System Image Recovery

How to Do a System Image Recovery in Windows 7​

   Information

This will show you how to restore your Windows 7 hard disk back to exactly how it was when you created a system image backup.

   Warning

• You can only do a system image recovery to a HDD that is the same size or larger than the one the system image was created from. You will not be able to do a system image recovery to a smaller HDD.
• When you restore your computer from a image backup, it is a complete restoration. You can't choose individual items to restore, and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced.
• If your backup image is on a external device (ex: USB drive), then make sure it is connected before starting. If USB drive, then also make sure that you have your BIOS settings (ex: Legacy USB) set to allow USB devices at boot.
• A system image recovery will format everything on each hard drive that was included in a system image, and will only restore what is included (see steps 7-9 in STEP TWO below) in the system image back. Be sure to backup anything that you do not want to lose that is not included in the system image backup first.

STEP ONE

Only if You Renamed the "WindowsImageBackup" Folder

   Note

To be able to have multiple versions of system images saved on the same drive or partition, you would need to rename the older WindowsImageBackup folder from the previously created system image as described in the NOTE box at the top of this tutorial.

If you renamed the WindowsImageBackup folder for the system image version that you wanted to restore, then you will need to do the steps below before you will be able to restore that system image.

1. If you are "Able to Boot" into Windows 7 A) In Windows Explorer, navigate to the renamed (drive letter)\WindowsImageBackup folder location of the system image that you want to restore.

B) If you already have a folder named WindowsImageBackup that is not the system image version that you want to restore, then you will need to right click on it, click on Rename, and type in say WindowsImageBackup-Copy-2 as an example.

C) Now, right click on the renamed system image version (ex: WindowsImageBackup-Copy-1) that you did want to restore, click on Rename, type in WindowsImageBackup an press enter.

D) Go to the STEP TWO section below to do the System Image Recovery.
2. If you are "Not Able to Boot" into Windows 7 A) If you have the system image backup save to an external device, be sure that it is connected now.

B) Open a command prompt at boot.

C) In the command prompt, type diskpart and press enter. (see screenshot below)

D) In the command prompt, type list volume and press enter. (see screenshot below)

E) Make note of the drive letter (ex: E: ) that you have the system image backup saved to.

F) In the command prompt, type exit and press enter. (see screenshot below)

G) In the command prompt, type the E: and press enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Subsititute E: for your actual drive letter at step 2E instead.

H) If you already have a folder named "WindowsImageBackup"

NOTE: This is if you already have a folder named WindowsImageBackup that is not the system image version that you want to restore. If so, you would need to rename it to say WindowsImageBackup-Copy-2 as an example.

• In the command prompt, type the command below and press enter. (see screenshot below)
  NOTE: Substitute WindowsImageBackup-Copy-2 in the command below with any name in quotes that you would like to rename it to instead.

[B]ren WindowsImageBackup "[COLOR=red]WindowsImageBackup-Copy-2[/COLOR]"[/B]

I) In the command prompt, type the command below and press enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Substitute WindowsImageBackup-Copy-1 in the command below with the actual name of your renamed system image folder in quotes that you want to use to restore instead.

[B]ren "[COLOR=red]WindowsImageBackup-Copy-1[/COLOR]" WindowsImageBackup[/B]

J) Close the command prompt window. (see screenshot below)

K) Continue on to step 3B in the STEP TWO section below to do the System Image Recovery.

STEP TWO

To Do the System Image Recovery

1. If you have the system image backup save to an external device, be sure that it is connected and turned on (powered up) now.
A) Start with either step 2 or step 3 below first.
2. From "Backup and Restore" in the Control Panel while in Windows 7 A) Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click on Backup and Restore.

B) Click on the Recover system settings on your computer link. (see screenshot below)
C) Click on the Advanced recovery methods link. (see screenshot below)
D) Select the Use a system image you created earlier to recover your computer option. (see screenshot below)
E) Select to either create a Back up now, or to Skip it and continue the system image recovery without backing up any of your current files.
NOTE: If you select Back up now, it will take you to step 6 in this tutorial link to create a User and System File back up of your current files first before continuing to step 1F. (see screenshot below)
F) Click on Restart. (see screenshot below)



G) Select a languange to be used for your keyboard input and click on Next. (see screenshot below)
H) Go to step 4.
3. From the System Recovery Options Screen at Boot A) Boot to the System Recovery Options screen from your Windows 7 installation DVD/USB, or System Repair Disc.

