. Windows 8, Start screen, Settings search. Type 'windows 7' and click 'Windows 7 File Recovery' to set up backups.
In Windows 10, open Start menu or Cortana keyboard search (Windows Key+S), type "backup" and choose Backup and Restore (Windows 7). Windows 10, Start menu, search results for 'backup'. Click 'Backup and Restore (Windows 7)' to restore files and folders.
RUN COMMON CONTROL PANEL APPLETS USING WIN + R
COMMAND CONTROL PANEL APP Control admintools Administrative Tools Control desktop Desktop personalization Control folders Folder options Control netconnections Network connections Control printers Devices and Printers Control userpasswords User Accounts Control appwiz.cpl Programs and Features Control desk.cpl Screen resolution Control hdwwiz.cpl Device Manager Control powercfg.cpl Power options Control sysdm.cpl System Properties Control wuaucpl.cpl Windows Update Control /name Microsoft.BackupandRestore System image backup/restore; Repair disc Control /name Microsoft.CredentialManager Web apps, Windows logon credentials Control /name Microsoft.DefaultPrograms Default Programs Control /name Microsoft.FileHistory File/settings backup & restore Control /name Microsoft.Recovery System Restore/Recovery Drive Control /name Microsoft.StorageSpaces Manage storage spaces
USB stick as a network drive Workaround
Description #1 -
- create a directory on your USB drive
- right-click the directory and choose "Share with", "Specific people"
- choose yourself from the list of users and click Share and Done
- in the "Create System Image" menu choose "On a network location"
- now enter the URL for your share (\\your-computer\sharename)
- enter your username and password and click OK
Description #2 -
- Format your USB stick as NTFS
- Share your USB stick as a network drive
- Insure the advanced share allow permissions are set to full control
- Start Windows Backup and select System Image
- Select network drive as your backup location
- Browse to your own computer and select the USB share
- Enter your computer's logon credentials, if your password is blank use 1 space
