Re-image system disk fails error 0x80042412

4262mikeb · 07 May 2014

A new variation on the theme ...
I just bought an hp laptop with a 750Gb hdd for a co-worker. I also bought an SSD. The hdd was partitioned with (in order) system, c:\ , hp_tools, hp_recovery partitions.
I shrunk the c: partition so it would fit on the ssd and then made an image on a usb drive.
Then swap out the hdd for the ssd , boot from recovery CD but I get the "Re-Image your computer. The system image restore failed. No disk that can be used for recovering the system disk can be found." message.
I futz around for 4 hours or so with diskpart permutations before finally figuring out that I need to delete the 2 hp hdd partitions as they're on the hdd in a space that doesn't exist on the SSD and presumably the partition table gets restored too. After deleting the hp partitions the restore worked first time. Hope this helps someone.

added this info later..
a few hours later I discover I need the hp_tools partition to get fingerprint logon to work.. so I shrink the c:\ partition on the ssd by 2gb create a new fat32 partition in the created space and call it HP_TOOLS and copy the files I backed up from the HP_TOOLS partition on the old HDD before I deleted that partition.

pcs1 · 23 Sep 2014

Although my problem was on Windows Server 2008R2, it was exactly the same problem as others here were having with Windows 7.
Having tried everything suggested here with no success I eventually re-installed the operating system onto the new drive, my theory being that this would prepare the geometry of the drive to correctly receive the backup.
I then re ran the installation CD, selected the Repair and restore options and restored over the top of the new installation. The restoration then proceeded correctly and everything was ok again

gulp · 22 Nov 2014

Dale Mahalko said:

(Yes, this is a very old thread. But it is the top Google hit for error 0x80042412.)

I found a solution to this system recovery problem. Basically there's something about the target restore drive that is making Windows 7 reject it as a restore candidate. (In my case I'm trying to upgrade from a 256 gig SSD to a 512 meg SSD using system restore.)

The solution is to go to the command prompt and do some preformatting of the target drive/SSD using diskpart.

If you're unfamiliar with diskpart, it is best to unplug / eject your backup drive containing the recovery image, so you don't accidentally destroy it doing the following.

Open the command prompt and type:
diskpart
list disk
(For me my new SSD is disk 0, but could be different for you.)
select disk 0
clean
(clean wipes out all existing drive partitioning.)
create partition primary size=100 align=4096
(aligning improves performance on SSD's and newer hard drives with 4096 byte sectors)
format quick fs=ntfs
active
create partition primary align=4096
format quick fs=ntfs
exit

At this point the target restore drive has been formatted and looks like a generic Windows boot drive, with a 100 meg reserved boot partition, and a second OS/data partition using all remaining space.

Now you can reconnect your restore image drive, and re-imaging onto the new drive works (for me anyway) without a problem.

Highly hopefully heartened, I tried this to the letter with my WD USB HDD but got the dreaded Re-image system disk fails error 0x80042412 again. Now I do not see the drive in This PC. I have dis- & re-connected it and done re-starts. The PC does know about it in some ways as I see it listed via list disk.exe and the image restore process found it.

How can I get it back into This PC please? I'm using W8.1

peku · 13 Dec 2014

Many thanks to Dale!!

Great!
BUT for me, this need to add one little thing:
(I don't know how to do it in cmd mode, but I used "MiniTool-Partition-Wizard-Home-Edition" to do that)

Volume label should be exact the same between backup disk and active part of target disk
For me, it means that I need to Label my target disk active part as: SYSTEM

I backup my windows 7 starter (HP Mini 110-3110) 160GB WD HDD and restore it to Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB SSD Drive. I also need to shrink my windows partition and move partitions so that "empty" partition 40GB was in the end of the WD disk before I made backup. I did that also with MiniTool-Partition-Wizard-Home-Edition. For Backup and Restore I used windows 7 own maintenance tools. Works fine but, boot time degreased only about 5 seconds, from 50s -> 45s

gulp · 22 Dec 2014

I am now considering Macrium and came across this but cannot find any comments on the method.

https://sites.google.com/site/macriumresize/

Being unsure of myself in this partition/resizing area has anyone other than the author tried it? Also, as it uses tools from within Windows, I am surprised that MS don't appear to suggest it (as far as I can see).

ignatzatsonic · 22 Dec 2014

Here's the first sentence from your link:

"A major limitation of Macrium Reflect is that it cannot restore images to a drive that is smaller than the original one."