B) Select the System Image Recovery option. (see screenshot below)
4. If you saved the system image backup to a set of DVDs, then insert the last DVD from the set when prompted. If not, go to step 5 for a system image backup on a hard drive. A) Go to step 7 below.
5. To Use the Latest System Image A) Select (dot) Use the latest available system image and click on Next. (see screenshot below)
B) Go to step 7.
6. To Select a System Image A) Select (dot) Select a system image, and click on Next. (see screenshot above)
NOTE: This is if the system image that you want to use is not listed here and is at another location that you wish to choose from instead.

B) Select the location of the backup image for the computer you want to restore from the list, and click on Next. (see screenshot below)

   Note

To add a image from a network location, click on the Advanced button, and on the Search for a system image on the network option.

If the drive cannot be seen to select a system image from, then you may need to use the tutorial below to load your SATA or RAID drivers before it will be seen. You would click on the Advanced button, and on the Install a driver option.

SATA Drivers - Load in Windows 8 System Image Recovery

C) Select the date and time of the system image to restore, and click on Next. (see screenshot below)
7. To Do a Full System Image Recovery
NOTE: This option will format everything on each hard disk drive that was included in the system image, then restore them as they were when the system image was created.

   Note

Format and repartition disks box:
NOTE: Special thanks to MJF for this addition. 1) Grayed out and selected
You are forced to have the whole disk formatted and repartitioned to match the partition structure of the disk the image was made from. This can occur when restoring an image to a new disk or the original disk with a modified partition structure. Data on other partitions on the disk you are restoring to will be lost.

2) Grayed out and unselected
You are not given the option to format and repartition the disk. This will occur if you are restoring Windows from a partition on the same disk.

3) Not grayed out and unselected
Here you have the option to select format the whole disk and repartition or not. In this case the disk the image was taken from has a matching partition structure to the disk you are restoring the image to. By not selecting the format and repartition option your image will be restored and other partitions untouched such as valuable data partitions.

A) Check the Format and repartition disks box (if not grayed out) and uncheck Only restore system drives box (if available), and click on Next. (see screenshots below)


B) Go to step 10.
8. To Only Restore System Drives in System Image Recovery
NOTE: When restoring to the same disk containing data partitions, the Format and repartition disks option may format the data partitions as well. If this is the case and you have the option to leave the Format and repartition disks box unchecked, then initially attempt your image recovery with the Format and repartition disks box unchecked. If recovery is unsuccessful, repeat the process with the format box ticked. A) If available, check the Only restore system drives box, and click on Next. (see screenshot below)
B) Go to step 10.
9. To Exclude Restoring Specific Drives in System Image Recovery
NOTE: Since a system image recovery will format everything on each hard disk drive that was included in a system image, this will allow you to exclude specific disks so that specific disk will not be formated or restored. A) Check the Format and repartition disks box , and click on the Exclude disks button (if not grayed out). (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If the Exclude disks button is grayed out, then the HDD that you are restoring to is empty, or you do not have any disks in the system image that are able to be excluded from being restored.
B) Unselect the drives that you want to exclude from being restored.

C) Click on Next.
10. Click on Finish. (see screenshot below)
11. Click on Yes. (See screenshot below)
12. You will now see this screenshot below.
NOTE: If you have the backup image on DVDs, have them ready. See step 4 above.
13. When it is through, click on Restart Now to finish. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Your computer will restart and the backup image restoration will be done.
14. If you created a backup in step 1E, then you will now see this option to Restore my files after the computer restarts. (see screenshot below)
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Create a System Image Backup in Windows 7
• How to Create a "Create a System Image" Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Restore Backup User and System Files in Windows 7
• How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc
• How to Do a System Restore in Windows 7
• How to Backup and Restore the Windows 7 Registry
• How to Enable or Disable the Ability to Create a System Image in Windows 7
• How to Extract Files from Windows 7 System Image using Virtual PC
• How to Extract Windows 7 System Image Files Using Disk Management
• How to Restore your System with a Broken Windows 7 System Image
• How to Manually Extract Files from a Backup in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Create a System Recovery Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Create a Windows 7 Backup and Restore Shortcut
• How to Restore a Partition Image From a HDD to a SSD
• How to Delete Windows 7 User Data and System Image Backup Files
• How to Load SATA Drivers in Windows System Image Recovery
• New Installation: How to Create a General System Image in Audit Mode

 

[Brink]

It seems that I will have to back up my system and restore to a new laptop, same make, same model. The disks will be the same size - everything will be identical but not exactly the same. Should I expect any problems?

Hello Tomislav,

Other than possibly having to use the new laptop's product key to activate with instead if this was a OEM copy of Windows 7, you shouldn't have any issues since everything is the same as the old laptop.

 

[Teerex]

Oh, I possess an Ultimate Retail, this will be the least of my troubles. I was worrying about hardware IDs of the disks. Also, some two weeks will pass between backup & restore. I'm anxious & apprehensive..

 

[Brink]

At most you may have to activate by phone. Of course, anything on the laptop after the system image was created will not be included though.

 

[mjf]

Windows uses a mutipoint hardware check for internet activation. Around 8 elements.
ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Product_Activation
This sort of information has also been posted on the MS's own answers forum site.

To me, MS try to balance theft against inconvenience to genuine customers who clearly do change hardware elements (inc. serial numbers).
I think you may need a phone call but I'd be surprised if you had other functional problems.

I think transferring between "identical" OEM PCs may be more difficult because of their different activation method.

 

[Teerex]

It seems I didn't state my real worries too clearly.

I'm worried about the Windows recovery process. Will it behave nicely or will it trouble me when it realizes: ''Whoa, whoa, waitaminute, this is not the same computer! This is not where I came from! You tried to fool me, it all looks the same, but I'm smart, Microsoft made me..I can see right through it! I'm gonna give you trouble now....!''

That sort of thing.

 

[Brink]

It seems I didn't state my real worries too clearly.

I'm worried about the Windows recovery process. Will it behave nicely or will it trouble me when it realizes: ''Whoa, whoa, waitaminute, this is not the same computer! This is not where I came from! You tried to fool me, it all looks the same, but I'm smart, Microsoft made me..I can see right through it! I'm gonna give you trouble now....!''

That sort of thing.

Unless the system image backup itself is corrupted, you will not have any problems with the recovery since you are restoring the image to an identical computer that the image was created from. This includes your drivers and such.

At most after the recovery is finished, Windows 7 may recognize that it is a different computer, and may have you activate via online or phone again.

 

[richnrockville]

FWIW: and my $0.02 worth.
For $25 you can buy Acronis Home backup imaging software that will allow you to create and restore images easily. One of the problems with microsofts imaging software is that in order to save multiple images you have to put them on a separate drive or use some convoluted method to rename them. (It always wants to store in in the root of a drive.)

With Acronis, you give it the name and where to place it, you can make an image every day and restore is quite fast. I don't have any financial interest in acronis but I buy mine from the user group store at ugr.com and they support it. Best $25 I have spent in a while.

Rich

 

[SIW2]

It seems many people find a 3rd party app. easier to use and more flexible.

Rich really likes his 3rd party backup app. - seems to talk about it in most of his posts.

You might want to look into it - and several others - there are plenty to choose from .

Some very good free versions, too.

 

[mjf]

It seems I didn't state my real worries too clearly.

I'm worried about the Windows recovery process. Will it behave nicely or will it trouble me when it realizes: ''Whoa, whoa, waitaminute, this is not the same computer! This is not where I came from! You tried to fool me, it all looks the same, but I'm smart, Microsoft made me..I can see right through it! I'm gonna give you trouble now....!''

That sort of thing.

I think we understood your question????
My comments are aligned with Brinks.
ie. The PC should technically/functionally work but the activation process may require a phone reactivation (need for activation will depend on how rigorous the 8 point check is).
Your choice of imaging software is up to you. Spend if you want to.

 

[JWrn]

Cannot restore from a selected system image

This tutorial does not work for me.
If I pick the " Select a System Image” (Step 2 #6) rather than use the recommended latest one, I get an error message stating that the system image is on a hard disk but Windows need to format that disk to restore your computer.

Everything works fine when I select the select the recommended latest system image but not when I select one of the older system images. It doesn't get to #7 and I get the error msg " the system image is on a hard disk but Windows need to format that disk to restore your computer". The only option I get is back or cancel.