That's false as far as I know.

I stopped right there when I saw that and didn't read any more.

What is important is the occupied space on the partitions that you image.

That's a number in gigabytes.

An example:

You have a 500 GB drive containing only a C partition of 500 GB.

100 GB of that 500 is occupied. 400 is unoccupied.

Suppose you make an image of that C drive.

You CAN restore that image to a drive of less than 500 GB.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

Vasileiadis · 29 Oct 2015

Dale Mahalko said:

(Yes, this is a very old thread. But it is the top Google hit for error 0x80042412.)

I found a solution to this system recovery problem. Basically there's something about the target restore drive that is making Windows 7 reject it as a restore candidate. (In my case I'm trying to upgrade from a 256 gig SSD to a 512 meg SSD using system restore.)

The solution is to go to the command prompt and do some preformatting of the target drive/SSD using diskpart.

If you're unfamiliar with diskpart, it is best to unplug / eject your backup drive containing the recovery image, so you don't accidentally destroy it doing the following.

Open the command prompt and type:
diskpart
list disk
(For me my new SSD is disk 0, but could be different for you.)
select disk 0
clean
(clean wipes out all existing drive partitioning.)
create partition primary size=100 align=4096
(aligning improves performance on SSD's and newer hard drives with 4096 byte sectors)
format quick fs=ntfs
active
create partition primary align=4096
format quick fs=ntfs
exit

At this point the target restore drive has been formatted and looks like a generic Windows boot drive, with a 100 meg reserved boot partition, and a second OS/data partition using all remaining space.

Now you can reconnect your restore image drive, and re-imaging onto the new drive works (for me anyway) without a problem.

Simpler solution (this one didn't work for me):

Select disk 0
Select partition 1
Delete partition
Select partition 2
Delete partition
Etc

Create partition primary
Active

Select disk 0
Format fs = ntfs quick
Select disk 0
Assign letter=c (this letter should match the one on your primary partition of your source drive)

Detail disk to verify letter, ntfs and the fact it only has one volume

Then proceed

tpriest · 14 Jan 2016

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I cannot get past this error message.

I'm trying to take the image of my system partition to an SSD. It seems that no matter what I try the restore fails with the message "Re-Image your computer. The system image restore failed. No disk that can be used for recovering the system disk can be found.".

Now for the details.

It's a desktop PC running Windows 7 Pro. The "old" system drive is on a 200GB partition (Belarc gives it as 215.26GB), the remainder of that 1TB drive was my data partition but as errors are starting to occur on that partition I'm going to junk the drive; the data has already been moved to a new spinning drive.

I've bought a 512GB Samsung 850 PRO SSD to be my new system drive.

Using the built-in Windows 7 facilities I've created an image of the C: to an external USB 3 connected drive, also a Windows 7 Repair disk.

I connected the SSD inside the PC, booted Windows and ran DISKPART as recommended to create a single partition. Closed down Windows and then connected the SSD inside the PC using the same SATA cable as the original HDD and disconnected the original system HDD as well as the other (new) HDD.

Booted from the Repair CD and installed the USB 3 drivers. The restore feature then saw the new system image. Exclude Disks lists the SSD, as well as a USB stick containing the USB 3 drivers. I then initiate the restore. After 2 or 3 seconds it fails with the error message above.

What am I doing wrong?

I've tried various DISKPART options, creating a 100MB partition then using the rest of the SSD for the main partition; creating a 200GB partition. All to no avail.

Help please.

I had a thought and wondered if the Windows 7 install disk would be happy. I was, I aborted the install after a few minutes. It may be that I'll bite the bullet the do a full clean install.

tpriest · 15 Jan 2016

Maybe bad form to reply to my own post, if so my apologies.

I decided to go for a clean install on the SSD. It's all now up and running, just a few more programs to install.

JohnnyTabasco · 05 Apr 2016

Thank you Dale! After following your instructions I am now seeing "Restoring disk (C)...", which is a wonderful sight.