The images were created in the Windows 7 Pro Backup & Restore utility and I'm running the image restore from the System Recovery disk.
I have 2 internal hard drives. The system images of the primary drive were stored on the secondary drive. And now I'm trying to restore the primary drive system image.
Any suggestions?

 

[Shadowjk]

This tutorial does not work for me.
If I pick the " Select a System Image” rather than use the recommended latest one, I get an error message stating that the system image is on a hard disk but Windows need to format that disk to restore your computer.
Everything works fine when I select the select the recommended latest system image but not when I select one of the older system images.

The images were created in the Windows 7 Backup & Restore utility and I'm running the image restore from the System Recovery disk.
I have 2 internal hard drives. The system images of the primary drive were stored on the secondary drive. And now I'm trying to restore the primary drive system image.
Any suggestions?

Which method are you following?

Josh

 

[Brink]

This tutorial does not work for me.
If I pick the " Select a System Image” (Step 2 #6) rather than use the recommended latest one, I get an error message stating that the system image is on a hard disk but Windows need to format that disk to restore your computer.

Everything works fine when I select the select the recommended latest system image but not when I select one of the older system images. It doesn't get to #7 and I get the error msg " the system image is on a hard disk but Windows need to format that disk to restore your computer". The only optiosn I get is back or close.

The images were created in the Windows 7 Backup & Restore utility and I'm running the image restore from the System Recovery disk.
I have 2 internal hard drives. The system images of the primary drive were stored on the secondary drive. And now I'm trying to restore the primary drive system image.
Any suggestions?

Hello JWrn, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You are getting that error message since the system image you wanted to use is located on the same drive that would be formatted and restored to. You can only select a system image from a drive that is different that the one that is being restored.

Does it give you any other options?

Did you move this system image there? If so, follow STEP ONE in the tutorial to move it back to it's original location.

 

[JWrn]

This tutorial does not work for me.
If I pick the " Select a System Image” rather than use the recommended latest one, I get an error message stating that the system image is on a hard disk but Windows need to format that disk to restore your computer.
Everything works fine when I select the select the recommended latest system image but not when I select one of the older system images.

The images were created in the Windows 7 Backup & Restore utility and I'm running the image restore from the System Recovery disk.
I have 2 internal hard drives. The system images of the primary drive were stored on the secondary drive. And now I'm trying to restore the primary drive system image.
Any suggestions?

Which method are you following?

Josh

Sorry Josh, I don't know what you mean "method".

 

[JWrn]

This tutorial does not work for me.
If I pick the " Select a System Image” (Step 2 #6) rather than use the recommended latest one, I get an error message stating that the system image is on a hard disk but Windows need to format that disk to restore your computer.

Everything works fine when I select the select the recommended latest system image but not when I select one of the older system images. It doesn't get to #7 and I get the error msg " the system image is on a hard disk but Windows need to format that disk to restore your computer". The only optiosn I get is back or close.

The images were created in the Windows 7 Backup & Restore utility and I'm running the image restore from the System Recovery disk.
I have 2 internal hard drives. The system images of the primary drive were stored on the secondary drive. And now I'm trying to restore the primary drive system image.
Any suggestions?

Hello JWrn, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You are getting that error message since the system image you wanted to use is located on the same drive that it would be formatted and restored to. You can only select a system image from a drive that is different that the one that is being restored.

Does it give you any other options?

Did you move this system image there? If so, follow STEP ONE in the tutorial to move it back to it's original location.

The system images are located on the secondary drive, let's call it D.
And the system image was of the primary drive C, which is what I'm trying to restore.
So, they are on different drives.
There are no other options when I get the error message.
I didn't move the system images, they were stored (on the secondary drive) by the Windows 7 Pro Backup & Restore utility.
So, I thought everything should work.
Cheers, Jack.

 

[JWrn]

This tutorial does not work for me.
If I pick the " Select a System Image” (Step 2 #6) rather than use the recommended latest one, I get an error message stating that the system image is on a hard disk but Windows need to format that disk to restore your computer.

Everything works fine when I select the select the recommended latest system image but not when I select one of the older system images. It doesn't get to #7 and I get the error msg " the system image is on a hard disk but Windows need to format that disk to restore your computer". The only optiosn I get is back or close.

The images were created in the Windows 7 Backup & Restore utility and I'm running the image restore from the System Recovery disk.
I have 2 internal hard drives. The system images of the primary drive were stored on the secondary drive. And now I'm trying to restore the primary drive system image.
Any suggestions?

Hello JWrn, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You are getting that error message since the system image you wanted to use is located on the same drive that it would be formatted and restored to. You can only select a system image from a drive that is different that the one that is being restored.

Does it give you any other options?

Did you move this system image there? If so, follow STEP ONE in the tutorial to move it back to it's original location.

The system images are located on the secondary drive, let's call it D.
And the system image was of the primary drive C, which is what I'm trying to restore.
So, they are on different drives.
There are no other options when I get the error message.
I didn't move the system images, they were stored (on the secondary drive) by the Windows 7 Pro Backup & Restore utility.
So, I thought everything should work.
Cheers, Jack.

Interesting, I did a test to see what would happen: I picked the " Select a System Image” but then I selected the latest image (rather than one of the older ones that I want). I didn't get the error msg and it's working!
So perhaps the older images are somehow different from the most recent one, even though the same backup routines were used.
When the restore is finished I'm going to try renaming the backups to make one of the older images seem like it's the most recent image and see what happens.
Thx.
I tried everything - still get the error msg. I can only conclude the older images had included something that the most recent image did not. Most likely it's the system partition on the backup drive (even though I haven't changed any of the default settings to include it).
If anybody has a work around for this I would really appreciate it.

If that is the case

 

[Brink]

That's good news so far JW. My only guess is that the older image may have been corrupted somehow.

Be sure to remember that renaming the backup folders may render them useless until renamed back to the default name as in the STEP ONE section though.

 

[mjf]

Can you post a screen shot of the exact error message.

You can have any number of images you care for on multiple drives/partitions, moved, renamed.....Windows imaging is totally happy with this.

It doesn't make sense that Windows wants to format the drive the image is on except if the image is from a drive with a different partition structure to the drive you want to image to. Then Windows will want to format the drive the image is being returned to.

Clearly, if you store an image on a partition of the same drive - say drive 0 has partitions C: and D: then you store an image on D: then don't change the partition structure of drive 0.

 

[JWrn]

Can you post a screen shot of the exact error message.

You can have any number of images you care for on multiple drives/partitions, moved, renamed.....Windows imaging is totally happy with this.

It doesn't make sense that Windows wants to format the drive the image is on except if the image is from a drive with a different partition structure to the drive you want to image to. Then Windows will want to format the drive the image is being returned to.

Clearly, if you store an image on a partition of the same drive - say drive 0 has partitions C: and D: then you store an image on D: then don't change the partition structure of drive 0.

I sorry, I can't get a screen shot - the Windows system image restore process reboots the pc and puts it in a mode where you can't do anything other than follow the steps.

The exact error msg is "The System image is on a hard disk, but Windows needs to format that disk to restore your computer. Choose a different image to restore."
The title of the pop-up window is "Re-image your computer" with a sub-title "Choose additional restore options.

I did a test and it works as you say.
I have Disk 0 with 2 partitions: System reserved (D) & Backup (E).
Also have Disk 1 with 2 partitions: Active System reserved & (C).
Before your post I thought perhaps the problem was (D) was included in the older system image creation processes, but I see now that is not the problem.
Thx.

However that still leaves me with 20+ older system images that I cannot restore from, but really, really want to.

A bit of background in case it helps:
Recently we started to have problems with the pc. After it was on/active for more than 8-10 minutes it would freeze. I thought it was a problem with the primary hard drive especially after I put the hard drive into another similar pc as a secondary drive.
Processes such as Windows Explorer and MS Security Essentials scan would stop after 8-10 mins.
But when I took the pc to the service dept they said it was a Windows problem (based on the fact that when they re-installed OS the problem was gone).
So I got the pc back with a fresh OS install with no apps and data, which I thought I had backed up with the system images.

 

[SIW2]

It's a bit tricky - but you can reinstall your entire o/s from a shadow copy.

You would need to do that from outside windows of course - that means you need another o/s installed on the machine, or a decent boot disc.

Simpler:

If you can find the shadow you want, you can at least copy the data out.

Open an elevated command and type

vssadmin list shadows

(then press enter)

 

[mjf]

I assume you can boot into Windows.
Can you do a screen shot of all the relevant drives
- all internals
- one external if that is where a problem image resides.

Snipping tool with Disk Management.